Political Communication of Candidates in Single-Mandate Districts in Social Media: the Case of 2021 Duma Elections in Moscow

Social media have long been part of our lives and are not new. Their influence has spread to the political sphere as well. The 2021 State Duma elections are a high-profile event in the political life of the country on many issues. The election campaign has been covered extensively in traditional media, and has also been introduced in the online space. The paper examines the concepts of social media and political communication. In the process of analysis, the social media publications under consideration were divided into six categories in order to structure the material under study. The study conducted a qualitative content analysis of the publications of candidates for the State Duma in single-mandate districts in Moscow on the social network VKontakte. The analysis allowed us to identify the distinctive features of the use of social media in the political communication of opposition and pro-government candidates, as well as to highlight the key features of the use of social media in the political communication of politicians in the election campaigns under consideration. Social media can be used as both a basic and a basic platform for political communication, enabling the coverage of various aspects of an election campaign. The specifics of political communication on the social network depended on the specifics of this type of media. Despite the differences in the use of social media by opposition and loyal candidates, we found that there are common features that are characteristic of the use of social media in political communication. Given that the influence of social media in political communication is constantly growing, the highlighted features can be taken into account in election campaigns.