Virtual Identity Of Russians And Tatars: Features Of Their Manifestation

Abstract

The relevance of the article is specified by the increased role of the virtual environment in the formation of modern ethnic identities. Researchers identify a virtual identity that is openly appeared, for example, in their profile and another one that manifests itself via participation in virtual communities. The first is called an explicit virtual identity, the second is called an implicit one. If the explicit identity is based on the presentation of oneself, the second one, which is less explicit, manifests itself through the real interests of the user. Its study requires an analysis of the names and the content of the groups in which the user is a member, and also the analysis of the communications in them. The popularity of virtual ethnic communities is also specified by the fact that they replace one of the markers of ethnicity – "unity of the territory". In the era of Web 2.0 users are not only the consumers of content, but also become producers of a separate medium of meanings and manifestations. The purpose of the work is to compare the audience of Russian and Tatar groups in the social network "VKontakte" based on the "big data" processing tools. The article presents the results of the conducted research, which identifies the features of communities, describes a generalized "personal profile" of a typical participant. The article is intended for researchers who study ethnicity, network communities, and the information society, in general.