Online community of Russian volunteers (on the example of social network vkontakte)

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of the current stage of development of volunteerism in the Russian Federation. As the information base of the research data from online communities of the social network vkontakte are used. The total number of analyzed groups is 2894, the number of participants is 1446008 people. To extract data about online communities and participants, a script was written in the programming language Python3, which allowed to gather relevant information using the vkontakte API.Based on the analysis, the author’s typology of volunteer communities is proposed in the article, including franchise groups, online service communities and direct action groups. The author analyzes the distribution of communities on the subject of their activities. The dominant positions in terms of the number of participants and the number of groups are occupied by communities based on the search for missing people. The least represented in the space of the social network vkontakte community of volunteers — animal advocates.Based on the socio-demographic analysis of community members, the author draws conclusions about the features of their distribution in terms of age and sex. In particular, young people between the ages of 14 and 30 take the dominant position among group members. This is largely due to the underdevelopment of the mechanisms for including middle-aged and older people in volunteer activities. As for the gender of the participants, the main contingent of the communities are women, while their relationship with men changes with age.The article presents an analysis of the participants’ value orientations. Conclusions are drawn about the domination of individual values and interests, which are based on the desire for self-development and personal growth. On the basis of this, a conclusion is drawn on the need to develop new social technologies for involving Russian citizens in the volunteer activity.The article explores some dysfunctions in the development of volunteerism in the Russian Federation: the lack of mechanisms for involving middle-aged and older citizens, the imitative nature of many volunteer projects. Based on this, conclusions are drawn about the need to adjust the social, educational, youth policy in the field of volunteer development in Russia.