Moscow

The Moscow Social Media Week opened with Russian and foreign researchers, journalists, editors, designers, managers and scientists discussing the latest trends in media and formulating the week’s key issues.

The participants were Elizabeth Heron, the New York Times’ social media editor; Maxim Trudolyubov, editor of Russian business daily Vedomosti; Natalia Loseva, news agency RIA Novosti’s multimedia- and new projects director; Andrei Podshibyakin, general director of marketing agency Social Insight and former managing editor for LiveJournal Russia; Jovan Sayvovich, designer, winner of the Russian Internet award POTOP++ in the Man of the Year category; Vasili Esmanov, co-founder of pop-culture site Look At Me, online male magazine FURFUR, online radio station Follow Me and online city newspaper the Village; Damian Kudryatsev, CEO of Kommersant publishing house, which issues the national newspaper of the same name as well as Ogonek newsmagazine and several thematic publications; and Michael Makeyenko, assistant-professor of media theory and economics at Moscow State University’s Journalism Faculty, PhD in philology, and scientist-researcher of social media.

The discussion’s participants spoke about changes in the communications- and media industry associated with the development of the Internet and new technologies. During the conversation, they tried to answer a range of questions: what’s the nature of communication through social networking and does it bring something really new; how to navigate through social media today and how to keep an objective picture of the world; what media formats are actively developing online and why; what role do social media play in the self-organization of residents, in addressing urban issues, in promoting democracy, improving the life of society, education, and promoting culture- and business prospects.