[Investigation of internet-communities' influence on the social inclusion of the elderly people through leisure practices.].

Modern society is characterized by the intensification of new interactions and new communities, in parallel with the interest in social exclusion-inclusion topic. As the Internet develops, the research interest is directed to studying the specifics of emerging communities in a virtual environment called as «online communities», «virtual communities» etc. The article presents the results of studying 7 online communities of older people in the social network VKontakte about leisure. The research was carried out on the basis of a network approach using automated data analysis tools that allows to evaluate communities characteristics, as well as information exchange processes between the participants. The method of network data analysis, automated online community analysis, as well as Gephi software packages and Socstat social network analysis service were used. In addition, qualitative data on content published in communities and offline activities were obtained. The study conducted came to conclusions about the formation of communities characterized by weak online connections between users of older age groups in VKontakte. In the studied groups, the real social community is formed initially in an offline environment where all key activities take place, and their organizers use social networks as one of the channels for informing the target audience. For effective social inclusion, it is necessary to maintain a certain level of trust in what is happening in the group and the information published, as well as relevant content that illuminates activities in an offline environment.