The first blogs in Armenia were registered more than 5 years ago, though last year only deserving public attention. For the first time in 2008 the press service of the president of Armenia invited the bloggers to Serzh Sargsyan’s press conference. After a month the president had another meeting with them and answered their questions. Before that event a few journalists only knew about the blogs and bloggers.
“At first we were “loggers”, and then considered as somewhat extraordinary and new, without whom however it was impossible to pass the way to Europeanization and democratization,” says blogger Sergey Chamanyan. According to him, the invitation to the president’s press conference became a significant event, as it was an opportunity to explain their civic position. However the bloggers’ initiative to address questions to the president was responded differently by the Armenian mass-media. The press began to discuss the appropriateness of engaging bloggers in such events.
The first blogs in Armenia were registered more than 5 years ago, though last year only deserving public attention. For the first time in 2008 the press service of the president of Armenia invited the bloggers to Serzh Sargsyan’s press conference. After a month the president had another meeting with them and answered their questions. Before that event a few journalists only knew about the blogs and bloggers.
“At first we were “loggers”, and then considered as somewhat extraordinary and new, without whom however it was impossible to pass the way to Europeanization and democratization,” says blogger Sergey Chamanyan. According to him, the invitation to the president’s press conference became a significant event, as it was an opportunity to explain their civic position. However the bloggers’ initiative to address questions to the president was responded differently by the Armenian mass-media. The press began to discuss the appropriateness of engaging bloggers in such events.
“This reaction held up the process of bloggers’ participation in press conferences to some extent. It is necessary to understand, that blogging and journalism are different things, and a good journalist is not always a good blogger,” said blogger Tigran Kocharyan with five-year experience. The most popular Armenian bloggers have more readers, than some local newspapers. Sometimes the bloggers themselves become newsmakers and attract the journalists’ as well as the public attention towards this or that issue.
Eventually such kind of activity by the bloggers “made” also the politicians to expand their activities on the Internet. “Armenia is among the leading countries in terms of blogging; the first presidential blog has been opened here, and Armenia is one of the countries where the bloggers have communicated with the president and the prime minister,” says Tigran Kocharyan. The blog of President Serzh Sargsyan was opened last year, however soon it stopped to be updated. Nevertheless the tendency established by the president is continued.
Today Yerevan mayor Gagik Beglaryan has his own blog, and many parties and politicians of Armenia have opened pages in such social networks as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. According to Samvel Martirosyan, an expert in the field of information security, also a blogger and an independent journalist, the blogs of Armenian politicians are not something serious still. “Efforts are made to enter a new and modern field. But I do not yet see any serious steps in blogosphere. The politicians have got used to a format of press conferences and TV shows, which are more comfortable for them,” considers the expert.
There is still little difference between the politicians’ blogs and their official sites, and one can hardly find a blog where the records are posted by the politician himself. Last year “Prosperous Armenia” party started a program of promotion of the party’s official site. People involved in the program, entitled “New tools”, have been trained in the use of social networks by European experts and are interested how the obtained skills will work in Armenia.
“Our purpose is to bring the Internet users to our website which is an information base. In Facebook for example we are assisted by our volunteers who disseminate the information,” says the program coordinator Hayk Akarmazyan. According to him, the Armenian society does not use the Internet facilities for raising serious issues, and more often e-mails or comments making personal requests are posted on the pages of social networks and blogs.
Although the head of the party “Prosperous Armenia” Gagik Tsarukyan too has his blog, however the posts are made by the program members there. Akarmazyan excludes that Gagik Tsarukyan will manage his blog by himself, at least in the near future. “I do not think that it is effective for Armenian politicians to manage their blogs themselves at this time. It will be possible in the future when there is a new generation ready to communicate directly,” says Hayk Akarmazyan.
Not excluded that the British Ambassador to Armenia Mr. Charles Lonsdale, planning to manage his own blog, will soon be ready to directly communicate with his readers. According to Maria Sadoyan, press officer of the British Embassy in Yerevan, the ambassador will post topics not related to politics. “Of course the use of social networks and blogs requires time, as this is a 24-hour work needing efforts. But even the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has a blog. In terms of direct communication it is very important that the politician himself led a blog. It is own style, language providing feeling of sincere communication,” considers Maria Sadoyan.
Great Britain is known as an innovative country. That is why the British Embassy ventured to be the first among the foreign embassies in Armenia to open a Facebook page. Within two months since the page opening about 200 people have become its regular readers. “This was an internal decision of the embassy, however in London too there is an interest in the representation of the British Embassy in the social network.
And when we were discussing should an official institute such as the embassy have a page in Facebook, which is a free area where the comments should consistently be moderated and where there are problems with the censors, to my surprise I found even the U.S. State Department on the Facebook page,” says the press officer of the GB Embassy.
According to the famous British blogger Iain Dale, recently visited Yerevan, about 20 % of British parliamentarians have blogs and Twitter or Facebook pages. “The first blogs of British politicians appeared 5-6 years ago. But it is a slow process, since many of them are afraid to write something for what they will later regret,” explains Iain Dale. Number of Iain’s readers is 70 000 per month, and according to him, he has much more potential to influence the political life of Britain as a blogger, than if he was a politician.