Socio-political Telegram Messenger Channels as a New Media: Content and Formats Trends

“Socio-Politically Oriented Telegram Channels as New Media: Trends in the Development of Content and Format” is dedicated to the analysis of messengers in general as channels of digital distribution of content, and Telegram in particular as a new media platform. Chapter 1 discusses the position of messengers among other mass media, analyses usage statistics of messengers in Russia, as well as looks at Telegram as a hybrid platform — a messenger, a social network, and a news feed. Chapter 2 provides an overview and classification of the channels, the subjects of their discussions, content presentation and reasons as to their popularity. Furthermore, the chapter considers the methods and ways in which traditional media manifest themselves in Telegram, and looks at the main features of the service: its efficiency, multimedia-friendliness, privacy, a clean, attractive GUI, and the enthusiasm of its users. The following research evaluates the development of independent, socially and politically conscious Telegram channels as an alternative to conventional mass media, as well as the extent to which channels run by journalists and newsmakers compete with traditional mass media. The relevance and novelty of the subject are due to the newness of new media’s increasing tendency and ability to compete with social networks and websites. The purpose of the work is to situate Telegram channels within existing media structures, to describe and to analyse the unique function of Telegram as a media platform for channeling news content and facilitating communication between journalists and newsmakers with their audiences. The phenomenon of a messenger such as Telegram lies in the fact that Telegram channels, including anonymous and independent ones, unaffiliated with conventional mass media, are now themselves operating in the news field as autonomous media. This notion is the primary hypothesis explored in the paper.