The methodology of internet communication

Abstract

The article discusses the Internet as a social communication and the phenomenon of socio-political discourse. Considerable attention is paid to the methodological analysis of scientific problems and characteristics of the impact of the Internet on consciousness in three existing subsystems: the technical, social, and communicative. In particular, the rationale for different approaches to understanding online communication by European and American researchers in the field of philosophy and theory of mass communication are given. Special attention is paid to the phenomenological theory of A. Schutz; emphasized that communication theory of Jean Baudrillard relies on the idea of the ability of the media to exercise social control; tracked scientific meaning of socio-communicative provisions by E. Katz and P. Lazarsfeld on two-step model of communication to spread the message and influence public opinion through «thought leaders».