Digital Communities as Actors of Social Transformation in Megacities (Examples of Neighbourhood, and City Chats and Communities in Messengers and Social Media)

Local online communities are becoming increasingly influential and are gradually replacing traditional forms of neighbourhood communication. Based on the analysis of the local Internet communities in four Russian cities, differing in population and social and economic development, the authors determined the priority topics of the online discourse. Through a sociological survey of the members of 62 such communities with a total number of 5,192,106 participants, the authors identified the people’s reasons to join social media communities, the extent and frequency of their communication, forms of activity in neighbourhood online communities. The surveyed citizens assessed the ability to raise issues before the authorities through internet communication, identified the real-life activities initiated via online communication in neighbourhood communities. The study explored the personal, professional, value characteristics of moderators of local social media communities through in-depth interview. The results of the study can be considered by municipal authorities to build effective communication with civil society. Digital communities may become a tool of participation in solving urgent problems of local development.