Public Opinion Leaders Designing in Modern Neo-Information Society

P. 299–311.

Yefanov A., Tomin V.

The article discusses the mechanisms of constructing leaders of public opinion in a modern neo-information society. A set of methods has been applied: the authors’ study using the focus group method ‘Bloggers=influencers?’ (n=10); the secondary analysis of ZIRCON research group sociological study by the personal interview ‘The image of a journalist in the mass consciousness of Russians’ (n=1604); frame analysis of the construction of hype as a social phenomenon in the media discourse; authors’ research using the case study method ‘Phenomenon of Diana Shurygina." The chronological scope of the study: 2017-2019. It is concluded that the strengthening of the actors of the blogging institution in the media became possible as a result of a ‘crisis of confidence’ to the ‘traditional’ media, in particular to television, with a politicized media agenda leading to the acquisition of a propaganda vector, thereby determining the trend of media piarisation. Being the influencers (mainly for the young generation who are exceptionally loyal), bloggers affect the construction of the system of norms, values, and attitudes of their audience. At the same time, the functioning of bloggers as leaders of public opinion promotes to the inspiration of marketing strategies: the sales of different goods and services through native advertising and product placement, the so-called influencer marketing. Besides, by constructing such social phenomena as hype, bloggers become drivers of hypononomics (or the economy of hype).

Keywords: blogging, media, hype, public opinion leader, influencing, hyponomics

In book

Fourth International Scientific Conference Communication Trends in the Post-literacy Era: Multilingualism, Multimodality, Multiculturalism

Knowledge E Social Sciences, 2020.