The article is devoted to the potential of mass media in popularization of volunteering among students. Development of media technologies inevitably influences the process of socialization. Digital media resources have a strong influence on the formation of behavior patterns, norms and rules, and therefore their capabilities can be used to develop a prosocial orientation in the behavior of young people. Promotion of volunteer activities involves an appropriate choice of channels and methods of presenting information in the mass media, taking into account the characteristics of the audience. Effective constructs in this process can be strategies that involve the possibility of influencing decision-making at the subconscious level, including on the basis of priming, framing, imprinting by focusing the audience's attention on strategically important moments and situations. The combination of social, cognitive and information technologies makes it possible to include manipulative techniques in the communicative and information space that contribute to the formation of an attractive image of volunteering and motivation of corresponding behavioral attitudes.