Social Network Sites as Digital Heterotopias: Textual Content and Speech Behavior Perception

The relevance of this study relies on the M. Foucault’s concept of heterotopia and anthropocentric paradigm of semiosociopsychology introduced by T.M. Dridze. The goal of the pilot research described in this contribution is to examine how people not involved in social network websites’ (SNS) communication are influenced by it, what kind of emotional effect SNS-discussions produce on bystanders, and what are the grounds of this effect. We analyzed subjects’ (N = 7) emotional shift towards negative and positive emotional reactions in response to discussions on hot home and international politics (n = 20). Discussions in Russian language took place on “VKontakte” social network platform. The research used an experiment that utilized a three-condition (current emotional state of subjects; subjects’ gender; type of the stimuli) between-subjects design. The findings suggest that negative emotional reactions of not involved participants are more like to those who take active part in SNS-communication. The findings suggest that discussions on hot home and international politics provoke a variety of emotions. Textual content of discussions was mentioned as the main ground for subjects’ emotional reactions. No gender differences in perception of communicants’ speech behavior and textual content of discussions were found.