3. Concepts, forms and methods of political communication on the Internet

   1. Telecommunication revolution and the emergence of the Internet

In modern conditions, along with the traditional tools of political communication, technologies based on use of the opportunities provided by the International Global Internet are becoming increasingly important. At the origins of creation and development of the Internet stood an American Agency working with promising research (Advanced Research Projects Agency - ARPA) under the Ministry of Defense of the United States (Григорьев; 1998). In the 60’s after the Caribbean crisis, when America was first faced with the threat of nuclear attack, the idea of ​​creating a new communications system "mainly to achieve two objectives” emerged:

1. Creating a common communication network for data transmission which is resistant to destruction of its separate elements in a nuclear war;

2. Creation of communication network for scientists interactions, engaged in military engineering to increase the rate of informational exchange and, thus, accelerate the timing of engineering (Беркгаут В.В., Чадрин И.С.,2000).

This project is led by APRA called APRANET. By the end of 1969 the first computers were connected by a network of four universities and in 1972 it united 23 computers. In the same 1972 the first program was written for the exchange of electronic mail across the network (Беркгаут В.В., Чадрин И.С.,2000). In addition, in the middle of the seventies it was the so-called “telecommunications revolution”, the main features of which were:

1. The emergence of new communication systems (optical cables and satellite communications);

2. The transition from analog to digital;

3. The emergence of new switching devices (electronic and optoelectronic switches);

4. Integration of various communication systems in a network on a digital basis (Vartanova, 2002).

A bright example of the effectiveness of new information technologies is a fiber - optic cable, based on which, basically, built the Internet and other computer networks. John Naisbitt (1990) enthusiastically noted that "only 70 pounds of this cable can transmit the same amount of information that one ton of copper cable. No less important is the fact that for 70 pounds of fiber-optic cable is required only 5% of the energy needed to produce one ton of copper cable" (Naisbitt, Aburdene, 1990; p. 23). Resource-saving, miniature and information-storage tools of processing and transmission become the material basis of new information technologies.

The development of the Internet has passed several consecutive stages. At the first stage, creation and development of the Internet has been done by research institutions, then commercial development begun, and in the end, the Internet acquires the features of mass communications, covering all aspects of society, including the sphere of politics. Attraction of commercial sources of funding occurred in the early 90s that is, 20 years after the establishment of the first computer network, and was manifested in the form of the "Internet fever" phenomenon. Internet fever of early 90s was marked by high expectations in relation to the Internet as a tool for business. Unnecessary investment in e-commerce industry was a major cause of followed in 1997-1998 economic crises (Dyson, 1997).

Nevertheless, the massive use of the Internet became possible due to several factors. First of all, in the early 90's the proportion of postindustrial sectors in the economy of developed countries surpassed the proportion of traditional industries (Naisbitt, Aburdene, 1990). Second of all, the Internet became graphically attractive, convenient for most users, since 1991, when a new service was invented - "The World Wide Web" - the most common online service. And finally, in 1993 the first user-friendly navigation network – “Mosaic”, able to view the documents posted on the network came (Tapscott, 2009; p. 26). Thus, radical improvement of the user interface and the growth of post-industrial sectors of the economy led to the Internet became a mass medium of communication in the 90s. Not surprisingly, it is in this period the first experiments using the Internet as a tools of political communication occurred.