Approaches to the Typology of Youth Political Content in Social Networks Julia Alexandrovna Eremenko V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Russia Abstract The article is devoted to determining the types of youth content in social networks produced by political power subjects. The study’s empirical base is the accounts of the social network Vkontakte, which are politically oriented towards young people and with the number of participants from six thousand. The statistical data analysis identified types of content and their typology according to the indicator of social engagement. Content monitoring of political posts, as well as obtaining basic statistics on social engagement, allowed to identify five main tasks of youth political Internet communication: increasing community members, identifying the needs of the target audience, building the reputation of the organization and the image of a political leader, engaging the target audience, campaigning, and also offer a set of types and forms of content for their practical implementation. Keywords: Political communication, Internet communication, social networks, social activity, political content, Internet, youth Introduction Today, young people have a low level of involvement in the state’s social and political life and a significant decrease in electoral activity. They take power and politics for granted, which do cause neither delight nor any negative emotions. That is why the detachment of young people from political culture arises (Merkulov, 2015). This problem is acute not only for Russia but also for other states. Numerous foreign scientific works aim to solve significant communication issues and attract young people to society’s social and political life. Native and foreign scientists see the potential for establishing an active dialogue between youth and politics in social networks. While communicating on various social networks and forums, young people exchange opinions and share impressions. They do not realize that all these processes directly affect the formation of both self-awareness and political consciousness, especially when discussions are on political topics (Akaev, 2016). There is an increase in the political activity of young people in the virtual environment. It is explained by trivial reasons: speed, convenience, accessibility, the possibility of impersonal participation, and receiving immediate feedback (Safonova, 2015). For example, foreign scientists’ work (Xenos et al., 2013) shows a positive relationship between using social networks and political engagement among youth in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Salau et al. (2015) the concept of youth participation in political life is based on the consideration of variables. The cognitive interaction theory tried to explain this phenomenon with political information on social networks, political knowledge, political interest, and political satisfaction. © Media Watch 11 (4) 618-629, 2020 ISSN 0976-0911 | e-ISSN 2249-8818 DOI: 10.15655/mw/2020/v11i4/204635 Correspondence to: Julia Alexandrovna Eremenko, V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Prospekt Vernadskogo 4, Simferopol, Republic of Crimea 295007 618