Hero(in)es of Our Time: Perceptions of Online Women's Rights Activists

This work is devoted to a new direction in communication and discussion of social problems – online activism. Thanks to the development of information technology, social networks, especially Instagram, have become one of the tools for solving social problems. The platform's opinion leaders or online activists are responsible for informing and promoting activities aimed at solving them. In Russia, one of the online movements is related to the issue of women's rights, a topic that is particularly relevant in the context of Russian society, which is still dominated by patriarchal views. So, it seemed necessary to study the perception of online activists by women who support women's rights movements. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that form a trusting attitude towards femactivists on the part of Instagram users. The paper uses a qualitative method of data analysis. The informants are a group of Instagram users who took part in one of the most popular flash mobs in the network "#yanehotelaumirat" in support of women's rights. The results showed that online activists enjoy the trust of their followers by showing off their personality. The presence of feedback and the maintenance of a personal dialogue also has an impact on the formation of a trusting relationship. The sincerity of an online activist is one of the key concepts in the decision to participate in the activities created by bloggers. The perception of the social issue related to fempovestok by Instagram users has changed since they subscribed to the online activist's page. Thus, the interviewees stopped considering the problem of women's rights as sensitive, and also began to independently take actions aimed at solving the problem. This involves investing in a resource to increase the number of online activists who raise the issue of women's rights.