Vakhula B. Social media as the mechanism of political mobilization in contemporary Ukrainian society.

The object: social media. The aim of the dissertation: to elaborate the peculiarities of the social media functioning as a mechanism of political mobilization in the contemporary Ukrainian society. Methods of the study: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, historical method, case-study method, statistical methods. Theoretical and practical results: the peculiarities of the social media functioning as a mechanism of political mobilization are revealed in the comparison to the traditional media in the number of aspects (the localization, communication in the system "producer of the media messages - consumer of the media messages", horizontal and vertical pattern of the political mobilization, the level of social inclusiveness, problem-oriented or ideological nature of mobilization); it is demonstrated that social media as a mechanism of political mobilization plays significant role in the enrollment of the social media users to unconventional forms of political participation; the auditorium of social media in the contemporary Ukrainian society is characterized. Novelty: the conceptualization of the social media functioning as a mechanism of the political mobilization in the contemporary Ukrainian society. Practical integration degree: the results of the study may be incorporated into educational courses on "Political sociology" and "Sociology on Internet" and used by the political parties, civil organizations ans state authorities that deal with the mass consciousness and public opinion monitoring.