Informatization of society and development of new forms of social relations

The article considers the effects of society informatization on the forms and nature of social relations. The main milieu for social relations is the sphere of information exchange, today - the digital information environment. In this regard, it can be claimed that the emergence of the information society, where information is starting to play a crucial role in public life, means in itself a further development of social relations. It is shown that under the new conditions the role of communication as a means for realization of social relations and establishment of a new communicational culture greatly increases. Effective means of the development and consolidation of social communities is the strongly pronounced tendency of a sharp increase in mobile communications achieved through development and introduction of new ICT devices: smartphones, tablets, hybrid devices of this type. The article provides a classification of the users of modern information technology that demonstrates a sufficiently high level of preparedness of population for the information society. To obtain a complete picture of the digital differentiation of users the following data are used: the data on their preparedness for the information society, their involvement in the digital environment and their activity in this environment. In user surveys can be used a specially designed assessment and qualification template. Separately studied are: the effect of the phenomenon of «digital divide» on society and the consequences of the use of new forms of communication on the extension of the notion of social capital.