INTRAREGIONAL ANALYSIS OF IMAGES OF A TERRITORY IN THE DISCOURSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA (A CASE STUDY OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS FEDERAL DISTRICT)

The article examines the territorial features of the representation of the municipalities of the North Caucasus Federal District in leading social media. We analyze the main approaches to defining the geographical image of a territory; explore the theoretical foundations underlying the study of social media from the perspective of geographical science; identify a set of research terms and concepts used to analyze images of territories in social media. The paper proposes a new method of multi-scale monitoring of the territory’s image in social media, which can be adapted for other regions of Russia. The analysis of information in social media makes it possible to identify the peculiarities of the representation of a particular territory, as well as the mental connections between municipalities, cities, regions, and the degree of their influence on the geographical image of each other. With the data collected by the Medialogia information and analytical system, the geography of publications, their authors, their audience at the federal, regional, and local levels were studied. Based on this material, the intensity, both absolute and relative, and the tonality of the information flow for each municipality of the North Caucasus Federal District were determined. The leading regional centers for the formation of social media content were identified. The most frequently mentioned topics, words, and hashtags in relation to each territory were considered. A geographical analysis of the features of the formation of information messages was carried out, which made it possible to identify territories with a predominance of an external or internal image. On the basis of the analysis, the characteristic types of the information flow structure were proposed. The main problems of forming a positive image of the North Caucasus territory in social media are were identified. The results obtained are of practical significance for territorial branding and promotion of the region's territories in social media.