The phenomenon of "active reception": social media as a tool to promote reading practices

The reading practice of generation of the 21st century determines the intensity of the development of digital media and social media, which actualizes new formats for reading. By now, a stable segment of users has been formed, aimed at the practice of perception and promotion of reading in the space of social networks. To understand the features of the network behavior of this reader segment, the article analyzed popular communities in russian social network VKontakte («The best poems of the VP | Selected literature»; «Masterpieces of literature | Books»). The analysis of communities was carried out using a research strategy of combining quantitative (open metric data) and qualitative (interpretation of user comments) parameters for measuring audience response. The analysis of qualitative and quantitative parameters of user behavior made it possible to diagnose high activity in relation to reading practices; engagement and intensity of expression of interest in relation to the proposed content. The key strategies for the formation of content in the readers' communities were analyzed: the strategy of actualization of the classical literary heritage, the cognitive strategy, the strategy of informing, the strategy of «modernizing» the classics, the interactive strategy. The distribution of audience positions in relation to the proposed content made it possible to distinguish two most common types of users of social networks: the type of sentimental user-reader and the type of advocate of «purity of the genre». The conclusion is that social networks provide an effective mechanism for promoting reading among a wide audience and contribute to the formation of the phenomenon of «active reception»: the practice of personal activity of Internet user in perception of literature content (emotionally saturated experience), interpretation and production (creative user content).