The article deals with the problem of modern communication of universities with the student audience in the online space. In order to identify the features of user involvement in the work of university groups in social networks, the interests of the target audience and the specifics of user actions, a comprehensive study was conducted, based on the methods of expert survey, event analysis, content analysis, case study and index analysis. The respondents of the expert survey were 18 representatives — administrators of university groups in social networks from Yaroslavl, Kostroma, and Cherepovets. The study also included a review of the posted content in the main Kostroma State University communities on the VK social network and Telegram messenger, the VK student union group in two spring academic months (March — April) and summer (July — August). As a result, classifications of posts posted in online groups by form and content were developed, user involvement in a particular type of content was calculated, the most frequently used publications in different groups were identified, the dynamics of posting posts depending on the type of site and time period were revealed.