Meshcheryakova, Nataliya Nikolaevna D.Sc. in Sociology, Head of Department of Political Sociology and Social Technologies, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia natalia.tib@mail.ru
Kryshtanovskaya, Olga Viktorovna D.Sc. in Sociology, Professor, Director of the Yadov Center for Digital Sociology, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia olgakrysht@yandex.ru
Abstract The report focuses on the mediatization of electoral tools: the manipulation of group representations through digital advertising is studied. As a result of a sociological study of the O.V. Kryshtanovskaya's group a correlation between the success of the winning parties in the Russian parliamentary elections and their expansion of the online audience in the context of active campaigning in online communities is revealed. The shift of electoral activity to social networks requires the key actors of ongoing campaigns to change the language of communications (spontaneity, sincerity, speaking in the first person), as well as new forms of self-presentation, for example, using a gamification, which, in turn, changing the role of young people in the electoral process.
Keywords: social networks, media, political elections, online campaigning, digital advertising, online audience, gamification, online communication