THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF MEDIA CONVERGENCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT

This study considers the process of media convergence and the crucial characteristics of this phenomenon. The author studies different foreign approaches to conduct an extensive analysis of this topic in more detail. The research is concerned with specific and significant differences in approaches in connection with the understanding of media convergence. In particular this phenomenon includes the two levels - technological and social ones. The technological level bounds with merging different technologies and platforms. The social level connects determined communication effects. Due to the plural character of media convergence, it is necessary to investigate the question of the effect of this phenomenon on the realm of politics. The objective of the research was to find out the aspects of interaction between media convergence and a process of political communication in the context of social and technological dimensions. In order to achieve this aim the author studies historical context - the two periods in respect of virtualization of politics. The first stage had specific features: political structures began to penetrate on the Internet by dint of creating official web-sites. This stage included the manifestation the technological level because it is a case of digitalization of political information. In the following step the sphere of politics began to comprise different communication strategies, because media convergence achieved next level of the development - social level. The object and verifiable results were obtained by the comparative-historical method. The study showed a few real-world examples which reflect the main aspects of interaction between media convergence and the process of political communication. The author argues that the new forms of political communication were created by the social context instead of the technological context. The article considers the main problems of the adaptation of the state to the modern conditions. Besides, there are social problems which prevent the transfer of the public services into electronic format. The author analyses the category of problems: the imperfection of the legal framework, the dilemma of an organizational resistance and the problem of the "digital divide"