The use of information resources of the internet by the regional society

The importance of sociological studies of public opinion of Internet users is increasing in the conditions of intensive development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) and their growing influence on the relationship between the government and the society. It is obviously important to define, in what degree the sphere of ICT has been developed in the country and the region, and also to track the dynamics of public opinion of the Internet audience in the early 2010s. The article considers the results of the 2010 - 2014 sociological surveys of the Vologda Oblast population. Dynamics of growth of the Internet audience and the purpose of the use of global network is defined. The social portrait of the “active” or “interested” users - those who receive economic and political information from the Internet -is presented. They are mainly people of middle-income, average age, highly educated, inhabitants of the regional center. Dynamics of their socio-political attitudes is compared in the two periods observed in modern Russia - the period of increase and decline of protest activity (2011 -- 2012) and the period of growing patriotic sentiments (2013 - 2014). It is noted that this category of the population tends to increase and is more “mobile” in their socio-political mood than the other part of society. Their views underwent considerable changes during a rather short time - from “opposing” to “patriotic”. The article emphasizes the need of further sociological research into this category of people and the importance of taking into account their socio-political moods for regional policy, especially in the run-up to the parliamentary elections of 2016.