Media Effects in the Structure of Diffusion Networks: Cognitive Network Control Technologies

The formation of social media, also referred to as new media, entailed the emergence of a number of problems for the authorities, one of which is the limited control over their activities. This study aims to identify and describe network practices of social media functioning in the structure of diffusion networks; establish their cognitive forms and analyze their inherent media effects; assess the prospects for managing a diffusion network and methods of network control over the transfer and accumulation of knowledge. The hypothesis is the assumption that diffusion networks are not only a structural element of network interaction, but can also be considered as an independent actor in network communication on the Internet. Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, which allows considering the network as an independent actor, was chosen as a methodological justification. To conceptualize the concept of diffusion networks, the author used the network approach and theoretical positions of diffusionism to describe the main characteristic of diffusion networks-diffusion, that is, the spontaneous, unhindered distribution of innovations (new information, ideas, patterns) over them. The evidence of the impact on network actors was built on the basis of the indicator of the slowdown in the spread of innovation across networks, which indicates certain obstacles associated either with the influence of the network itself as a communication channel, or with the cognitive effects of innovation reception by network communities, or with administrative intervention in the form of attempts to establish direct control over network actors. As a result of the study of network media effects, it is possible to generalize some of their regularities on the material of foreign experience in the study of diffusion networks since in Russia the topic of policy diffusion is practically not represented in the scientific discourse and is covered insignificantly in the framework of innovative diffusionism. The regularities include the statement about the influence of network communication channels of the Internet as a communicative intermediary on the functioning of network actors; the unification of part of network communities into like-minded groups explained by the principle of homophily; the state of cognitive uncertainty in the perception of innovation characteristic of a significant part of network users. Media effects, due to the appearance of the technical capabilities of the Internet in accordance with the preferences of network users, are echo chambers and filter bubbles. Media effects of cognitive anti-censorship, special forms of network commemoration to preserve historical memory, and the creation of open access media platforms that allow network users to collectively generate new knowledge can be considered as results of cognitive network control technologies. Management, and not manipulation, of Internet communities in the future will be possible only when moving to the next level of public management technologies-governance.

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