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Introduction: According to the statistics of the World Bank, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in Iran has grown by 210.65% in the last thirty years. In such a situation, this unfavorable situation should be changed in line with environmental standards, which naturally requires the identification of important factors affecting pollution. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that seem to affect pollution according to the background. As economic complexity improves, higher knowledge and technological progress can lead to less polluting activities. Reducing economic risk and consequently increasing investment, if it is followed by efficient use of inputs and the use of environmental technology, can reduce pollution by overcoming the effect of scale. Higher energy prices, energy-efficient technologies and low energy prices have imposed technologies with a higher share of energy input on companies, which has an impact on the environment. The impact of trade expansion on pollution depends on the results of scale, combination and technical effects. ICT can change the efficiency of energy consumption by moving the economy towards a knowledge-based structure, by substituting information for energy, and thus affect pollution. Urban density can reduce energy consumption by creating economies of scale for public urban infrastructure, while the absence of proper urban infrastructure has the opposite effect. FDI increases relative advantage in which production sector affects pollution. Also, the advanced technology that comes with FDI affects the environment.Materials and Methods: Explanatory variables of the model are economic complexity, interrelationship between economic risk and investment, interrelationship between energy price and energy intensity, trade liberalization, internet users, capital per capita, foreign direct investment and urbanization rate and the dependent variable of carbon dioxide emissions. The information of the variables was obtained from the World Bank, the MIT University website, and the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) database and the energy balance sheet. The investigated period was during 2000-2022 and the ARDL method and EViews 9 software were used in the estimation.Results: With the increase of economic complexity variables, energy price-energy intensity interrelationship, internet users and foreign direct investment, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions decreases in both short-term and long-term periods. The variables of mutual effects of economic risk-investment and capital per capita on pollution did not have a significant effect in both time periods. Commercial liberalization and urbanization have created a significant negative impact on the quality of the environment in the short and long term. Discussion: The improvement of economic complexity has led to the dominance of technical and structural effect over scale effect and has reduced pollution. The increase in investment in the country, along with the reduction of economic risk, has not yet reached a level that can reduce pollution through the channel of economic growth. With the increase in energy prices, incentives have been placed in the direction of increasing energy efficiency, as a result of which pollution is reduced. As a result of the increase in exports due to trade liberalization, the use of resources and energy has been inappropriate, and in this regard, environmental laws and standards have also been ignored. The expansion of urbanization has increased the pollution with the expansion of economic activities, and in this regard, it has not been able to reduce the intensity of energy and pollution for public urban infrastructures through the creation of economies of scale. Foreign direct investment reduces pollution with the possibility of improving energy efficiency through technology spillover from foreign companies to domestic companies.

Inclusive growth initiatives had an influence on regional and global economies. Even though the association between information and communication technology (ICT) and economic growth has been investigated, a literature search shows that there is diminutive attention in establishing the effects of internet users on inclusive growth. This study intended to establish the effects of internet users on inclusive growth focusing on the selected SADC countries. The panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach was employed from 2000 to 2020. The study discovered that internet users’ coefficient is positive and statistically insignificant in both the short-run and long-run period by repeating the same coefficient of (0.00). The findings of this study contribute to the understanding that internet usage is not a natural supporter of inclusive growth in the selected SADC countries. The study discovered that there is dearth of studies on inclusive growth studies. The novelty of this study is to establish the effects of internet users on inclusive growth. This study aspires to urged policymaker’s perceptions to increases the understanding and resonance of internet usage to respond to inclusive growth channels. Although there is a positive link but the benefits to promote inclusive growth are misdirected because of insignificant status.

The rapid pace of technological advancements of the last decades, accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, has increased the importance of digital skills for individuals, businesses, and society. However, despite efforts to increase digital ownership and educational initiatives, the digital divide remains a persistent issue and a barrier to social inclusion. Digital exclusion is not limited to access vs. no access but encompasses a spectrum of participation influenced by factors such as geographical location, skills, motivation, and identity. The study explores what sociodemographic and sociotechnical aspects shape users’ digital skills. It is based on an online survey of English internet users aged between 20–55 with school-aged children (N = 2,004), to measure their digital skills across six dimensions and analyzes the relationship between these skills and sociodemographic and sociotechnical variables. Results show that among the sociodemographic aspects, including gender, age, education level, employment status, income, and residential area, only income significantly contributes to distinguishing groups per level of digital skills. The study also shows that motivation gap, access gap, usage gap, and social support, are all associated with individuals’ digital skills.

ObjectivesSuicide is a global health concern, exacerbated by stigma around mental illnesses. Online platforms like Twitter and Sina Weibo have seen a rise in “online broadcast suicide,” where individuals share suicidal thoughts and actions. However, there is limited understanding of the epidemiological characteristics, particularly in China. This study aims to analyze the demographics and behaviors of individuals engaging in online broadcast suicide in China to inform targeted prevention strategies.MethodsA total of 525 incidents were identified through systematic retrieval of relevant news reports from online sources. Subsequently, a content analysis was performed on these reports to extract detailed information on the characteristics of each individual incident.ResultsAmong the incidents analyzed, the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.6, with an average age of 23.1 ± 5.9 years. Approximately 71.9% took place in Southern China. Unemployment was reported in 15.0% of incidents. Relationship breakup (62.3%) was cited as the leading cause of suicide. Wrist cutting (58.2%) emerged as the predominant suicide method, and home (36.2%) was the most common location for these tragic events. Instant messaging apps were the primary platforms (54.7%) for conveying suicidal thoughts and actions. Additionally, among the 525 incidents examined, 12.0% disclosed having a mental disorder, and 7.6% had a history of prior suicide attempts. Significant variations were observed across age, gender, region, and occupation categories.ConclusionThis study emphasizes the importance of developing suicide prevention programs for internet users. Besides, interventions should be customized to meet the specific needs of various populations.

Purpose. The article is devoted to the identification of peculiarities of interpersonal communication of adolescents in the Internet for further development of the program of development of skills of safe and productive interpersonal communication of adolescents in social networks. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the use of social networks not only generates the problem of adolescent Internet addiction, but also has a negative impact on the process of socialisation, as well as provokes bullying and other violent actions against the developing personality. Method. The study involved 56 adolescents aged 14-15 years - students of the centre of education of the city of Tula. As a diagnostic material were used methods to identify interpersonal and communicative features of adolescents (questionnaire of interpersonal relations A.A. Rukavishnikov and questionnaire K.S. Zhmyrko); determination of the level of communication of adolescents (questionnaire of interpersonal relations A.A. Rukavishnikov and questionnaire K.S. Zhmyrko). Zhmyrko); determining the level of communicative tolerance in the process of interpersonal interaction (the method of diagnostics of communicative tolerance V.V. Boyko); establishing the main orientations in the communication of schoolchildren (the method of diagnostics of motivational orientations in interpersonal communications I.D. Ladanov, V.A. Urazaeva). Results. The results obtained during the diagnostic survey allow us to conclude that adolescents, due to their psychological and personal characteristics, unformed culture of communication in social networks, inability to express their opinions and defend their own point of view, create situations of conflict in social networks and provoke cyberbullying. Practical implications. The materials of the study can be used in the work of psychological service of educational organisation and contribute to the development of skills of effective and safe communication in social networks among adolescents, formation of resistance to the negative impact of virtual environment.

This paper explores how the war in Ukraine changed the interest in higher education of Ukrainians who stayed on the territory of Ukraine and emigrated to other countries. The methodology is based on Google Trends Analysis and peak approach with Google Trends Scale of Internet user inquiries about higher education from June 20, 2021 to June 20, 2023 with a middle point on February 24, 2022. Dynamics of changes in the queries of Internet users by keywords regarding studied higher education are: 1) exclusively from the territory of Ukraine; 2) from the territory of Poland, Slovakia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Austria, i.e., top-10 countries by number of registered Ukrainian refugees according to the UN Refugee Agency. The key results are: 1) increased interest of Internet users in higher education after beginning of the full-scale war: Poland – 22.9%, Romania – 28.9%, Ukraine – 31.2%, Hungary – 32.4%, Slovakia – 35.8%, Moldova – 49.0% of average number of «university» inquiries; 2) increased requests for professional education (42.2%), distance education (25.6%), distance learning (34.1%) after February 24, 2022; 3) correlation between negative trends of interest per 32% from July 2021 (100 GT Scale) to July 2022 (68 GT Scale) in Ukraine and positive trends of this indicator in European counties in August 2022 (80-100 GT Scale). Chi-square test showed statistical significance of changes in interest in higher education (p-value = 0). Key findings demonstrate the following trends after February 24, 2022: distance learning development, increased Internet users’ orientation towards professional education for high-paying jobs, popularity of flexible schedules. Acknowledgments The educational outcomes in this publication were created with the support of the EU Erasmus+ program within the framework of projects ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH-101048055 – «AICE – With Academic integrity to EU values: step by step to common Europe» and ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-101085198 «OSEE – Open Science and Education in Europe: success stories for Ukrainian academia».

The article is dedicated to the analyses of actual strategies of Internet users’ media activity in the ecosystem of today’s social media (social networks, blogs, hostings, messengers, mobile applications, etc.). The base of the author’s approach that specifies the novelty of the research lies on the analyses of the users’ media activity as a complex of media consumption and production which make a dialectical unity, as well as on the problematization of subject oriented research optics which draws attention to the individual as a direct media subject. The interaction of the individual and media ecosystem is analyzed with the help of a system of incoming and outcoming activity markers. The incoming activity is understood by the authors as a total of institutional and environmental factors of media activity practices realization, the outcoming one is understood as the characteristic of individual’s personal activity in realizing media practices. It is shown that the configuration of the dominant types of incoming and outcoming activity forms the individual media strategy. It is theoretically based and empirically proved by the author’s sociological research with the use of factor analyses (online poll of social network users, N = 1000) that there practically exist four types of individual media strategies: inclusively open, exclusively open, inclusively conservative and exclusively conservative ones. It is found out that the majority of the Internet users (38,3%) use the exclusively open strategy, estimate modern media conditions as too liberal and thus needing control and restrictions. In the conclusion there are shown the perspective directions of the following scientific enquiry on the topic of the research.

The article is devoted to the process of development of the Chinese e-commerce market in the structure of the Chinese economy. The process of formation and development of the Chinese e-commerce market is researched and analyzed, and the main events of the new stage of the Chinese e-commerce market are considered. At the same time, a justification is given for distinguishing two stages in the development of this market. The reasons for the successful development of Chinese companies in the field of e-commerce were identified, and China’s leading platforms in three types of e-commerce were studied: B2C, B2B, C2C. The study showed the great importance of e-commerce in the development of the Chinese economy, as it contributed to solving the most important tasks such as eliminating poverty, raising the living standards of both the urban and rural population.Aim. To explore the process of formation and development of Chinese e-commerce market.Tasks. To study and analyze the formation and development of e-commerce market, as well as to consider main events of a new stage of its development in the structure of the Chinese economy.Methods. In this work, we used such empirical methods as comparative analysis, such theoretical research methods as deduction; the method of historical analysis was used, as well as statistical methods and general logical methods (analysis and synthesis).Results. The study showed the great importance of e-commerce in the development of Chinese economy. It contributes to solution of such critical tasks as raising the living standards of both urban and rural populations, eradicating widespread poverty, etc. China is the world’s leader in terms of retail e-commerce. «Alibaba Group» has been the leader in B2B, B2C and C2C for many years. Today, Chinese companies are leaders in the global e-commerce markets. Results of the study are based on the analysis of information obtained from various available sources, including official statistics.Conclusion. The importance of e-commerce in the development of the Chinese economy in the 21st century is great. And this, in our opinion, is the merit of Chinese government, which supports development of the country’s technical progress, including development of e-commerce. Moreover, China’s transition to mobile Internet has accelerated development of e-commerce. At the same time, important factors in accelerating the development of this industry are active competition of companies in this area, support from private entrepreneurs in other countries and, most importantly, support from Chinese government. And all this has contributed to the fact that the Chinese e-commerce market has developed faster than e-markets of other countries.

Cyberspace has become a place where Internet users, in addition to performing everyday activities, such as communicating with other users, having fun or doing business, can very easily become victims of various cybercriminal activities. Criminals have improved and adapted their traditional criminal methods and with the help of digital technologies, they can harm both gullible individuals and governments themselves. Unlike real space, in the digital environment, cybercriminals can remain anonymous and avoid sanction by the authorities. Such cybercrime groups are often organized and operate at the international level, which makes it even more difficult to identify criminals. The aim of this paper is to inform about the methods used by individual cybercriminals, but also organized criminal groups, and suggests the need for international joint cooperation of all competent authorities, but also the need to inform and harmonize laws in this domain, in order to combat such illegal cyber activities more effectively.

Cet article examine l’impact de la communication médiatisée sur le mode d’écriture. Il examine trois hypothèses dans une analyse d’un corpus composé d’échantillons de textes provenant d’un forum en ligne et d’une variété d’autres sources. Les résultats suggèrent que la communication médiatisée a un impact sur l’écriture de diverses manières, incluant les habitudes de travail, les processus cognitifs et l’évaluation de la manière dont l’écriture est effectuée.

The COVID-19 health and economic crisis has affected all areas of social life globally, including the economy. The world economy has declined due to purchasing power for individuals who have been forced to stay at home and cannot perform work. These restrictions to prevent the spread of SARS-Cov-2 have led to an increase in electronic commerce and mobile commerce as tools for procuring goods and services. In this paper, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of mobile commerce as an essential electronic commerce component, establishing the main drivers of mobile commerce and the intensity of their influences. The research focuses on mobile commerce in the United States (U.S.). It covers the period 2010–2020, the last year of this period capturing the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on electronic commerce (e-commerce) and mobile commerce (m-commerce). In the macroeconomic analysis of competitiveness, we established the main drivers of m-commerce, using artificial neural networks and the mediation effects found between the variables that describe m-commerce, e-commerce, and total sales, using structural equation modeling. The research results indicate an increase in the share of e-commerce in total sales and a predominance of the m-commerce share in e-commerce on the background of traffic restrictions and social distance rules imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders in the m-commerce area should consider the following enhancing drivers: increasing internet speed, expanding 5G and Wi-Fi networks, and increasing accessibility and trust in mobile devices and applications.

In the context of digitalization, there is a rapid growth of e-commerce, so it is a relevant issue. This implies the need to improve digital technologies, develop Internet platforms, set up sales channels and Internet marketing tools for promotion on the online market in order to obtain the planned profit. The subject of the research is organizational and managerial relations and processes that arise in enterprises working in the field of online marketing and e-commerce. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the role and place of e-commerce in the context of digitalization, as well as to analyze the state of the e-commerce market in modern conditions. The article reveals the ever-in- creasing role of e-commerce in the innovative modernization of the Russian economy; substantiates the need for widespread use of Internet marketing opportunities in order to attract consumers of goods and services, as well as market partners for the implementation of business projects. An analysis of the scale of e-commerce has showed that in recent years, the Russian e-commerce market has grown by an average of 29% per year, reaching 2,06 trillion rub. by 2019 in the total volume. Organization of electronic commerce in the market involves the implementation of a number of stages: analysis of the market situation; selection of e-commerce channels, ensuring the effectiveness of sales; controlling and evaluating the effectiveness of online trading. At present, various types of Internet platforms are currently used: stock exchanges, corporate sites, forums and industry clubs, landing pages, informa- tion blogs and magazines, trading platforms, rubrics, bulletin boards, etc., depending on the specific characteristics, features and promotion tools. It has been concluded that the prospects for the devel- opment of e-commerce in modern conditions are associated with the need to develop digital technol- ogies, overcome the digital divide, as well as the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises into the global Internet space.

Purpose – This article examines the pressing problem of ensuring the right to Internet access as a basic human right that is fundamental for the formation and the development of the modern information society. The purpose of the study is to promote the idea of adhering to such right, clarifying conceptual approaches, to understand its content as reflected in the decisions of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as determining both the place and the role of this right in the European mechanism for the provision of human rights at the current stage of the information society. Methodology/Approach/Design – In order to reach a comprehensive understanding of the human right to Internet access and to reduce the level of digital inequality both in the European countries and globally, several authors have given their suggestions, which are considered appropriate for their implementation by international organizations, governments, telecommunication companies, and Internet service providers. Findings – By propelling this analysis, the authors advocate the need to recognize the right to Internet access as one of the inalienable human rights that are necessary for decent living and development in the information society. Special attention is given to the fact that the right to Internet access, due to its unique kind allows individuals to exercise other rights, namely the right to information, the right to freedom of opinion and the dissemination thereof, the right to freedom of assembly and association, the right to education, among others. This imposes positive obligations on states to ensure the human right to Internet access and to create a safe and favorable Internet environment for all.

Social networks are increasingly consolidating their place in the process of recruiting candidates for advertised vacancies, and organizations are encouraged to consider their implementation in their employment strategies so that activities in identifying top talent are cost-effective, targeted and competitive. It has almost become a rule that employers check so-called background information on candidates via social networks, while potential candidates also obtain information about employers from several sources. The aim of the research is the connection between different target groups in the process of recruiting candidates and different social media, on which job vacancies are posted, for each of the three different positions: manager, professional/technical level and intern. The research was conducted in the Republic of Serbia from May to June 2021; questionnaires were distributed in electronic form, with 133 respondents taking part. Twitter advertising is significantly and positively correlated to the recruitment of women and the elderly for managerial positions, while advertising on LinkedIn is also significantly and positively correlated to the recruitment of women to managerial positions. The results were almost identical for technical and professional positions. The most significant difference in the connection between the recruitment target groups and the social media, on which the vacancies are posted, was identified for positions intended for interns.

The paper examines the views of Internet users concerning the protection of their rights on the Internet. The Web survey, conducted by the snowball sampling, included 783 Internet users who expressed their views regarding the ways the state (Serbia) and private agents (Facebook and Google) relate to the right of freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet. Also, the survey was used to examine the individual responsibility of users when it comes to the use of Internet services. Several hypotheses suggested that Internet users in Serbia do not have confidence in the country and private actors on the issue of protecting their rights. However, users also do not demonstrate a satisfactory level of individual responsibility. The most important findings indicate that: 1) only one-sixth of the respondents consider that the Government of the Republic of Serbia does not violate the privacy of Internet users; 2) almost half of the respondents do not feel free to express their views criticizing the government; 3) almost 90% of users are not satisfied how Facebook protects their privacy, while it is 1% lower in the case of Google; 4) a third of respondents answered positively to the question whether they had read terms of use of the analyzed companies, but half of them did not give a correct answer to the main questions; 5) only 8.9% of respondents who claimed to have read terms of use are aware of the fact that Facebook shares their data with third parties.

The article proposes a methodology that can be used to study the intellectual component of the e-economy system, under which the author understands the knowledge, abilities and skills of the population that are at the disposal of this system, as well as the system of their acquisition, storage and transfer that can be used to achieve the goals of the existence and development of this system. The proposed methodology is based on the study of skills in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and behavioral features of the population of the Republic of Belarus in the e-economy environment, which means the need of conducting a sociological survey. The article also proposes a methodology for justifying a sample population for carrying out such research. Results of the research conducted by the author on the level and frequency of use of computer devices and the Internet by the population of Belarus are presented, as well as factors influencing these characteristics of the development of the intellectual component of the e-economy of the Republic of Belarus.

The article proposes a methodology that can be used to study the intellectual component of the e-economy system, under which the author understands the knowledge, abilities and skills of the population that are at the disposal of this system, as well as the system of their acquisition, storage and transfer that can be used to achieve the goals of the existence and development of this system. The proposed methodology is based on the study of skills in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and behavioral features of the population of the Republic of Belarus in the e-economy environment, which means the need of conducting a sociological survey. The article also proposes a methodology for justifying a sample population for carrying out such research. Results of the research conducted by the author on the level and frequency of use of computer devices and the Internet by the population of Belarus are presented, as well as factors influencing these characteristics of the development of the intellectual component of the e-economy of the Republic of Belarus.

Quick internet coverage all over the world created new possibilities of its usage as a new mass media which are more flexible, dynamic and, what is more important, almost uncontrollable. And they require approaches and knowledges which differ from existing ones. So companies, which want to be active in the biggest net and want to influence on theirs target audiences, they started to develop direction of internet (on-line) marketing. New marketing activities created new professions directly connected to internet. In recent years on-line marketing became very important part of marketers’ life and very fashionable. Every company which understands the importance of new technologies actively lives in the internet. Its marketing activity is more and more concentrated on internet. So, main aim of this article is to investigate the company’s real possibilities to catch Ukrainian target audience through the internet. So, the next tasks were set to achieve purpose given above: to analyze internet penetration in Ukraine and compare it with other countries, to separate the types of target audience who uses internet on the regular base, to investigate the presence of people with high purchasing power in the internet and determine their activity in the net. The research’s methodology of this paper is based on comparative analysis – for observation of internet penetration in different countries; scientific cognition – for analysis of social groups in internet; system-activity principle as a part of system principles – when a part of internet users is separated according to their activity and income level; specific-scientific methodology – for formalization of utilization of offline marketing tools; scientific abstraction – for the conclusions. Some research results are based on demographic statistics; results of periodic investigation of internet users’ profile. Results of the research show that big amount of potential consumers with highest purchasing power aren’t regular internet users. That is why the offline marketing practices need to be observed as a substitute of online marketing. And significant part of the paper is dedicated to find out which offline marketing instruments are still useful for Ukrainian consumers. Real examples of offline marketing are giv-en, including experience of well-known Ukrainian IT-companies who are leaders of modern technologies implementations. Analysis of most common offline marketing techniques shows that even progressive companies of information and communication technology sector often use such instruments.

In the article the author tells of manipulation methods and mechanisms which have an influence upon motivation activity internet-user. The author remarks that mass media are a fruitful environment for use for the application of different manipulation technical methods, because perform both informational and performance functions. In the Internet this influence is strong due to the fact that the dynamic development of this industry, the viral nature of information transmission in the Network, growth in the number of Internet users, as well as the possibility roundthe-clock access to these resources from any point of the globe. The accelerating pace of life has changed not only the form of presenting information, but also the nature of consumption, making it more sensitive and aware. In this regard, there is a growing need in the ability to navigate in the new coordinate system and the competent use of techniques from the Arsenal of manipulative techniques, taking into account the new ideology of mass consumption.

This research tries to study the effect of information limitation on the users’ tendency toward using Internet information amongst adolescents and youth in the Tehran. After reviewing research theoretical and practical literature, using internet has been defined as using Internet for gathering information and for task and professional purposes like as scientific use and news reading. Theoretical explanation of the information limitation effect on the users' tendency has been possible based on sociological and Communication theories. In relationship between two mentioned variables, Two moderator variables – social and economical status and use experience- has been studied .This study research method is survey and research data has been gathered using questionnaire. Our population is 15 to 29 years old adolescents and youth in the Tehran. Assessing data gathered from 384 respondents show that adolescents and youth have average tendency toward information using. Hypothesis testing shows that information limitation has a negatively significant correlation with users’ attitude. Based on the research, users’ experience and social and economical status don’t have a significant correlation with the information limitation effect on the users’ tendency.

The article is devoted to the formation and implementation of the digital agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union. It describes the nature of the digital agenda, its objectives and strategies. The effectiveness of the implementation of the digital agenda of the EAEU, predicted by the specialists of the World Bank and the Eurasian Economic Commission, is considered. The characteristics of the starting conditions for the economic development of the EAEU member states at the time of the formation of the digital agenda is given. The analysis of the relative weight of Internet users, the readiness index for the electronic government and its components, as well as the coefficients of variation of these indicators is carried out. Based on this analysis, the place of the Republicof Belarusin the regional processes of the digital transformation of the economy and the reduction of the digital divide between the EAEU countries in 2006-2016 were identified. The analysis also led to identification of problems in the field of digital transformation of the economy, facing the EAEU countries, and possible ways of their solution.

The article is devoted to the formation and implementation of the digital agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union. It describes the nature of the digital agenda, its objectives and strategies. The effectiveness of the implementation of the digital agenda of the EAEU, predicted by the specialists of the World Bank and the Eurasian Economic Commission, is considered. The characteristics of the starting conditions for the economic development of the EAEU member states at the time of the formation of the digital agenda is given. The analysis of the relative weight of Internet users, the readiness index for the electronic government and its components, as well as the coefficients of variation of these indicators is carried out. Based on this analysis, the place of the Republicof Belarusin the regional processes of the digital transformation of the economy and the reduction of the digital divide between the EAEU countries in 2006-2016 were identified. The analysis also led to identification of problems in the field of digital transformation of the economy, facing the EAEU countries, and possible ways of their solution.

Motivation: Knowledge management is currently one of the most important factors determining the company’s market position. It depends not only on the skilful use of resources, but also on obtaining a synergistic effect. To manage knowledge, managers must possess not only the appropriate resources of knowledge, but also must have determined management structure with the assistance of the IT (information technology) tools.Aim: The purpose of the article was to present how the modern enterprise knowledge management process is supported by information technology. For this purpose, was summarized selected indicators characterizing the use of ICT in various types of enterprises in the country. It assumed that it is important not only the equipment the companies with information technology tools, but also the degree of use of these tools.Results: Usage of ICT in Poland reaches ratios much lower than the average for the European Union. Large differences in the use of information technology occurs in individual groups of companies. Larger companies have reached a much higher degree of saturation of IT tools than smaller objects. For example, the number of Polish enterprises with computers was 94.7%, in the case of large companies it is 99.8%. Even greater discrepancy relates to access to the Internet. You may also notice differences in each province. Introduction of modern technologies related to computer science and computers (eg. cloud computing, big data, social media, e-commerce etc) enables effective knowledge management in companies. The indicators show that the management team appreciates the importance of knowledge and consistently invests for its development.

Nowadays, Internet banking is a service provided by all Romanian banks which has become a daily need for millions of users. This study contains a brief overview of the Internet banking services usage level in the European Union for the period 2007-2016. An increasing in the use of Internet banking services in the EU can be observed at the level of the analysed period. At the same time we compared the users (individuals aged 16 to 74) of Internet banking services to other European countries and we found that the users of the Internet banking services in Romania are still far below the European average but the trend is an upward one. In this study we have focused our attention only on Internet banking, as it is the most commonly used payment instrument in the Romanian practice of remote access payment instruments. The indicators considered in this study were the Internet banking users and the Internet users. We have used the model of the simple linear regression to highlight the existence of a relationship between the variables. In this respect we used statistical data taken from Eurostat and Romanian Ministry of Communications and Information Society as well as data provided by the Romanian National Institute of Statistics for the period 2009-2014. The results of the model have pointed out the fact that the rise of the number of Internet users leads to an increase of the number of Internet banking users.

Netnograghy as a new approach in social networks and Internet communications analyzes customers' suggestions and opinions in the form of comments. Making use utilization of quantitative techniques in order to analyze, detect the meaning and recognize the signals of mainly incomplete opinions of customers is vital for managers. In this paper, firstly by the aid of grounded theory method, the meaning and important criterions of user comments in mobile shopping sites have been recognized and then these criterions have been graded based on decision making by experts and fuzzy preference relations with incomplete information. Analyze of users' comments proved six parameters: price, beauty, process speed, screen quality, battery as well as camera are significant, and among them, based on fuzzy relations with incomplete approach, beauty with value of 0.27563 is of utmost importance for users

E-learning in modern societies becomes particularly significant, when one takes into account such factors as the extensiveness of communities, the swift development and the need for constant education of citizens, time limitations for modern citizens as well as traffic issues, a lack of physical space and the high construction costs. The enhancement of the effectiveness and efficiency of this method in education and training are other advantages compared to the traditional one. A country’s health system can develop the internet use in the field of healthcare by laying down foundations for improvement. The study was conducted using a survey in 2013 with the aim of examining the role of e-learning in raising health awareness of young internet users. The statistical population of the study was a group of 200 female students at Allameh Tabataba’i University. Based on Cochran formula, 130 students were selected as the sample size and for the sample selection random sampling was used. Inferential findings of the study show that the main hypothesis of the researcher was proven. The findings of the research show that according to Uses and Gratification Theory, health messages and information of medical and health websites play a key role in changing the attitudes and health behavior of users; and compared to other media, a large number of their health information needs is met through them. In addition, based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, respondents consider these messages and information as important factors for strengthening and maintaining their own optimal health, using them for managing their own health.

Social media sites and the internet have opened up new spaces for self-identity and the construction of social relationships. Technology communications affect human relationships by introducing innovations for individual and collective representations, but the direction and intensity of these changes may be diverse and even reinforce old patterns from the past, particularly from a gender perspective. While feminist utopians heralded the internet as a space free from gender stereotypes, evidence suggests sexist patterns still remain in place today. This work investigates several phenomena on social media sites (egobloggers, YouTubers, influencers) from a gender perspective. This analysis confirms that although some practices on social media sites display new relationships and new constructions of self-identities, others reveal the persistence of sexism and gender discrimination, even though it may be invisible to the actors and the audience. This paper argues that a code of ethics is necessary to regulate users’ activity on social media sites, creating conscious values about the (un)explored consequences of common internet activities. Some guidelines for creating this code of ethics from a gender perspective are presented in the last section.

Research background: With globalization on the Internet, the economy is gaining a wide range of new opportunities. The economic activity carried out using the latest IT - technologies is effective and profitable. E-commerce is one of the main components of the “new economy", which is gaining increasing practical importance. The effectiveness of electronic commerce is determined by the fact that with this form of trading transaction costs are reduced, i.e. the costs associated with the search and processing of information, negotiating and signing contracts, as a result of which the process of buying and selling and concluding transactions is simplified, opportunities for attracting investments are expanded, and geographical accessibility is improved. Online commerce in Azerbaijan is at the development stage and has broad prospects for further growth. Purpose of the article: The main goal of the article is to analyze the possibilities of developing online commerce in Azerbaijan and evaluate the factors influencing its development in the context of globalization. Methods: The author carries out a comparative analysis of the development of online commerce in a number of countries, uses a systematic approach to analyze the main problems that limit the development of e-commerce in Azerbaijan. Findings & Value added: The article analyzes the main problems limiting the development of online commerce in the country and contain a number of recommendations for the further development of e-commerce in Azerbaijan.

This paper offers an interdisciplinary study on mechanisms of homophily in virtual social network at Graduate University of Zanjan. Despite the significance of homophily, not many studies have been done on it. It is for this reason this paper sets its objective to study homophily in Iran and considers its unit of analysis to be Graduate University of Zanjan. Theoretically the paper uses a theoretical synthesis based on what homophily means in the discipline of Network Science and Technology and combines it with the concept of homophily in Communication and Sociology. Methodologically, the paper collects its data from among students at Graduate University of Zanjan during a period of 2009 and 2014. We used some interviews and set up some face-to face interviews with questionnaires in addition to observations in order to complete the data gathering. Then we calculated the number of connections with similar characteristics of individuals and subtracted them from total connections expected in a random situation so to measure homophily. Here the paper has measured characteristics or variables such as gender, graduate degree level, discipline, city of residence, marital status, and year of entering university. Some of the results indicate that students, who use social network of Graduate University of Zanjan, select their friends based on the following characteristics and in the following order: similarity in gender, marital status, degree level, discipline, year of entering university, and city of residence. Our observations indicate that religious norms play a special role in communicating with opposite sex.

The subject of this research is to analyze the way in which students use content on the Internet. The emphasis is on the educational and informational needs of students in the selected statistical sample. Internet sites are structured according to the preferences of students. In this sense, have been explicitly included in the analysis of educational content, information, and entertainment. After a field study on a sample of 238 students conducted a quantitative analysis and qualitative assessment derived. Data were processed in SPSS software. The results showed how students estimate the total amount of time you spend on the Internet. Conclusions also apply to the assessment of the same time, as a possible limiting factors in terms of contacts, which have to do with real social environment. Data evaluation is based on the need to analyze the habits and behavior of students on the Internet as well as their organization of time in relation to the Work-life balance.

The article proposes an analysis regarding the relationship between Internet usage and language. Moreover, it highlights the impact the latter have on the human interactions depicted by future knowledge societies within the framework of the Information Age. This endeavor explores from a linguistic perspective how cyber users’ native language affects their Internet usage patterns. Hence, its final goal is to determine whether the Internet is expected to remain overbalanced in English usage. In this respect, the relationship between web users’ native language and the language content of the Internet websites they access is also examined based on statistic data.

The author examines the technologies of network manipulation, which are used to influence public opinion in the Internet social network «Vkontakte». The article gives comparative analysis of propaganda activities of the groups, that loyal to the regime and antigovernment communities, and provides examples of methods of manipulative influence used in social networks.

Introduction: In India, approximate 14% of the adults are smokers. Low follow-up rate and missed opportunities of de addiction are the main challenges for Tobacco control Program. Review shows the positive impact of web-based interventions to quit smoking. With increasing internet use among Indians, study was done to explore possibility of web base smoking cessation intervention. Methodology: To study the objective, a website named ‘Smoke Free India’ was created by the investigators. Total 113 responses were collected through web-based survey and analyzed for nicotine dependency with standard measuring guidelines. Results: Around 37.17 % of responders were under 20 years of age. Among total respondents, 82.3 % were male. After adjusting for confounders, risk factors increasing nicotine dependency were age < 25 years (b1= 2.41), affected marital status (b2 = 0.23), years spend in smoking habit (b3=0.41), feeling tired of quitting (b4= 0.70) while late evening time of smoking first cigarette of day (b5= -0.34) and living with family (b6= -0.28) were protective factors. Almost 90.3% thought that they would be comfortable to use Internet services to quit smoking. Conclusions: The study find out the factors associated with nicotine dependence. Familiarity and willingness to use Internet services open the door for web based de addiction services.

The relationship between innovation and consumption among internet users is not uniform. This research shows different relationships between innovation and consumption in terms of the level of involvement in music from an internet survey of 1,000 music users. We measure the level of involvement in music using the two levels of components of involvement suggested by Lastovicka and Gardner (1979). For the analysis, we divide the samples into the “high involvement” and “low involvement” groups and examine each group for their relationship between innovation, indicated by “making one’s own music and posting one’s songs or performances on the internet,” and consumption, indicated by “average amount of money spent on music downloads per year.” The results show that there are heterogeneous characteristics among high and low levels of involvement groups in the aspects of consumption and innovation behavior. In the low involvement group, users actively innovating are also actively consuming. However, in the high involvement group, there is no clear relationship between innovation and consumption. To put it concretely, the consumption per innovating user is approximately four times more than that of non-innovating users in the low involvement group, but it is about the same in the high involvement group. In addition, the consumption per innovating user in the low involvement group is approximately two times more than that of innovating users in the high involvement group.

Despite common stereotypes about those who use different types of online dating, psychological research on online dating agency users’ characteristics is actually very limited, and no scientific study has yet examined the individual characteristics of Tinder™ users. The current exploratory study aimed to investigate why individuals use these services, and how they differ in terms of sociability, self-esteem, and sexual permissiveness, with the aim of stimulating further research in the field. Participants (N = 75) were recruited over social media and completed questionnaires assessing motivation to use online dating, sociability, self-esteem, and sexual permissiveness. No differences were found in motivations, suggesting that people may use both Online Dating Agencies and Tinder™ for similar reasons. Tinder users in the current sample were younger than online dating agency users, which accounted for observed group differences in sexual permissiveness. There were no differences in self-esteem or sociability between the groups. Men were more likely than women to use both types of dating to find casual sex partners than women. Men also scored more highly on a measure of sexual permissiveness than women. These findings support previous research in indicating that users of both Tinder™ and Online Dating Agencies do not differ from the general population.

Crowdsourcing is a concept that first appeared in an article written by Jeff Howe in 2006 in the Wired Magazine in which the author illustrates the emerging phenomena of the outsourcing of various activities by companies to an undefined generally large group of people on the Internet in the form of an open call. Although this process has long been limited to the computing sector, it currently tends to cater a wider number of sectors. Firms using this process are always more numerous in order to outsource, for limited financial compensations, activities that cannot be completed by their own employees or considered too costly in terms of manpower, finances and time. This paper aims at defining, through concrete examples, how Crowdsourcing directly impact on the variables of the mix-marketing such as product development, price positioning, distribution and communication but also people, process and physical evidence. At last, the article focuses on the potential evolution of the Crowdsourcing in the coming years.

Objective: to research the criminality in the sphere of telecommunications and computer information and elaborate efficient measures of its prevention. Methods: ascent from the abstract to the specific; systemic-structural analysis; historical method; dynamic and statistical methods, specific-sociological methodology of estimating criminality. Results: the features of crimes in the sphere of telecommunications and computer information are shown by their public threat. Efficient preventive measures are suggested. Scientific novelty: analysis is carried out of dynamics of crimes in the sphere of telecommunications and computer information registered in the Russian Federation, to the number of Internet users in 2009–2012. Conclusions are made that the viewed crimes are latent. Practical value: The research results allow to trace the level of latency of such crimes, and to optimize measures for their counteraction.

Broad ad targeting options belong among the major advantages of internet advertising. Demographic targeting has become a standard option in most of on-line advertising systems. There are more ways how to target on-line advertisements by using demographic variables. In some cases, e.g., social media, we can use data from user registrations. Modern technologies enable to estimate the demographic profile of internet users using on behavioural data. The traditional approach to the demographic targeting of advertisements based on affinity targeting assumes the existence of internet servers with sufficient homogeneity of visits. The aim of this article is to identify the differences in the internet content consumption habits of Czech internet users based on gender and age. The analysis is based on the data from the extensive research which was carried out by the Netmonitor project, and which was provided for the purposes of this study by the Association for Internet Development (SPIR). The research results show that the traditional affinity-based method of targeting according to gender and age is still suitable on the Czech internet. On the other hand, in some cases, the traditional approach of ad targeting based on affinity leads to wasted ad impressions that miss defined target group.

Este artículo matiza la aplicación del concepto de “cibercampaña” en el Sur de Europa a partir de dos encuestas sobre el uso de las herramientas digitales y el consumo de información política en Internet durante la campaña electoral de 2008 en España. La primera encuesta fue dirigida a los internautas en general y la segunda a quienes se conectaron con una alta frecuencia y llamamos internautas intensivos. Comparamos estos resultados con los de la población española y del extranjero. Entre los hallazgos destacan: el bajo uso de los recursos disponibles en la Red (no atribuible al grado de implantación de las nuevas tecnologías), el policonsumo de información política a partir de múltiples medios, con inercias heredadas del consumo mediático tradicional y la escasa importancia de los dispositivos más interactivos. Estos rasgos son imputables a ciertos desequilibrios entre la demanda ciudadana y la oferta de las herramientas tecnológicas y los contenidos que los actores políticos vehiculan en Internet durante las elecciones. También constatamos la existencia de una minoría de cibernautas muy activa que resulta importante en términos cualitativos y que justifica el empleo electoral de la Red. Sin embargo, los internautas más intensivos apenas muestran más interés ni mayor participación telemática en la cibercampaña, evidenciando así sus limitaciones.

Objetivos: Describir las actitudes de los hombres que tienen sexo con hombres hacia los programas de prevención on-line del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) y de las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS), e identificar y caracterizar perfiles de usuarios con respecto a sus actitudes hacia estos programas de prevención. Método: Encuesta aplicada en lugares/locales de ambiente gay o a través de Internet contestada por 2044 participantes de Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao y San Sebastián. La encuesta investigó, además de variables sociodemográficas, conductas sexuales y otras variables asociadas a riesgo de infección por el VIH, las actitudes hacia los programas de prevención on-line. El análisis estadístico incluyó análisis factorial y análisis de clusters no jerárquicos. Resultados: La mayoría de los hombres tuvieron actitudes favorables hacia los programas de prevenciónon-line del VIH y las ITS. El análisis factorial reveló dos factores: prevención on-line orientada a la interacción y prevención on-line orientada a la información. A partir de estos factores se determinaron tres perfiles de usuarios: usuarios orientados hacia la prevención on-line informativa e interactiva (53,5%), usuarios orientados hacia la prevención on-line interactiva (25,9%) y usuarios no orientados hacia la prevención on-line (20,7%). Al caracterizar estos perfiles, observamos una presencia significativa de hombres que no están interesados en la prevención on-line entre aquellos con menor nivel de estudios, bisexuales y VIH positivos. Inversamente, los más receptivos a la prevención on-line eran hombres con identidad gay, con nivel de estudios de licenciatura, que se han hecho la prueba del VIH y que son VIH negativos. Conclusión: Internet puede facilitar la promoción de la salud sexual entre los hombres que tienen sexo con hombres. La caracterización de los perfiles de usuarios ofrece la posibilidad de segmentar los programas de prevención del VIH y las ITS, combinando estrategias on-line y off-line.Objectives: To describe the attitudes of men who have sex with men (MSM) toward online HIV/sexually-transmitted infection (STI) prevention programs and to identify and characterize user profiles with regard to their attitudes toward online prevention programs. Method: A survey in gay venues or via the internet was completed by 2,044 participants from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastián (Spain). The survey explored socio-demographic variables, sexual behavior and other risk behaviors associated with HIV infection, as well as attitudes toward online prevention programs. The statistical analysis included factor analysis and non-hierarchical cluster analysis. Results: Most MSM had positive attitudes towards online HIV/STI prevention programs. Factor analysis revealed two factors: online prevention aimed at interaction and online prevention aimed at information. Based on these factors, three user profiles were identified: users oriented toward informative and interactive online prevention (53.5%), users oriented toward interactive online prevention (25.9%) and users were not oriented toward online prevention (20.7%). On characterizing these profiles, we observed a significant presence of men who were not interested in online prevention among those with a lower educational level, bisexual men and HIV-positive men. Conversely, those most receptive to online prevention were men self-identified as gay, those with a bachelors degree, those who had been tested for HIV and those who were HIV-negative. Conclusion: The internet can facilitate sexual health promotion among MSM. Characterization of user profiles offers the possibility of segmenting prevention programs and of combining online and offline strategies.

Background: Internet addiction disorder is an interdisciplinary phenomenon and it has been studied from different viewpoints in terms of various sciences such as medicine, computer, sociology, law, ethics, and psychology. The aim of this study was to determine the association of psychiatric symptoms with Internet addiction while controlling for the effects of age, gender, marital status, and educational levels. It is hypothesized, that high levels of Internet addiction are associated with psychiatric symptoms and are specially correlated with obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a total number of 250 students from Isfahan′s universities were randomly selected. Subjects completed the demographic questionnaire, the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire (YDQ) and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R). Data was analyzed using the multiple logistic regression method. Results: There was an association between psychiatric symptoms such as somatization, sensitivity, depression, anxiety, aggression, phobias, and psychosis with exception of paranoia; and diagnosis of Internet addiction controlling for age, sex, education level, marital status, and type of universities. Conclusions: A great percentage of youths in the population suffer from the adverse effects of Internet addiction. It is necessary for psychiatrists and psychologists to be aware of the mental problems caused by Internet addiction.

The data regarding the development of information technologies, the growth of information resources, the formation of information society in Russia. We consider the main trends of development of the Internet, using services provided by a global network of Russia's segment of the network - Runet. It is noted that in a competitive environment («Library - Internet») should review existing approaches to not only to the forms and methods of work, but also to the mission of libraries in general, given the current capabilities of information resources and technologies.

The main problem on the Internet is not having access to information, but the way in which the information is filtered and selected appropriately. Because the Internet is a huge reservoir of information which does not benefit from the services of a librarian or a catalogue, the search engines have an increasingly important role in selecting the information. Statistics show that over 80% of the traffic to Internet sites is generated by search engines. If 8 out of 10 Internet users turn to a search engine in order to find the desired information, about the same number of people say they are frustrated by the inability of getting this information. Hence, the increasing importance of selecting information by the search engines, as well as filtering the information content by the user. These are the issues dealt with in this article.

Business environment incessantly bringing a yard of a new challenges to market entities. One of the greatest challenges that companies faced during the last couple of decades was development of information systems as well as a large scale usage of world's greatest computer network - Internet - no matter how big they were or what their activities included. There are many papers about Internet, its development, social and economic significance. However, there is no paper or article written by a local author that systematically and thoroughly treats marketing importance of Internet. This paper presents potentials and business importance of internet marketing in new millennium. It considers internet as a communication, trade and distribution channel. In addition, the paper highlights research potentials of Internet.