Social Networks in the Real and Virtual Space of Local Communities: Crossing Borders

On the base of author's empirical research, the paper examines the results of the significance and effectiveness of virtual communications in the context of civil participation at the local level. Virtual networks created on the base of electronic platforms VKontakte and Odnoklassniki are a real resource of self-organization, which helps to find like-minded people, broadcast effective practices and mobilize supporters to participate in events. Active participation in Internet-communities allows their actors to realize more fully their civic potential at the micro-local and macro-local level. The distance from Internet-communications significantly narrows the possibilities of social activists, since it allows solving effectively only small problems in conditions of traditional neighbor communities.