Macro- and microparameters of communicative behavior in large groups of social networks

Modern society is characterized by the shift of the communicative behavior mode of student youth to the digital social space, in particular to social networks. This study is aimed at considering the macro- and microparameters of the communicative behavior of students in large groups in social networks using the open “Vkontakte” group as an example. In the study, macroparameters are the number of participants, posts, comments, responses to comments, reposts and views, while microparameters are communicative strategies, message modality, and message topics. The study of the parameters of communicative behavior was carried out by analyzing publications in an open “Vkontakte” group thematically focused on the university environment. The main methods of the empirical research were the method of critical discourse analysis and content analysis. The research period was 12 months (April 2023 — March 2024). 98 posts, 663 comments and 998 responses to comments were analyzed. The conducted study allowed to identify a tendency of proportional relationship between the number of posts and the number of comments at the level of macroparameters. The larger and more emotional the post, the more comments to it and responses to comments there are. At the level of microparameters, the prevalence of confrontational communication strategies characterizing conflict behavior was established, especially in the case of emotionally charged messages. The discovered prevalence of the passive position of communication participants in the digital social environment is manifested in a greater number of reposts and likes compared to comments and text messages. This can be explained by the fact that writing comments and responses to them requires an active position, manifested in independent formulation and presentation of information, while reacting to a message is easier and requires less effort. There is also a stable tendency for negative messages to prevail in modality, regardless of the form of communicative behavior in the digital social environment. The larger the social group, the more often negative messages and comments to such posts can be found.