Abstract:

Currently, social networks generate information flows characterized by a high level of dynamism and scale, including containing endangering the safety of users especially youth. In Russia, more than 90% of young people aged 14 to 18 are users of the Vkontakte social network. All of them are a potential risk group for exposure to insecure content. Despite the existing policy to counter and block unsafe web pages and user accounts conducted by law enforcement agencies, the number of dangerous content, is constantly growing. Therefore, the task of ensuring the psychological safety of students using methods of collecting and analyzing big data is relevant and significant for educational organizations. The search for dangerous content in a social network and the identification of its consumers among students can provide prevention of deviant and delinquent behavior, as well as ensure adequate socialization of young people in the modern infocommunication environment.

The work presents the Vkontakte search methodology for dangerous content (suicide, depression, alcohol and drugs, violence, biographies of maniacs, school shooting, nationalism, weapons, aesthetics of death, aesthetics of evil, hatred, transformation of the body), which can provoke or are a symptom of a predisposition to deviant and delinquent behavior. The search process uses linguistic markers related to the topic of dangerous content and the snowball method, identifying new sources of dangerous content through analysis of activity in the network of its authors and followers. We use the methods of the Vkontakte API and a special software tool for working with digital footprints of users on social networks. The data set of dangerous content collected as a result of the study can be used to monitor its distribution among students of educational institutions and entire regions. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the consumption of dangerous content by students of different age groups of more than 10,000 people (14 to 18 years old) and different regions of the Russian Federation. According to the results of the study, a prototype of an online service was developed to assess the level of consumption of dangerous content by students. Based on this tool, it is planned to design a system of psychological support for schoolchildren and students with the goal of preventing deviant and delinquent behavior.

Keywords:

Student support, psychological safety, social media, data mining, digital footprints, deviant behavior.