FEATURES OF THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL IDENTIFICATION OF YOUTH

The relevance of the research topic lies in the development of technical instruments that change the conditions of social existence in general and political interaction in particular. The use of such instruments has an impact on all forms of collective existence, which means that it requires different forms of identification from a person, including young people. The aim of the article is to determine the features of the influence of social media on the collective identification of young people in the political environment. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve a number of tasks: 1) to formulate an understanding of the essence of social media; 2) to determine the content of the concepts of “identity” and “identification”, to link them with the phenomenon of imaginary communities; 3) to identify some features of the influence of social media on the process of achieving political identity among young people. A logical method is used in this article. It allows to form a holistic view of the content of the concepts of “social media” and “identification”. A critical method is also used, which is expressed in identifying the influence of social media on the political identification of young people. The results obtained and the main conclusions of the study are that the interactive nature of social media, an unlimited range of content broadcast in them, the formation of digital identity of young people, as well as the simplified possibility of organizing civil society through the formation of imaginary Internet communities - all these aspects affect political identification of youth and have a positive impact on the course of political processes in the state.