FACTORS OF SOCIAL MOBILIZATION IN INTERNET COMMUNITIES
This article evaluates the mobilization potential of internet communications by assessing a group's ability to influence joint actions of its members. It is emphasized that in most studies, both domestic and foreign, attention is drawn more to the mechanisms of mass mobilization of Internet users, especially political ones, than to the specifics of mobilization through online communities. Our statistical analysis of the integration dynamics of mobilization-type communities in terms of the amount of communications and their structure, the volume and structure of information content, the scale and structure of joint actions in VKontakte and Facebook social networks yielded some regularities. For instance, there is no statistically reliable connection between the mobilization potential and the size of the community, the amount of external and internal communications, the use of multimedia tools in communication and the informational activity of the group leaders. A negative relation has been found between the indicators of information and mobilization activity of the community, in particular, the number of voluntary reposts of users, and the number of requested reposts. A negative relation has also been observed between indicators of information content structure (the use of external information sources, the amount of basic information in the posts) and readiness for joint actions. As for joint actions, a positive relation has been discovered with such indicators as involvement of participants in a discussion (length and number of comments) and information sharing on behalf of the group. Two general conclusions are a. the level of group identity has apparent effects on the mobilization potential of the community, b. there is a potential contradiction in a community's performing its information and mobilization function.