Features of Information Exchanges in the Legal Blogosphere

Abstract

The paper explores legal blogs as part of the professional blogosphere and a component of legal communication. Based on the analysis of the authorial and thematic structure of the Ukrainian legal blogosphere, its features as a component of the legal communications system in the Internet space, are generalized. The aim of the study is to summarize the features of the Ukrainian legal blogosphere as a system of communications in the Internet space and a new stage of media communications functioning,caused by technological and social changes, with the subsequent clarification of the specifics of the development of its Ukrainian segment. Legal blog-projects of the Ukrainian blogosphere segment,blogging platforms and news sites were the main research base. The purpose of the study was to find out the topics of blogs and communicative intentions of their authors. In addition, the type of platform on which the blogs were published, and authors’professional composition were analyzed. It is statistically confirmed that the legal blogosphere as a component of professional and socio-political ones, and it could be characterized by the predominance of using blogging platforms of online publications. It is substantiated that the main focus of the content of legal blogs is to work with the legal framework, the main authors’ intentions are to discuss lawmaking and regulatory acts and to advise citizens.Educational, mobilizing, politically socializing, and marketing functions of the legal blogs would be mentioned. It is proved that blog popularity in the Ukrainian legal information space is caused by availability of this communicative service and its efficiency, and also by its user-friendliness, as well as its multi-vector social role in various communicative practices.

Keywords

• social media, blogs, media convergence, legal communications, legal blogosphere