STUDENT’S SOCIALIZATION IN VIRTUAL SOCIAL NETWORKS: ACTUALITY OF THE PROBLEM

Abstract

The article argues that the relevance of socialization of students in the new sphere of influence is the traditional alternative that is an institution of socialization, which is the social Internet network. The challenges of modern information society, that is qualified as network society, are that all of their members are defined and analyzed at all levels of public life. During the last five years the world has seen the emergence of mass global and regional social movements outside of institutional structures representing open systems with a spontaneous nature. These social movements do not have any tangible hierarchy and leaders; information within the movement activity is spread virally and mainly using new electronic communication tools – mass self-communication constituting spaces of communication autonomy beyond the control of governments. It is shown that the natural response to these challenges is the emergence of new – networking – social communities and new means of social communication, which make them an alternative to traditional counterparts. A feature of the new type of social movements is their emergence in virtual space. Virtual mass self-communication becomes the main practical mechanism for social consolidation in the modern informational society. The article focuses on the fact that the immediate social communication challenges in the networked society is in a fundamentally different online, virtual format. The subjects of communications in the networked society are users of social Internet networks that rally in the networking community. These communities have become an alternative medium of socialization or them at the actual period of social development.