The purpose of this work is to study the phenomenon of manageability of virtual communities on the example of politicized groups in the social network "Vkontakte". Comparative analysis and discourse analysis were used as methods. The authors systematically examined approaches to the study of virtual communities, identified their specific features. The following elements are identified as the basic elements of the virtual community: unifying interest, computer-mediated communication with an emphasis on participation, shared values. The concepts of the public sphere of J. Habermas and echo cameras of C. Sunstein are analyzed. The authors relate them to the concepts of discursive and argumentative communities. The construction of a virtual community using the discursive or argumentative community model is achieved through manageability. The paper describes the phenomenon of manageability in relation to virtual communities, reveals the subject-object and subject-subject approaches to its understanding. The authors conducted an applied study of 115 popular virtual communities of the Vkontakte social network, during which a comparative analysis of the communication strategies and behavior of the administration, community members and critics of the discourse that dominates the community was made. It is concluded that the Russian virtual communities are characterized by a subject-object model of manageability. Solidarity of followers is achieved where the active management of the community by the administration is consistently demonstrated. Manageability in Web 2.0 is different from the manageability of early virtual communities and it is less expressed by the subject-subject model.