The rapid development of Internet technologies has led to the emergence of new forms of communication. One such form is blogs, representing a specific communicative and socio-cultural space. Continuously evolving, they progressively engage a larger audience and direct attention towards specific aspects of life. As a modern phenomenon, they are shaped by transformational processes in society – both technological and socio-cultural – while simultaneously exerting influence on these processes through the creative endeavors of the virtual blogger community.
The blogosphere, as a form of Internet communication, becomes a platform for dialogue within each culture, between cultures, and among subcultures. Different segments of this space interact, permeate each other, and give rise to new forms of culture. The development of the blogosphere, as well as Internet communication in general, is rapid, and the subject field of cultural studies pertaining to it as a socio-cultural phenomenon is in the stage of formation. This underscores the relevance of the dissertation topic.
Blogs, as a product of social development and an information and communication resource, constitute a socio-cultural phenomenon. From a social perspective, blogs emerge as a result of the scientific and technical progress achieved by humanity, influencing society and prompting further development. This progression entails shifts in value orientations and needs, integral components of culture. Blogs have assumed a significant role in social communications, reaching a higher level – culturally.
The Ukrainian blogosphere is developing in unison with the blogospheres of other digitized countries. However, the national factor determined the specificity of the Ukrainian blogosphere. It has a high degree of politicization: Ukrainian users, unlike European users, more actively visit blogs that raise socially pressing issues; at the current stage, Ukrainians perceive any information through the prism of psychological trauma acquired as a result of military actions, which activated the linguistic marker of national and cultural identity in blogs: Ukrainian for society is primarily Ukrainian-speaking.
The changes in society caused by the pandemic, the full-scale war in Ukraine, proved the importance of Internet communication, in particular through blogs. The sphere of society most vulnerable to global cataclysms turned out to be culture – and blogs became a new platform for artistic projects. In blogs, authors represent their views and preferences, thereby giving other users the opportunity to experience their experiences.
Such blogs are posted on the website of the institution itself, on a special online page or in social networks.
Bloggers are a separate subculture. The core of their subcultural ideology can be considered the phenomenon of virtuality, which gives rise to the phenomenon of virtual reality, in the construction of which blogs participate, which are actually personal and therefore subcultural online diaries.
The blogosphere is involved in the process of globalization of the modern world, which means, in particular, the convergence of cultures and their internationalization. The internationalization of cultures involves the departure of the national beyond its original boundaries, its perception at the international level and, as a result, the convergence of cultures. However, it should first of all not happen through their universalization and unification, erasure of specific national features. This should be a way to reach an agreement on the observance of basic human values on which a democratic society rests, including: respect for human life and freedoms, tolerant attitude towards other cultures, etc.
The development of network communications, in particular the blogosphere, has changed the way of socializing a person, forming his personal and cultural identity towards virtualization, modeling different versions of himself, experimenting with different manifestations of the “I”, which can change both external features and internal attitudes.
The development of technologies has primarily impacted young people, whose life values are now largely shaped not only in the real environment of social interactions but also in the virtual, digital realm, particularly through blogs. The current generation of youth, whose socialization occurred in tandem with the development of Internet technologies, finds itself between the cultures of two information environments: the real and the virtual. They are forming their own unique culture, complete with distinctive linguistic mentality and worldview, which will exert influence on the further sociocultural development of society.
Keywords: blog, blogger, blogosphere, internet communications, socio-cultural space, cyberspace, modern culture, virtual culture, transformation of the individual and society, phenomenon, creative industries.
