Protest Moods of Russian Youth in a Digital Network

Abstract

This article discusses the protest activity of Russian youth in social media as one of the aspects of the concept of “digital citizenship”. The relevance of the study is due to the expanding influence of digital communications, the possibilities of initiating, disseminating, coordinating and mobilising protest actions in social media. The author outlines the main approaches to the study of the “ageing” of the mood of protest in the digital environment. Based on sociological research, the areas of interest of young users of digital communication are determined, and civic activity of young people is compared online and offline. In the course of the study, the intensity of protest messages on the Internet and social media was established, and the topics of protest content in the digital environment were determined. The study allowed us to identify the most common patterns of behaviour as the reaction of young Internet users to calls for protest actions. The author conducts a role differentiation of the protest audience by gender and age groups, in the direction of training and time spent on the network, as well as ways to receive online news. The research data obtained are correlated with current trends in civic activity in modern societies. Finally, the author indicated the underlying factors contributing to the growth of protest moods.