Social-Network Communities as a Component of the Modern Communication Space

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the transformation cycle of society during the development of computer technologies and to determine the influence of new technical capabilities on the communicative process in society.

Research methodology. Based on general scientific methods of comparison, systematization, analysis, synthesis and concretization, as well as on the scientific work of scholars who consider society in terms of its information, use of networking and combine both of these types of society in the information-network one, the author tries to distinguish the own vision of modern society formations, marking one of them as a social network community. At the same time, the main research focus of the article is on such the most popular social networks of the world and Ukraine as Facebook and Instagram. Statistics are provided, which confirm their rapid development and popularity among Internet users.

Results. As a result of processing the relecant literature and information sources, it was concluded that the popularity of social networks has led to a fundamentally different dynamics of such a communication phenomenon as «blogging» (keeping online diaries). Starting with online blogging platforms such as LiveJournal, diary entries are now increasingly available on the personal pages of social media users. The article considers this process from the point of view of the amateur journalism formation, or as it is called citizen journalism, where each user of social networks can be not only a «self-proclaimed journalist», but also a real thought leader and, to some extent, a newsmaker. However, if the activities of a professional journalists are regulated by law and they are responsible for the accuracy of the published material, the «quality» of the message on social networks is mostly assessed by the number of likes, comments and reposts.

Novelty. The author's vision of one of the modern public formations, designated as a social-network community, is presented. In addition, the article considers newest statistical data indicating the growing popularity of Facebook and Instagram social networks and their influence on the formation of public opinion.

Practical significance. Due to the constant development of the Internet and social networks, this requires constant media monitoring. The obtained practical results of the research can be used in further assessment of the dynamics of development of social networks, the blogosphere and society as a social network community.

Key words: social networks, social media, social-network community, Facebook, Instagram, blog, citizen journalism.