Protest Activity on Social Network Sites: A Method of Citizen’s Engagement Assessment

Internet activism is one of the fastest growing phenomena in modern political practice. Due to the specifics of interaction within virtual networks, new forms of expression of public opinion have appeared, the role of an individual in the formation of the information agenda has increased significantly, and the time for information dissemination and feedback has been reduced. In this regard, the goal of this study was to create and test a methodology for assessing the involvement of users of social network sites in protest actions and campaigns on example of the “Voters Strike” action. I was possible to see that users, in many respects, played a significant role in the increased attention paid to the action both by the government and the media, and by the population. As a result of the study using the author’s methodology, it was possible to establish that, despite the high number of reactions, the overall involvement in the protest action “Voters Strike” was at a low level. From this we can conclude that the level of involvement depends on the ability of the initiator of protest activity to maintain a high level of user interest. Also, it was revealed that there is a significant difference between user activity and their involvement.