The article presents the data of sociological research of the Russian political elite and its activity in social networks (using the example of the social network “Twitter”). The study was conducted by analyzing a database, containing information about the presence of accounts, subscriptions and the size of the audience, the content of published materials of representatives of the Russian establishment. The object of the study were the deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation and of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, senior officials of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, members of the Government of the Russian Federation, heads of Subjects of Federation . The basic indicators of the analysis of online activity of elite have been revealed, it has been analyzed how their activity in social networks affects popularity and authority of the power. The analysis of the presence on Twitter of various groups of the ruling elite (representatives of both executive and legislative bodies of power and administration of the country), their activity, the content of published texts, has been made. The index of authority, reflecting popularity of each representative of establishment in circles of ruling elite has been constructed. The method has allowed us to identify not only leaders of public opinion in a network, but also to find the most influential persons in circles of the persons making the state decisions. A significant delay of the authorities in the use of new technologies to promote their policies has been revealed. The need to develop this sector of communication between the government and society in the digital age is obvious.

The Internet, in the era of its availability and popularity in modern Russia, plays the most important role both in the dissemination of information and in the daily communications of people. Mass media also use Internet platforms as the main ones in their activities, because traditional forms of media already have a smaller audience coverage, than online-editions. Due to the fact, that in the modern Russia traditional mass media are controlled by the authorities, the Internet remains the last platform, on which independent sources can lead their activities. For today, Internet is the main force, shaping public opinion and trends. In this regard, the current Russian government has a need to develop new measures and introduce new laws to regulate this area. But is it really the primary authority`s task to ensure security within the Russian Internet, or is it driven by the desire to take control of the Internet and restrict its freedom?

The main actions of the Russian authorities, taken to ensure the security of the Russian Internet, in chronological order, have been considered and analyzed. Both texts of laws and their real results after adoption have been reviewed and analyzed. For each such action an assessment of public opinion in relation to these innovations has been adduced. The compliance of the stated goals and objectives of the draft laws with their actual results has been considered. The analysis of international assessments of freedom of the mass media, freedom of the Internet and individual freedom in the Russian Federation during various periods of the implementation of these laws in everyday life has been given.

With the spread of online communication, more and more attempts are being made to study it as a process occurring in different discursive spaces. In the article, using the example of a single message hosted on several social networks, the discursive conditions and the possibilities of various social media to influence the content of the meanings, created within their environment, have been analyzed. The subject of the research was the discursive characteristics of representations of a single message in various social networks. The purpose of the paper is presentation of a theoretical and methodological approach for cross-platform analysis of social media discourse, which, if desired, can be expanded on a larger data file, taking into account the results of the qualitative critical discourse analysis of the case introduced. The method of critical discourse analysis (CDA) has been used, which allows you to identify and analyze social structures in the framework of dialectical relationships. In the course of the study and analysis, it was revealed, that even in the case, when using the variable capabilities of various social networks to create and transmit meanings is not a deliberate strategy of a single institution, its messages were filled with different semantic content, which means, that they have different convincing and legitimizing opportunities. This was due to the inability to avoid certain conditions of production, creation and distribution of content, set by the policy of social networks. Social network, as a communicative space, creates a mode of production, distribution and consumption of content, and in this mode, communication is already carried out. Due to the specific features of each network, one can say, that they create different discursive spaces.

The article is devoted to the formation of an array of data for the construction of an artificial neural network, designed to search for relationships between social and economic parameters of the development of regions of the Russian Federation. The relevance of research in this area is confirmed both by a large number of studies in the field of regional comparativistics and by the limited methods used in this kind of research, often limited to descriptive methods and basic techniques of parametric statistics. Under these conditions, the expansion of the mathematical apparatus and the more active introduction of information technologies (including in the area of Big Data analysis and the construction of predictive models based on artificial neural networks) can be viable. At the same time, however, it should be noted that the resources of an individual research team may be (and most likely will be) insufficient to create their own software solution for the implementation of machine learning algorithms from scratch. The use of third-party cloud-based software platforms (primarily IBM and Google infrastructures) allows to bypass the problem of the research team’s lack of expensive material and technical base, however they impose a number of limitations dictated by the requirements of the existing machine learning algorithms and the specific architecture provided platforms This puts the research team in front of the need to prepare the accumulated data set for processing: reducing the dimension, checking the data for compliance with the platform requirements and eliminating potential problem areas: “data leaks”, “learning distortions” and others. The paper was reported to the section “Sociology of Digital Society: Structures, Processes, Governance” of the International Conference Session “Public Administration and Development of Russia: National Goals and Institutions”.

The FIFA World Cup 2018 (hereinafter – the World Cup 2018), held in Russia in summer of 2018, became a major world sports event and at the same time a major image and infrastructure project. The article reveals in detail the preparation and holding of the FIFA World Cup 2018, and also gives its general characteristics. It has been noted, that the international task of improving the image of the Russian Federation at the present stage, the easing of international tensions in the world was achieved only partially. The necessity to pay special attention to security issues has been identified and justified. The article also highlights in detail the innovative approaches of Russia to the World Cup 2018, namely the implementation of new digital technologies for security control. Based on the carried out study, recommendations on further use of sports infrastructure, attraction of youth in sports activities, in particular, promotion of football have been given, it has been offered to consider possibility of implementation of the use system of the passport of the fan in the realities of modern Russia.