Urban Network Communities: Analysis of the Informa­tion Agenda and User Engagement

Abstract

In the modern context of social network development, the special role is given to urban social networks which actively cover events, problems of regions, and are characterized with the variety of information agenda. The article presents the analysis of theoretic approaches to studying the essence and speci­fics of «network community», «urban community», «urban network community»; working definition of the term «urban network community» is offered based on the determined peculiarities. Posts of urban social network communities form information agenda embodied in topics, events, directions which currently demon­strate the greatest extent of importance for the region. The article submits the research results of four typical urban network communities in Chelyabinsk, i.e. «VKontakte»: «Nash Chelyabinsk» (Our Chelyabinsk), «Region 74», «Tipichniy Chelyabinsk» (Typical Chelyabinsk) and «NetipichniyChelyabinbsk» (Non-typi­cal Chelyabinsk). The selection of these urban social network communities is performed based on the complex of criteria (regional topic coverage, content multitasking, number of subscribers and a daily number of published posts). In the course of research, the content of selected urban network communities is analyzed and specifics of their information agenda structure is emphasized. The news published in Chelyabinsk urban network communities is primarily regional. According to the analysis of in­formation agenda topics, the community reflects the variety of topics, to the great extent they reflect incidents, politics, culture. The primary genre of reportage is a news memo. The analysis of subscribers’ engage­ment implemented through views, likes, comments, reposts determined the domi­nation of «incidents», «po­litics» «culture» topical sections. Engagement Rate and Engagement Rate Views are determined with employment of entertaining content.