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The fact is that today social media is a rapidly changing and continues to greatly broaden our scale of communication. Kazakhstan is not only the largest Internet market in Central Asia, but also the leading user of social media. Social media use is likewise on the rise, with Russia-based networks being the most popular, even if global networks such as Facebook and Twitter also are spreading (see Figure 2). The number of Moi Mir users grew by over 90% in Kazakhstan in 2010-2011, exceeding 1.5 million a day [10]. In 2011 Kazakhs spent more hours per month on social media sites than the users of any other nation. Since then Kazakhstan may have lost its title as the most social media-addicted country in the world, yet in Central Asia it remains on top.

Figure 2: The most visited social network in Kazakhstan

Social surveys from a few years ago indicate that governmental mass media had 10% of the city audience while independent media held 40-50% of the audience. One of the main effects of independence was its influence on the content of new media and trust in the social media. Many new media successfully used sociopolitical topics to gain audiences, increase ratings and benefit financially. The “political” discourse was not too critical of government leaders, but focused on scandal news and entertaining issues. Social media took the lead and had more success in this process, leaving traditional media behind.

As the Dean of Journalism Faculty of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Professor E.L.Vartanova (2007) marks, “in spite of considerable progress in international cooperation, an information society represented today is more likely a national rather than the international project. And the new media phenomenon is not only, and not so much, technological but developed through national causes. The concrete practice shows that each state individually approaches the consideration of and decision of a given problem” [11].

What emerged as a central issue in the new media market was competition for audiences and establishment of a Web version of traditional media. It was difficult for traditional media (TV, Radio, newspapers) to compete with new media (Internet journalism). Internet media markets were stronger than traditional media, and the level of efficiency and professionalism in new media products was higher. Nevertheless, traditional media in Kazakhstan emerged with a strong segment of the market. There is rapid growth of Internet users in Kazakhstan. Between 2000 to 2003, their number increased by 200% annually. From 2000 to 2009 the number of Internet users in Kazakhstan increased from 70 thousand to 2.3 million people (an increase of 30 times). By the end of 2007 the number of Internet users reached 1 million 800 thousand people. By 2010, the number of Internet users increased to 3.5 million people [12]. According to the Ministry of Communication & Information of RK at the beginning of 2011 there were 4.3 million Internet users in the country. At the beginning of 2012 there were 8.7 million Internet users in Kazakhstan, at the end 2013 – more 10 million.Audience demand decided what programs would be produced and competition increased as each websites and social media tried to make its content more attractive to audience. The audience played a crucial role because of the financial benefit from advertising. As a result new media were motivated to produce high quality audience centered content.

However, extensive reforms in the telecommunication and broadcasting sectors of the republic have been ongoing for several years, since 1992. These sectors have been reformed on several fronts: the creation of legislative and regulatory framework, restructuring, corporatization and privatization of enterprises. Kazakhstan, to keep pace with the times, aims to follow the path of globalization laid by the world economy through economic diversification and gradual departure from the raw-material orientation. A primary step in this direction was the adoption of the "Strategy of Industrial-Innovation Development of the Republic of 2003-20015." Its main provisions were developed on the basis of the Strategy "Kazakhstan-2030" and other policy documents.

On December 14, 2012 the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, presented to the people of the country the new Kazakhstan's Development Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050: a new policy of the established state”. The President noted that the previous strategy, “Kazakhstan-2030”, had already accomplished many directives. Now the country faces more global issues. “The main goal is to become one of the 30 most developed countries of the world by 2050” [13].

Part of the strategy includes the formation of a national innovation system of national technology parks and several regional ones. The largest project, "Information Technology Park", already has placed 27 domestic and foreign companies into the system. The strategy used to move Kazakhstan toward becoming one the 50 most competitive countries (designated in the Treatment of President of Kazakhstan from March 1, 2006) included the concept of competitiveness of the information space of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2006-2009. The main trends of the global information space and information market of the country are reflected in the strategy, identified basic principles, strategic goals and objectives of state policy in the information sphere [14].

According to the Agency of the Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in 2014 68.1% of citizens of Kazakhstan at age from 16 to 74 are connected and using Internet. Moreover, the number of children from 6 to 15 years old who are using Internet also is growing and in 2014 43.6% were online.

At this moment there are many Internet media in Kazakhstan and the number is growing, but there is noclear defined research about new standards for a new kind of media. Actually, there is no clear understanding of norms and forms of Kazakhstani media space self-regulation. As mentioned by Abramov (2009), modern media owners poorly understand the specificity of the organization of media management in the new media.

As usual, all trends in journalism in Kazakhstan come from Western journalism practice. Accountability and Transparency (A&T) helps to create and build a constant audience throughthe Internet. Nevertheless A&T are the basic guarantees of the reputation of online media in the West.In otherwords it gives public trust to the media. According to TNS Web Index data, the Internet is the only growing media in Kazakhstan with coverage which is almost 2 times traditional media coverage. In July 2015 the number of Internet users in Kazakhstan reached 3.47 million (see Figure 3). That is 71% of the population aged 12 to 54 years old who use the Internet at least once a month [15].

Figure 3. Internet Use In Kazakhstan