Economic capacity of internet

The article considers new opportunities for development of business provided by Internet, analyses the causes and rates of growth of the Internet economy in Russia. It discusses the increasing role of the Internet economy in production of GDP. The authors are of the opinion that the dynamics of development of this new branch may be due to socio-cultural specifics of the Russian population. They draw a conclusion that when investigating the issues of informatisation development it is necessary to supplement the generally accepted technological approach with a humanitarian one aimed at studying a person and opportunities for his development in the digital age.