SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR PUBLIC TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE COUNTRIES WITH UNSTABLE DEMOCRACIES: UKRAINIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Abstract. For states, considered transitive due to their social, political and economic situation,
moving from totalitarianism and authoritarianism to democratic forms of governance, issue
of mastering instruments of transfer to new forms of social reality is vital. Among primary tasks,
that governments and societies of such states face is institutional development in all spheres –
from media to territorial administration and responsible citizen shaping. Altogether, such negative
social aspects as corruption, low political culture, poverty and criminalism must be combated.
Mentioned countries are mainly concentrated on the territory of former USSR and have
limited time resource for deliberate actualization of their statehood applying examples of leading
European countries. As well, they have limited historic experience, in some states interrupted
by Communist era, while economic resource inherited from Soviet Union is already
exhausted and turned to burden.
Correspondingly, social institutions that fostered anchoring of popular sovereignty level in
states with traditional democracy are either absent in transitive states or their application turns
out non-efficient and long-term.
In such situation, young Eastern European democracies use advantages of information era
and apply information instruments of open society establishment with better effect. Firstly, it
concerns media sphere, namely such phenomenon as new media – social networks.

In such a manner, observing development of civil society in Ukraine as well as transformations
taking place in the state during resent decade as a grassroots initiative, one may conclude
that new media play unique and vital role in this process.
At this precise point of time it is necessary to analyze and make conclusions regarding sources
of such influence, peculiarities of communities and their leaders shaping, shift in journalist standards
in material presentation and formats of work, appearance of such public writing approach
as blogosphere. It all impacted on form and idea of those civil movements and communities that,
in fact, together with state, oligarchy, church significantly determine Ukraine’s historic development.
Key words: new media, transitive states, civil society, media convergence, network communities
Referances.