Virtual activity of Belarusians: Myths and realities

In spite of the internetization of the whole country in recent years and promotion of social networking, Belarusians continue to be very passive in the practical application of communications’ sites and still have rather vague expressions of their...

In spite of the internetization of the whole country in recent years and promotion of social networking, Belarusians continue to be very passive in the practical application of communications’ sites and still have rather vague expressions of their social and civic initiatives in the Internet environment.

Mobilization of public and information resources, including social media in Belarus, there is strictly on schedule: the main activity takes place every five years, at the beginning of the next presidential campaign, additional campaigns - every four years, again, during the election process, this time during elections to the parliament and local councils. Most of the other peaks of activity in social networks are often random or situational in nature and not in the least tied to the foreseeable results of the same electoral processes in the country.

The number of remarkable virtual civic initiatives that have grown up to a real living space, is so little that they easily fit into a short list: the "Stop Petrol" initiative and "For the car!" "Revolution Through Social Networks", actions of solidarity, collecting money for the payment of fines and on charitable purposes. In general, all these initiatives have been caused by reasons of socio-economic nature, but to date they have almost finished.

The "EuroBelarus" information service has followed the main trends in social networks, has analyzed the most common myths about virtual opportunities, has identified the top-10 of the most promising communities and has found out the views of active Belarusian users on Facebook.

The first myth: Virtual engine of progress

The obvious observation: when trying to devirtualizate communities and attempting to transfer civil or socio-political initiatives from social networks in real life, there is a significant loss of quality and quantity of participants. Most often, announcement or the assessment of a particular event gathers the number of "likes" and comments, many times greater than the number of real participants of the event. Maybe, topics and issues that are being discussed in social networks, are too far from the people? A well-known Belarusian blogger, a fighter for the availability of low-fat kefir [a kind of unsweetened yogurt. - EuroBelarus], an adversary of pornography in the literature, an inspirer and an active member of the community “РЁРћРЎ” [a TLA meaning “let him die” or "let him go to jail". - EuroBelarus] on Facebook Evgeny Lipkovich does not think so: "No, these are not far away. And the difference between the number of people who stand for anything in social networks and the number of those who really carries out certain actions that would meet the interests and objectives of the virtual community, is formed from the fact that the Internet provides anonymity and impunity in some sense. This is the trick. People who put "likes" often consider that they have committed some great political or social action. But it is in the West that the battles take place on the Internet, in our country these occur on the square. This is not to say that our people are complete idiots, just to do some real actions some efforts are required, and not just pressing a computer mouse button. In order to do something significant, you need to do a serious choice, to be aware of the consequences. But we are used to do not so many political choices. The first one is to decide to acquire higher education or not. And the second time is to decide to get married or not. And, for example, going to elections and voting in our country is not a political choice".

According to Lipkovich, there is insufficient amount of “really wild” persons among Belarusians in social networks and it is in some sense the Belarusian feature: "There is an element of underdevelopment. I actively participate in various Russian political forums and social networks. And the number of crazy (in a good way) people per square meter there is much bigger than in our country. Another political environment there allows being creative, and we have the majority of people still engaged in their own economic problems and issues of a private nature. Our people do not see the connection between the general social problems and problems of their own".

Skeptical Lipkovich is also of activities in social networks of recognizable Belarusian public and political figures: "They do not really understand that politics today - it's more show business than some serious activity. That is why, even in Russia protests, including those supported by social networks were creative and popular. We could have had the same, but these tools were rejected by many, without having even tried. Look: till the time when we did not have the Internet, there were thousands of people on Chernobyl marches, and as soon as the Internet has spread, then the majority of people have determined that with putting a "like" in the network, they can solve the problem. So happened that we have overstepped the state of political Neanderthals straight to the stage of politically progressive and responsible citizens, able to deal with serious political problems with a quantity of "likes". But here it impossible to solve these problems with “likes”.

The second myth: Virtual opinion leaders

Blogger Lipkovich positively considers himself being a virtual opinion leader and believes that in social networks today, a lot of people have the opportunity to influence minds of fellow citizens. Another active Internet user Miro Kiris who has extensive experience of communicating not only in the Russian segment of social networks, strongly disagrees with him: "The assumption, that in Belarus there is a significant number of people able to create the desired opinions and mass moods, causes just a sad smile. And the question is not primarily about the political sphere, but about the public one, which has narrow destinations. Neither in culture, nor in science nor in sport, nor in any other social and professional entities in social networks used in Belarus, there is no even a minimum number of truly influential opinion leaders".

As one of such examples Kiris refers to famous general, Valery Frolov: "About a year ago, the general has unexpectedly become quite active in the Internet environment, including in social media. At first, his very appearance, as well as frequent publications and comments aroused interest among Internet audience, but then he began to repeat himself, to get confused in his priorities, and eventually ceased to call interest of the public not only as a blogger, but also as a politic". The result of this experience having little success, according to Kiris, was "publicly expressed Frolov’s resentment against an active part of the Internet community, which doubted the general's theses" and "the results of a recent survey in the “SOS” - community (“The Union of Officers and Soldiers” created by Frolov): as a leader of their virtual community, the participants wanted to see Mikalai Statkevich [a presidential candidate sentenced to six years in prison. - EuroBelarus], not Frolov ". According to Kiris, the general has failed to become the opinion leader even among the professional community, because he did not meet the expectations: "People wanted to transfer the communication in reality and were determined to form an organization, able to act, rather than just debating within itself".

"But Frolov has tried at least to do something in this respect, says an experienced blogger, while most of potential leaders didn’t make even attempts for all these years. Everybody is used to state the current situation rather than to determine the goals and to suggest ways for reaching them. Thus the Facebook currently in Belarus is more a discussion area, than the mechanism for accumulation of public moods and spreading of civic initiatives. It is extremely rare case that communities created in the Belarusian segment of social networks assume the bravery to declare certain unifying motivation for the members. As a rule, everything takes place at the best according to scheme "now we will see what’s there, we’ll estimate it, offer something and then declare something". And then they even express dissatisfaction and frustration from the communication with "wrong" fellow citizens. This is especially strange in our situation, when the non-governmental organizations, party structures and civil initiatives do not have access to the central mass media and other tools to cover a wider audience in terms of awareness and mobilization. And if we talk about the absence of public opinion leaders, then, in my opinion, we should talk about the reasons, which are on surface: if not using to the maximum at least a minimum of available capacity, then the set of available tools will never expand".

The third myth: Virtual growth in popularity

Social networks are really almost no way involved by party and public organizations, not only as a mechanism for promotion of certain civil initiatives, but also as an available transmitter of alternative information to the population, although the human resources in social networks are quite large.

This situation does not surprise an administrator of several popular communities on Facebook Maxim Dubovsky: "First of all, to earn a reputation just through active communication within social networks is practically impossible. This applies to both individuals and parties, public or commercial structures. Here we can draw an analogy with the print media, which internet versions still mostly duplicate in Belarus their printed versions. Similarly, many organizations try to mark their presence in social networks only by means of duplication of their own sites’ content. Such actions are totally useless from any point of view. The second problem is that our social networks are still the tool, not the subject of promotion, which also does not contribute to the growth of influence of various communities, groups, individuals and specific initiatives".

As a typical example of such useless activity Maxim Dubovsky cites actions in the social network of Sergey Ryzhov, recently listed as pretender for the presidency: "A former employee of fruit and vegetable plant, he has become for many a nominal figure. He makes interviews with himself, places them elsewhere by himself, litters all the communities with links to these interviews, puts "likes" to them and comments on them. Do you think that such actions could lead to any result, except for public diagnosis to the author of such posts? Many bearers of any initiatives in the actions simply lack the mechanisms for their realization. The initiatives are heard from time to time, but there is no organized management and strategy".

At the same time, according to Dubovsky, these manifestations display, despite the sad assessments, are still important because in conditions when most of the discussions are simply pushed out of traditional areas of social communication, social networks are an obvious prospect for the emergence and development of new civil initiatives’ formats: "The communities and groups of social networks allow people uniting around certain ideas, interests and concerns. They have in some sense illusory notions about these ideas; they can somehow imagine that these interests or concerns excite the minds of tens or hundreds group’s members. In other words, for every citizen those questions which he could discuss with his wife in the kitchen, with a neighbor at the store, with a colleague at work or with his friend in the social network are still much closer, rather than to understand what do they write about in newspapers, broadcast on TV or throw in the mailboxes. A person must have a mechanism of comprehension of complicity in the process, only then he identifies himself as a part of this or that action. An average citizen can recognize the presence of the obvious problem of any size, from difficulties with parking in the yard to the environmental disaster or monstrous conditions of jail detention, but only if this issue affects him personally, or he is in contact with it through the communication channels - through his wife, a neighbor, a colleague or a friend from the social network. For example, this mechanism is clear to the presidents of Russia and the U.S. and they exploit it well. Our situation looks extremely ridiculous: the official authorities do not need to find alternative sites for communication with the population, the system of the official media is enough, and the representatives of the opposition and the "third sector", who are mourning so often with appropriate indignation and elements of envy of the communication difficulties with society, it turns out to be that they have no time or desire to use the tool that they have the full right to and absolute possibility. At least, it looks strange".

The fourth myth: Virtual work with the public

It is hardly appropriate saying, that constant internet users and frequenters of social networks represent a most active part of the population. According to Maxim Dubovsky, "if a person spends 8-12 hours daily in the network, it doesn’t evidence of his active citizenship. And even more, it doesn’t prove and vice versa, it doubts the ability and opportunity of this person to be an active participant of real social and political activities".

"The absolute majority of the socio-political actors in our country simply have neither fresh ideas nor new forms of campaigning, says Maxim Dubovsky. The most successful initiatives that were born or got at the peak of popularity in social networks, are situational, not being previously programmed. "Stop petrol","For the car! "or "Revolution Through Social Networks” are just a reaction to the worsening of socio-economic and political situation in the country. Moreover, none of these initiatives had no designated strategic vision and planning of tactical actions at the initial stage. And this is, despite the fact that there are hundreds of officially registered NGOs in the country. It is thus not surprisingly, that largely due to the apparent passivity of the "third sector" the society’s representatives, including its active part, have many questions about suitability of functioning of these associations. Hence is also the low degree of confidence to the many civil initiatives coming on behalf of specific public associations".

Uladzimir Navasyad, chairman of the organizing committee for the establishment of the Party of Freedom and Progress, is not optimistic towards the possibilities of social networks in the process of establishing communications with the public: "Facebook - it is possibilities that have been repeatedly described: coordination of work with colleagues, online monitoring and analyzing of developments, studying of rapid reactions of people, work through direct contacts, exchange of opinions. This social network has already worked in very powerful way in a number of countries in terms of impact on the public moods, and today many people seem to have certain fatigue of the work in social networks. Besides, Facebook is still an adjective to a noun, to certain specific events occurring in real life. Any activity in social networks suggests some events and actions in real life. This is sort of mirror image of our daily life. In our conditions, on a surge in activity in social networks affects the real life events, and not vice versa. Everything happens according to actual fact of an event. As a rule, active social networks’ activity appears in Belarus after something has happened. I do not know how it took place in other countries, but in our country a virtual activity affects little real events. It takes place extremely rarely when a form of communication on Facebook goes beyond "likes" and friendly conversations, especially in the segment, approximate to the social and political activities".

The fourth myth: Virtual limit of capacity

Discussing the potential of social networks, and especially the exhaustion of this capacity does not make sense for one simple reason: this potential’s size in Belarus is still actually unknown.

The head of the initiative "Gomel Democratic Forum” Pyotr Kuznetsov believes that every public organization and party has its own answer to the question why they are not active in social networks: "I would not say that they do not show activity at all. Someway, almost everybody is present in social networks. Even if the organization has no corporate accounts, some activists are active in Internet. Another conversation is that this activity everything is not systematic, often there is lack of a clear strategy of how to behave in this space and, quite often - the very understanding of social media specific character. As a result, parties and NGOs are actually invisible in networks, and one can, of course, conclude that they're inactive there".

Nevertheless, Kuznetsov still sees the hidden potential of social networks in terms of implementation of civil campaigns and public initiatives: "Half the population of Belarus - more than four million people - is present in the main social networks with a greater or lesser degree of activity. It must be taken into account that they are open to direct contact, they can be engaged by a specific message and included into the community, and all this can be done quickly and most importantly – free. Add to this the so-called "virus" dissemination of information, when provided the message is really important and current, users begin to distribute it without your participation, and you'll see a huge potential. In fact, through the social networks today you can solve any challenge of a party or an NGO development: popularizing a message, promptly informing people, mobilizing them, forming associations, holding discussions. If not judging very strictly, we can even say that today’s Belarusians in social networks - this is the same community as on the streets, at work or in pubs. Except the fact that in social networks they are accessible for direct contact actually for free; and herewith a policeman doesn’t come, he doesn’t disperse the group, doesn’t deprive you of your informational materials ... Social networks for Belarus today are virtually the only loophole for normal social activity, and if done right, the results of this activity can be quite real. "Silent actions" of protest of previous summer are a great example".

What prevents then the implementation of the existing potential? "I do not know, shrugs Kuznetsov, maybe, laziness... Or lack of understanding of the specific character. The problem today is that most corporate accounts in social networks are created by organizations in order to post links to bare press-releases already published at official sites. Meanwhile, the specific character of social networks is that people are there to talk, to while away the time, to spend the time interesting and usefully. Links and press-releases, as such, are of no interest. They can be interesting only when coming from a person (account) known to a potential user, whom the user has already spoken to, who is opened for questions and answers, who is, roughly speaking, "alive". Lack of this alertness, of normal communication between NGOs and the common man, inability or unwillingness to lead a normal conversation in a friendly informal tone - this all leads to the fact that the vast majority of corporate social or political accounts on social networking (and in the networks they are really vast) are just not interesting for the masses. Well, uninteresting accounts can not be profitable to anyone, and can not implement any capacity".

According to Kuznetsov, the vast majority of public organizations, initiatives and groups are not unable to work in social networks; they just lose sight of few things: "They do not understand that the Internet, social networks have their own requirements, their language, expectations, which must be met if there the goal is to promote your ideas and goals, to find supporters. There are real people on the other side of the monitor; they are waiting for communication, rather than links to the sites".

In conclusion, it should be noted definite pluses of social networks, among these is the relative freedom of speech, instant and free dissemination of information, crisis awareness, and the most important - opportunities to consolidate and mobilize supporters. But the mobilization function social media still don’t carry on. The exceptions in a few events and activities - this is more evidence that social networks in Belarus have failed to truly implement their own potential in the development and implementation of civil initiatives’ sphere. Anyway, for now.

 

TOP 10 of the most interesting and promising Belarusian communities on Facebook

The "EuroBelarus" version: in drawing up of the TOP 10 there were taken into account such factors as the number and activity of participants, a third-party understanding of the goals and objectives, as well as the proximity of the virtual communities to real life. Number of participants corresponds to the data on the May 1^st, 2012, evaluative categories were determined on the ten-point system.

1. Belarusian Internet Party

Number of participants: 2,297.

From the description of the group: "The group was established to consolidate the Belarusian society, the revival of interest to political debates, to discuss the current issues and find possible ways to resolve them".

The distinctive feature: the group is represented in several social networks and even on Facebook it has a few pages.

Rating: 8.

2. РЁРћРЎ (a TLA most supposedly meaning “let him die” or "let him go to jail")

Number of participants: 1.665.

From the description of the group: "In the Aramaic language Awada means "I destroy / I kill "(see Abaddon), “Kedavra” - as I said. Thus, Avada Kedavra is translated as "I destroy with my word".

The distinctive feature: the spectrum of the issues discussed have long gone beyond any of the variants for the TLA “РЁРћРЎ”.

Rating: 8.

3. Belarus' choice: Asia or Europe

Number of participants: 1.808.

From the description of the group: "The intersection of cultures and religions or a clash of geopolitical interests? Historical ties or economic priorities? West or East? The EU or Russia?"

The distinctive feature: according to one recent poll’s results, the vast majority of the group is confident in the European future of Belarus.

Rating: 7.

4. Stop Lukashenko!

Number of participants: 1,536.

From the description of the group: no description.

The distinctive feature: despite the eloquent name of the group, publications and comments on this topic are scarce.

Rating: 6.

5. NE.BO. - NE BOimsia (We are not afraid)

Number of participants: 1.357.

From the description of the group: "Under the groups’ work a contest for the best photograph of the sky is held. The prize to the winner is memory card SanDisk Standard Memory Stick PRO Duo 16 GB".

The distinctive feature: hundreds of images sent to the contest are posted in a few albums.

Rating: 6.

6. The meeting place

Number of participants: 971.

From the description of the group: no description.

The distinctive feature: the group declared itself closed, although there is nothing secret there.

Rating: 5.

7. PVO [TLA meaning Air Defence] - the Party of Suddenly Impoverished

Number of participants: 431.

From the description of the group: "We are more than nine million, we still have our own land, but the enemy's fifth column among the officials is trying to rob and kill us!"

The distinctive feature: the group has even seven administrators and they show greater activity than all other participants.

Rating: 5.

8. Movement "For Freedom"

Number of participants: 757.

From the description: "This is a new organizational form of uniting of broad democratic movements aimed at achieving common goals".

The distinctive feature: the group has a lot of articles and comments on the Belarusian language.

Rating: 5.

9. For fair elections

Number of participants: 565.

From the description of the group: no description.

The distinctive feature: a lot of news related to the left party "Fair world" is placed in the group.

Rating: 4.

10. People's court

Number of participants: 664.

From the description of the group: no description.

The distinctive feature: there is a link to the publication of the mystery of Lukashenko’s father nationality in the group’s documents.

Rating: 4.

 

Vox pop

"EuroBelarus" referred to Belarusian active Facebook users with question: "Are you ready to support civic initiatives, not only within the social network, but in real life, and if so, what initiatives and which way?"

Andrei Kabanov:

 

 

- I support quite actively civic initiatives, not limiting myself to just putting "likes" in FB. I spend 15-16 hours daily online.

 

 

Alex Khatskevich, painter, 39 years:

 

 

- It depends on what initiatives. I support them, but not all. I spend a couple hours a day online.

 

 

Natalia Plytkevich:

 

- Although I’m quite far from the politics, but "civic initiatives" are, apparently, something above politics. With regard to ecology (eg, planting forests), I’ve these activities by personal participation. With political, social, economic issues I didn’t not have to face. Or may be I do not remember? I spend a little time online, being "in touch", but without going in depth...

 

 

Alexei Kostsyushko, retired on disability, 52 years old:

 

- Unfortunately, in real life is not much I can help, since I am a disabled person of group 1. It is only with my poems. I spend 8-10 hours a day online.

 

Antanas Kurakas, social worker, 29 years old:

 

- I am a member of a party and I support its actions, which I like. I’m not going to beat anyone’s face, but if someone does it on case, then I won’t be against it. But I do not like somebody walking around with flags of the European Union. They are just scaring people. Bullshit, we need a normal state, for that the people worked and lived, at least, as in Poland. The amount of time I spent online every day - from 0 to 2 hours.

 

 

Elena Golovach, student, 21 years old:

 

 

- I’m ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yuri Zisser, Internet entrepreneur, 51 years old:

- I support civic initiatives both in social networks and in real life, but only when they have a positive impact on society, and develop it, from my point of view. And for me there is no split of personality between social networks and real life. It is shameful and hypocritical, saying one thing in the face of a man, but at night scribbling on the Internet the opposite thing. When I'm "subscribing" to something on the Internet - then I should be ready to advance to do similar actions in real life. The converse is also true. In FB I spend 5-10 minutes every day.

 

Eugenia Belkovich:

 

- I absolutely give a damn about all your community-based initiatives ... Because they do not affect the people and the Belarusian mentality... Accordingly, the Belarusian society, as well ... Therefore, I do not see any sense to participate in your surveys!

 

 

 

Leonid Narushevich, musician, 48 years old:

- I always support civic initiatives from the very beginning, from the time of spontaneous rallies of Zianon Pazniak. Unfortunately, Russophile mentality of big cities of Belarus does not allow to break the deadlock, and the same commies are still in power. And, unfortunately, the drunk village is sleeping. Quilted jackets, boots and an old Lada - that's the limit. But generations will change of and the people will return to Europe. The changes already take place.

 

Volga Swed, 26 years old:

 

 

- I’m ready in any form. In FB I’m being 10 minutes per 3 days.

 

 

 

 

Victor Malishevsky:

- You know, I'm not interested in anything except self-organization of society. But, alas, this is not civil initiatives, because it is real. When they try to organize me by some civil initiatives (whether the government or the opposition) it is ridiculous and pointless, and sad to me. Facebook is considered by many as a mega-cool resource for initiation of civil initiatives (and the very word is a bureaucratic one, do not you see? Never use it). So, creating something similar on the Internet is more fun than advancing the state ideology to the masses at subbotniks. Do not confuse "likes" with the civil society emergence. Especially when they collect grants for "likes", for example.

Here you are asking, if I’m ready to support civic initiatives not only in networks, but in real life? I see them neither there, nor here. Self-organization for me is blogs of people who write on important topics, simply because they are interested, spend their time, their capabilities, such as money or just relax. Just like that, without any pathos. Self-organization is when the toys are collected and taken to an orphanage. Just like that.

 

Tatyana Zelko, chairman of the initiative of establishment a union of retirees, 58 years old:

 

- The type of activity is very extensive - from the problems of political prisoners and help to their families to protecting the rights of pensioners, and much more. Naturally, we are participants of many civic initiatives and activities undertaken. In my opinion, the issue of the expression of social and political attitudes on the Internet is required. Still, it is not the 20th century already ... But still in Belarus there are probably no blockbuster initiatives, which can be realistically used in everyday life...

 

 

 

Vladimir Simankovich, BCD - member of the National Council, 47 years old:

 

- I’m ready. With everything I can do. In networks I’m every day / every other day, for 3 to 6 hours.

 

 

 

 

Eugene Dobrotvorsky, director of the promotional company “Kings of Muay Thai”:

 

- I have not seen any reasonable initiatives till now. One thing is clear: the regime has been created by the people, and they know how to defend themselves. Any organized violent resistance will be crushed. Working towards strengthening sanctions against Belarus will lead to impoverishment of people and it will be worse off to aunt Manya, not to the minister.

Therefore, I suggest the following tactics: to stop littering in doorways, to plant three fruit trees by each person in the country in his backyard and stop drinking vodka, beer and shooting up. You will feel yourself better, and your children in 5 years will be eating your own fruits, and not from the market.