THE NEWS TELEGRAM CHANNELS' AUDIENCE AS AN OBJECT OF MEDIA PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The study is devoted to the consideration of the psychological characteristics of a heterogeneous audience of Telegram news channels. The article presents the results of a content analysis of popular channels (@breakingmash, @rian_ru and @readovkanews), an online survey of more than one hundred messenger users over 18 years of age and an expert interview with two media psychologists. The relevance of the work is due to the growing popularity of Telegram as a source of information in the context of the formation of a new media system. As a result of the analysis, the psychological characteristics, preferences and needs of the messenger audience were identified. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that the level of trust in Telegram channels is higher than in traditional media; efficiency, “the author’s style of publications,” “interesting and exciting news,” and a positive or negative impact on the emotional state of readers depends on the nature of the published information.