2. The Internet as the environment of social communication.

Before moving directly to the analysis of the Internet as a tool of political communication, let’s look at some of the most important characteristics that make the network a fundamentally new medium of social communication. On the one hand, it is obvious that the Internet - just "another form of the historical development of electronic media, which appeared after the radio, and television" (Vershinin, 2001; p. 75). It is known that all the communication tools are divided into two groups: natural (non-verbal and verbal) and artificial (documentary and electronic) tools (Vershinin, 2001).The Internet belongs to the category of artificial and electronic tools, with television and radio. The emergence of artificial channels of communication, constant increase in their number and complexity of the technical methods of information transfer, as well as the fall of the role of natural channels can be considered fixed historical trends (Harris, 2009; p. 414). The main reason for the appearance of artificial channels of communication is a growing need for people to communicate in differentiating society. The simplest situation, requiring the use of artificial communication channel is linked with geographically distant participants in the communication process. In the information society the most important is not the distance, but the complexity and volume of the transmitted information (drawings, charts, programs, multimedia etc.) (Vershinin, 2001).

On the other hand, the Internet differs significantly from other electronic and traditional media. First of all, the Internet is represented by the latest model of communication "many-to-many" (Чумиков, Бочаров, 2000). If the traditional media, who worked on the principle of "one-to-many," were intended to influence the passive mass audience, now in the Internet is easy to implement a new model that allows users to actively express their own opinions and to counter the influence of one-way communication (Vershinin, 2001; p. 31).

In general, there are several types of communication on the Internet:

1. Person - computer;

2. Person – person;

3. One person – many persons;

4. Many persons – one person;

5. Many persons – many persons (Чумиков, Бочаров, 2000).

In addition to multidirectional communication process, the Internet has another fundamental feature: it "puts the users in an interactive environment where they become active participants in the communication process” (Чумиков, Бочаров, 2000; p. 47). Considering interactivity, must be said that - "it is the characteristic of the communication process, determined by the position of relative to each other communications, messages or, more specifically, defined in relation to previous communicative message. For the interactive characteristic immediate response to the arrival of a message or information is needed and the answer must be in the context of previous reports (Vershinin, 2001; p. 39). Thus, the interactivity of the Internet environment can be defined as the ability to "respond" to the user, like a certain person who is involved in the dialogue. This way, interactivity extends and complements the representational function of the computer: as a participant in the dialogue, the user is able to assess and respond according to these estimates. Going back to basic model that underlies the Internet, we can say that interactivity "is not embodied at the level of personal communication through a medium, but at the level of interaction directly with the environment” (Vershinin, 2001; p. 39).

German political scientist Jarren (1998), recognizing the new interactive possibilities of the Internet, however, believe that "communication over the Internet is not something fundamentally new in the political communication (Jarren, 1998; p. 12). Giving reasons to his statement, Yarren indicates that Internet infrastructure created to support communication between individuals, groups and communities within particular political interests and institutions. However, he does not deny the fact that the communication network has a certain specific compared with other tools of political communication: interactivity, speed, ability for small groups or even single individuals to express their political views (Jarren, 1998). It is evident, that the essence of social communication environment of the Internet is controversial issue on the field of social science. However, exaggeration of the Internet technologies importance at the present stage of researches seems inappropriate.

Another feature of the Internet is that it is not only a new channel of communication, but also a place of storage the information, the world’s archive or shared library that proceed an essential function of social transmission of information from generation to generation. Thus, the Internet is the first global tool of communication and data storage simultaneously. Amazingly, that nobody owns the Internet, and it governed by public non-profit organizations (Vershinin, 2001; p. 41).

Another advantage of the Internet as a source of information is the possibility of a nonlinear search (Graber, 2001). Investigating the dissemination of news related to the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton, the American scientist Doris A. Graber (2001) proved that the Internet, compared to traditional media, offers consumers a much greater choice of sources of information and a greater amount of information (Graber, 2001). Moreover, the Internet provides an easy way to save the data. Sitting at his desk, users can get information on almost any subject.