Time Strategies of Virtual Communities

Abstract

The Internet has a significant impact on the perception of time and its organization. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of measuring social time in relation to the virtual communities of social media. The dynamics of communication in virtual communities largely depend on the time strategies that shape the content plan of a particular medium. Based on contemporary theories such as the concept of ‘timeless time’, we analyze the features of the temporal characteristics of the Internet, considering the multiple dimensions of time in virtual communities. This study aims to identify time strategies depending on their types (e.g., belonging to the certain platform, or target audience). The research is based on posts from 99 politicized virtual communities on the Vk.com and Telegram platforms in 2022. We employ heatmaps and combine them with cluster analysis. As a result, certain patterns of temporal strategies within communities became apparent, depending on the hour, day of the week, and month. We also establish a connection between time strategies and the event context of 2022. This article may be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, and researchers in cultural and communication studies who are interested in applied aspects of social time research.