Slavism in Social Networks (A Case Study of "Vkontakte")

The article focuses on the concept of "Slavism" in the Internet. Using the social network "VKontakte" as a case study and basing on the hypothesis that many social interactions and ideological communities in the information age develop in the Internet, the author examines the current state of the Slavic theme and its representation. The author then discusses the question whether there is a sufficient reason to speak of a virtual Slavic community. Analysing the form, content and communication structure of the largest Slavic online communities, the author concludes that social networks in their present form cannot become a platform for communication and formation of a united Slavic community, the latter being represented by isolated media sources with dominating vertical, not horizontal, communications. Another reason is that the Slavism image within such communities is constructed artificially (often perceptually rather than conceptually) by Internet administrators. However, it is these non-conceptual and variable images that have become crucial for the Slavic identity in the age of the World Wide Web.

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