ABSTRACT
This article aims to analyse the connection between the election to the Russian State Duma in September 2016 and the social network activity of members of the two non-parliamentary opposition groups: right-wing radicals and supporters of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny. For this purpose, the Right-Wing Online Activity Index and Navalny Supporters’ Online Activity Index were calculated. Then, using correlation analysis, relationships between the indices and the results of voting for political parties in the election to the State Duma were determined. As a result, the highest values of the Right-Wing and Navalny Supporters’ Online Activity Indices were registered in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Mikhail Myagkov is head of research in the Laboratory of Big Data in Social Sciences of Tomsk State University and a professor at the Institute for Cognitive and Decision Sciences and Department of Political Science, University of Oregon.
Evgeniy V. Shchekotin is a research fellow in the Laboratory of Big Data in Social Sciences of Tomsk State University and a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations at Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management.
Vitaliy V. Kashpur is head of the Department of Sociology and a research fellow in the Laboratory of Big Data in Social Sciences of Tomsk State University.
Vyacheslav L. Goiko is a research fellow in the Laboratory of Big Data in Social Sciences of Tomsk State University.
Alexey A. Baryshev is a research fellow in the Laboratory of Big Data in Social Sciences of Tomsk State University.