Social networking as a factor of change in the political area of social life (the UK case)

The paper deals with the phenomenon of social networking as a factor which causes changes in the political area of social life. The author analyses this problem using the case of the Great Britain as one of the leading Western countries where a well-developed system of traditional mass media collides with social networking and “independent” Internet media. The number of social network users keeps growing, and alternative Internet media are on the rise as well. This contributes to the shift in political propaganda to reflect how information is produced, processed and distributed in virtual communities. Even though the media landscape keeps transforming, the traditional media still have a greater influence on political views of the British people as they have the superior financial and human resources, explore new formats to broadcast online and reach a bigger audience in general.