Cross-platform factor in political discourse of virtual communities

Abstract

The article deals with the transformation of online communication in connection with the transition from platforms based on Web 2.0 technology to “non-Web” platforms. The phenomenon of “the death of the Web” and the dynamics of trends in the development of online communication are considered. We have chosen the discourse of politicized virtual communities of the vk.com social network and the Telegram messenger in the context of a special military operation as a case for empirical research. In this paper we analyze the technological aspects of online media transformation and the cyberbalkanization factor. Based on the theory of M. McLuhan, we highlight the media, institutional, audience, community and discursive factors in the formation of cybercommunication as components of the analysis of cross-network influence on the Internet discourse. The media factor is associated with media technology, the institutional discourse sets the context of the “rules of communication”, the audience factor is associated with the sociodemographic specifics of Internet content consumption, the community factor involves the choice of a homogeneous or heterogeneous type of communication, and the discursive factor determines the ideological framework for discussions of political issues. We apply lexical diversity analysis and cluster analysis for the vk.com and Telegram communities. The results of this study show a greater lexical diversity of the social network vk.com. The features of political communication on these platforms in the conditions of special military operation are revealed. Thematically opposed clusters of cyberdiscourse are highlighted. Assumptions about the cluster distribution factors are made. A discourse analysis of the comments of more than 100 virtual communities was made and conclusions were drawn about the homogeneity and dialogic nature of the discourse, the identity of the audience of virtual communities. The specificity of identifying political “enemies” in the context of cross-platform analysis is revealed. Conclusions are drawn about the prospects for research on this topic.