CYBER-PORTRAIT OF A RUSSIAN MUFTI. MEDIAMETRIC ANALYSIS

The article presents a collective digital portrait of the Russian mufti, made on the basis of an analysis of open media sources. The subject of the study is the active and passive digital traces of spiritual leaders in the Internet space and the backlash of the Internet space to the personality of the muftis. Based on open sources, a “Mufti” database has been created, which includes 100 current heads of Muslim spiritual administrations, muftiates, centers, councils, and representative offices of centralized Muslim organizations. Using quantitative methods, data was analyzed by attributes: age, religious and secular education, service in the armed forces, etc. Additionally, using the information and analytical system Brand Analytics, an analysis of media metrics of the “Mufti” entity was carried out – data was collected from social networks, news, messengers, telegram channels, blogs, videos, forums, etc. Both general messages about muftis and the accounts of 10 specific muftis included in the focus group were analyzed. During the analysis, the authors of the messages, their geographical location, word cloud, popularity, engagement, loyalty and sentiment were recorded. An analysis of Internet resources showed that 70% of Russian muftis do not have their own digital accounts and are present in cyberspace indirectly through the websites of spiritual administrations. The low activity of muftis on social networks, the presence of “sleeping” accounts and the lack of clear management of digital reputation are noticeable. A week-long monitoring of the network activity and cyber popularity of the muftis of a focus group of 10 people was carried out. The publics of the muftis, their statements and reactions to public events are reflected in the word cloud. Russian muftis are confidently included in the Top 100 Muslims of Russia, which is published by BUSINESS Online. The public activities of muftis as leaders of public opinion influence the state of the Muslim community in Russia, which determines the relevance of media metrics and analysis of the digital reputation of muftis. In general, the analysis demonstrates the capabilities of media metrics and open sources for studying Russian spiritual leaders.