“Political bloggers, by engaging their audience in a discussion, form a kind of atmosphere of involvement in making politically important decisions, which ultimately affects the level of voters’ trust,” writes Aiman Zhusupova, a sociologist and graduate of the School of Analytics CABAR.asia-2021, in an article, written specifically for CABAR.asia.
The influence of social networks in Kazakhstan is growing every year when civil mobilization around socially significant ideas lead to the adoption of certain political decisions. In turn, political bloggers who form public opinion, even without being well-known in the professional sphere, can be recognizable persons, sometimes bypassing official mass media, narrow-profile specialists, and experts in popularity.
At the same time, it can be assumed that the level of influence of bloggers covering socio-political issues will increase. In this context, the projected increase in the share of young people in the structure of the country’s population is important (until 2040, there will be an increase in the number of young people aged 20 to 24 years, in general, the share of young people will increase from 20% to 27%), their commitment to obtaining information from social networks, with a low level of interest in politics, will influence political events in the country.
In this aspect, questions arise: to what extent social networks, and, in particular, blogging as modern tools of the information space, can act as an effective tool for expressing public opinion, dominant moods and requests in society? What is their potential in general in terms of the formation of political and civic participation at the current stage of development of the sphere? What are the positive and negative effects of the development of the blogosphere in Kazakhstan at the moment, and what can this lead to in the future?
The work uses the results of a mass survey of the population of Kazakhstan, conducted in August 2021 (n=1600) as part of the research project “Protest potential in Kazakhstan: features, factors and trends”. Other methods include content analysis of materials, articles, reviews aimed at assessing the information space of Kazakhstan, the role of traditional media and new information tools such as social networks, blogs. In addition, the work used statistical data from specialized Internet resources, as well as data from other sociological studies conducted in Kazakhstan in 2019–2022.
Characteristics of the information space of Kazakhstan
As of January 2021, the Internet penetration rate is more than 80%, social networks – 63.5%. According to various data, since 2020 the number of Internet users has increased by 5%, and social networks by 26%.
According to Statcounter Global Stats, the most popular social networks in Kazakhstan include: Pinterest (32.7%), YouTube (20.4%), VKontakte (14.9%), Facebook (13.5%) and Twitter (11.3%). According to the operator Kcell, in the top in 2021, the audience of YouTube is 26.30%, Instagram is 20.89%, HTTPS is 13.17%, TikTok is 7.80%, WhatsApp is 5.01%. The ratings of social networks VKontakte (2.90%) and Facebook (2.71%) are much lower, they are in 7th and 8th place, respectively.
At the same time, over the past 6 years, the share of TV viewing has decreased by 20%, and, on the contrary, the share of the Internet has increased by 25% . Every year there is an increase in the time spent on the consumption of all types of content on the Internet. If in 2020, in the general line of distribution of time on the media, the picture looked like this: 45% – television, 40% – the Internet, 13% – radio, 2% – print media, then in 2021 television as the main source of information takes third place (30.4%) after social networks (45.7%) and Internet sites (42.8%).
Thus, although traditional media are already losing their dominant positions, the citizens of the country still perceive them as more reliable and trustworthy. As experts emphasize: “TV still inspires people’s trust – this is a constant that even YouTube or Netflix could not shake.”
The fact that information posted on social networks is mostly questioned is evidenced by the data of various sociological studies. According to one of them, the total level of trust in materials from social networks in Kazakhstan does not exceed 17%, while the dominant part of the country’s citizens trusts it partially (about 66%), one in eight does not trust information received from social networks at all. The same picture is typical for information received from messengers, however, the level of trust in it is even lower.
The results of a sociological study conducted in 2021 show that despite a certain increase in trust in information from social networks, citizens of the country still trust information from traditional media and official sources more (The survey was conducted as part of the study “Protest potential in Kazakhstan: features, factors and trends” in August 2021).
If state-owned media have an exclusive advantage in traditional media resources, then private and independent media dominate in the field of online media – about 80%, while the share of state-owned media is no more than 13%, the remaining 7% belong to foreign media in Kazakhstan.
Separately, it is worth noting the differences in the context of the choice of traditional and “new” media in terms of age and settlement, where they are most pronounced. So, traditional media sources are more trusted by citizens of older age groups, in terms of settlements – by residents of villages. On the contrary, young people gravitate more towards social networks, where they themselves can act as content creators. Researchers note that young people in Kazakhstan have practically moved away from television. In 2020, 60% of them noted that they receive news only from social networks, about 40% also turn to domestic television for this purpose.
It can be assumed that with the expansion of the youth audience, the level of trust in social networks will grow, which is associated with the characteristics of social networks, including the ability to independently form content of various formats.
Blogging as a Participation Tool
When talking about bloggers, it is meant – authors who create unique content on their personal pages both on social networks and on special websites that are an amalgamation of authors’ personal blogs, such as Yvision.kz. The main indicator of a blogger’s success is the number of their subscribers, while an influencer in Kazakhstan is called bloggers with more than 1 thousand subscribers.
An interesting question occurs – where is the boundary between an expert and a blogger? As the researchers note, there are more questions than answers: “Is this a profession or a hobby? Is this a new social role? Where are the boundaries between the I-real and I- ideal? Based on the fact that ordinary individuals can become bloggers or influencers and write on any topic, their difference from experts, firstly, will be the presence / absence of special education and skills, and secondly, payment for professional activities.
Thus, with the appropriate desire and ability, skills of working with the audience, an expert can act as a blogger, but a blogger who does not have the appropriate education cannot be considered an expert.
At the same time, bloggers, as mentioned above, without any significant auxiliary resources, sometimes bypass official mass media, narrow-profile specialists, and experts in terms of recognition and persuasive potential. What is it connected with? According to numerous studies, this fact is facilitated by the possibility of direct communication, interpersonal dialogue between bloggers and readers. In turn, political bloggers, by involving their audience in the discussion, form a kind of atmosphere of involvement in the adoption of politically important decisions, which, ultimately, is reflected in the level of voters’ trust .In addition, in this context, we are talking about the formation of a certain image of politicians who resort to this kind of communication as open, aimed at taking into account public needs.
Therefore, many well-known politicians and public figures maintain their popularity through social networks, use their space to express their position. Blogs of famous politicians have a direct impact on the creation and development of the political agenda, form a political dialogue in society. Their target audience is not only the existing and potential electorate, but also opinion leaders in the media, journalists, and political observers.
At the same time, a feature of political blogging is that in some cases the struggle of values prevails over the struggle of arguments. Researchers have defined this phenomenon as a change in attitudes in the public space. In this context, it is also mentioned that the specifics of political blogging often include various manipulative influences on the Internet audience.
Bloggers, having the greatest persuasive potential, have a direct impact on the formation of public opinion, and in this vein, the potential of bloggers is much greater than that of traditional media. In addition, unlike traditional media, bloggers do not just cover events, but give their assessment of them, often touching on topics that traditional media are slow to respond to.
Thus, the peculiarities of bloggers, first of all, are their persuasive potential, which is greater than that of traditional media. This is created through a trusting atmosphere in blogs, due to the direct dialogue of bloggers with readers, in particular, blogs of politicians influence the sense of ownership of the audience in making important political decisions.
The blogosphere of Kazakhstan: contradictory assessments
Differences in the preferences of the audience of different ages in Kazakhstan are especially evident in relation to the preferences of various social networks. Thus, the fastest monetizing network in Kazakhstan, Instagram, with information of a more entertaining nature, is more chosen by young people, while Facebook, which is usually referred to as the most politicized social networks in Kazakhstan, is more chosen by the adult population. In addition, it is believed that it was the social network Facebook that gave impetus to the development of the blogosphere in Kazakhstan. YouTube is also actively developing, there are already multi-million YouTubers in the country who have already become iconic interviewers and publicists.
As for political blogging in Kazakhstan, the point of view that it is an effective channel of political communication, including between the government and society, is becoming more and more common.
If back in 2015 there were assessments that the culture of blogging in the country was not developed in such a way as to attract attention and expand the audience, then already in 2019 the discussion shifted to the question of what information citizens of the country trust more – blogs and information in Web or traditional media. That is, it can be stated that the development of the blogosphere in Kazakhstan is rapid.
At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between the state blogosphere and the civil one. The emergence of the state blogosphere was greatly influenced by the course towards the development of the “Listening government” with the aim of creating an accelerated connection between state institutions and the population, clarifying issues, and more effectively solving problems. However, it cannot be said that this direction is currently receiving significant development, as pointed out in his speech in January 2022 by the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
So, the majority of representatives of state institutions, individual civil servants in social networks do not have a specific clear strategy in this regard. It is indicative in this regard that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the akims to more actively respond to the needs of the population and conduct explanatory work in social networks.
Most likely, the problem in this vein is that, as domestic researchers emphasize, feedback from the population is often formal and the process of resolving issues is not accelerated. Whereas the creation of state blogs is carried out only by virtue of the order of the President of the country.
As for the blogs of civil activists, which may also be of a socio-political nature, there are rather contradictory assessments regarding them. Let’s present the most significant of them in order to understand how the Kazakhstani society perceives the activities of bloggers and blogging:
- With regard to Kazakhstani political bloggers, the point of view is quite common that their activities can often be biased, and the point of view that blogging in Kazakhstan is a business for a very large number of unscrupulous people is indicative .
- Bloggers are often accused of unprofessionalism, discrediting the expert community, it is also indicated that bloggers can publish unverified information and contribute to the spread of disinformation. One clear example in this context is the spread of misinformation about the impact of 5G or the Covid 19 virus.
In addition, the negative perception of Kazakhstani bloggers is based on the fact that in some cases they can argue their arguments and objections in terms of emotions. In this context, one can cite the assessment of Doctor of Law Podoprigor R. that the authorities often make concessions to the “onslaught” of bloggers who pretend to be experts, using an information attack, noise, primarily through scandals and provocations. A popular point of view is the existence of a kind of cult of bloggers who can “keep officials and functionaries in fear.”
At the same time, their influence through emotional arguments often turns out to be the only way to convey to the authorities the public’s point of view on the problems that concern citizens. One of the most striking examples in this context is the situation with the construction on the site of the Maly Tadykol lake in Astana. Bloggers actively connected to the coverage of the problem, wrote emotional posts, held actions, performances, the purpose of which was to draw the attention of the authorities and society to the situation when a unique lake, where Red Book flamingos and swans flew, was being backfilled and elite residential buildings and other social facilities were built in its place. Due to the current situation, construction was suspended, and the authorities were forced to make small concessions.
- The scale of influence of domestic bloggers is estimated controversially, if earlier it was assessed as low, today bloggers, sometimes being not very well-known in the professional field, can bypass the official mass media, narrow-profile specialists, experts in popularity, and have a direct influence on the solution of issues of concern to the public.
There is an increase in the popularity of bloggers, whose content often replaces the official media. The following points may be of importance: the presence of insider information, its more prompt (than in traditional media) its placement in social networks. In addition, political bloggers have more opportunities to interpret information, being free from editorial politics.
In this context, it is significant that some researchers believe that among bloggers, in addition to leaders of public opinion, there are also creators of public opinion, people who can exert a certain influence on the functioning of society, its political system. Thus, according to the Youth Information Group of Kazakhstan (YIGK), the top 5 Kazakhstani bloggers include Dauletten, Zhurttyn balasy, Dosym Satpaev, Zhanserik Kadyrbaev, Vadim Boreiko. The results of the influence of Kazakhstani bloggers include a case with the decision of the authorities to cancel the construction of a resort in the Kok-Zhailau tract and return it to the Ile-Alatau National Park, while one of the country’s leading bloggers Vadim Boreiko took an active and feasible part in promoting this decision.
Considering the palette of assessments of the modern Kazakhstani blogosphere, one can conclude that, despite conflicting assessments, the influence of bloggers on the socio-political life of the country is quite high today, and will only expand in the future. An important role in this will be played by the growth in the share of young people in the structure of the population of Kazakhstan, as well as the fact that young people prefer to receive information from social networks, and even without being interested in this, they will receive information from bloggers, public opinion leaders in social networks, since their friends can share this kind of information. In addition, as the researchers point out, due to the fact that such information can be shared by reference people from among friends, the information will be perceived as credible.
Media Literacy as a Recipe
According to various studies, the population of Kazakhstan tends to mostly distrust information received from bloggers, so political bloggers are ranked last in the hierarchy of trust. 65% of the population of Kazakhstan do not trust bloggers, 94% do not trust political bloggers. At the same time, as mentioned above, this trend is likely to decrease over time, and the level of trust in bloggers will increase.
Of course, this can be viewed from two sides: on the one hand, the activities of bloggers, and first of all, political ones, can have a positive impact on the level of involvement of the population in political and civic activity, since, as mentioned above, they have the greatest persuasive potential. Thus, bloggers, appealing to such democratic values as defending the rights of citizens in all spheres of life, as well as a tendency to criticize the policies being implemented, will inevitably influence the level of political literacy of the country’s population. At the same time, it is not only about criticizing the authorities, but bloggers can also explain to citizens what they can count on within the framework of the state policy being implemented. In particular, to popularize the possibilities of open regulations, or ongoing programs for the same youth, the level of awareness of which today is extremely low. And in this case, the activities of bloggers will affect the level of awareness and involvement of citizens of the country.
On the other hand, bloggers, as the activities of some of them during the Covid-19 pandemic have already proven, can also act as a mouthpiece for fake information, influence the spread of unverified rumors, and widely use various manipulative technologies to influence the audience in their activities. Also, the activities of bloggers can be aimed at promoting certain values, including those of a destructive nature, as well as carried out in the interests of certain political forces.
However, this fact does not mean that the activities of influencers, public opinion leaders in social networks should be censored, or any prohibitive measures should be applied. On the contrary, the trend of the 21st century, the century of information technology, is the speed of information supply, the speed of its distribution, the lack of hierarchy in content creation. And in this context, any restrictions on the part of the state, on the contrary, will lead to an even greater departure of the audience, and first of all, youth, from traditional sources of information and state media.
As it is known, the most effective means of counteracting misinformation is teaching citizens a critical approach to online materials through media education, Internet literacy. According to a study by the Youth Information Service of Kazakhstan from 2022, 59% of the country’s citizens are sure that they rarely or never encountered inaccurate, false or incompletely verified information, and 80% of respondents do not double-check information from social networks and the media or do so rarely.
Work to improve the level of media literacy is carried out in many developed countries of the world, and it is given great importance. So, if earlier, as, for example, in Canada, media literacy was considered a luxury that you can do without, today, classes aimed at critical analysis of information consumed on the Web, and, in general, selective, and meaningful perception of any information begin with school bench. The move away from passive and thoughtless consumption of information is carried out by learning to assess the reliability of online information, explaining that all media are ultimately preachers of certain ideological values, authority and influence.
At the same time, foreign researchers state that today teenagers and young people often trust information received from the Internet more than adults. In Kazakhstan, despite the creation of the first textbooks on media literacy for high school students, the subject has not yet become traditional in secondary school. In this context, experts emphasize that in order to counter disinformation and various manipulations of public opinion, joint efforts of civil society and the state are needed.
Conclusions
To date, the question of the influence of bloggers on public opinion is still ambiguous. Despite the rather critical perception and assessment of the activities of bloggers, there is an opinion that social networks are such a great force that the state will still be obliged to pay attention to them and correct its behavior.
In addition, it is difficult to disagree with the thesis that in modern Kazakhstani society, in which the trend towards politicization is obvious, a new wave of activists has appeared who set the trend in domestic politics, legitimacy, whose symbolic capital is based on their popularity in social networks. Quite interesting in this vein are the results of a study on civic activism in modern Kazakhstan, where it was concluded that “mostly people pay attention not to the organization, but to the reputation of an individual …”.
That is, using their social capital, bloggers can create a public outcry and thereby influence the policy of the authorities, which is quite clearly seen in modern Kazakhstani realities. In addition, citizens are increasingly turning to information provided by political bloggers rather than official media due to a number of factors, including efficiency, the ability to give their own assessment, interpret current events, and, most importantly, create an atmosphere of direct interpersonal communication.
Thus, social networks, blogging today are a significant tool for participation in modern Kazakhstan, acting as a platform for expressing the needs of the population, as well as influencing the formation of public opinion of those citizens who are actively interested in the political agenda in the country.
It can be assumed that this trend will expand, which is also associated with an increase in the share of young people in the general structure of the population, the development of political blogging and among the youth. At the same time, there are fears that due to the fact that bloggers have the greatest persuasive potential, they can influence the dissemination of unverified information, influence public opinion using various manipulative technologies. In this context, the most effective solution will be the development of media and information literacy, which, as it is known, is one of the central topics of the global agenda of the 21st century.
*This article was prepared within the framework of the scientific project “Protest potential in Kazakhstan: features, factors and trends” with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Grant AR08857524