Russian-speaking diaspora has spread across the world during the last century and plays a significant role in cultural and political life of the host countries. But its virtual presence remains heavily understudied; it is only Russian-speaking news websites that have received some scholarly attention. This study aims at estimating the globality of mass self-communication of Russian emigrants on Instagram in the context of virtual diaspora studies as a new form of imagined communities. Instagram communication of emigrants illustrates how the nature of mass self-communication influences the nature of ties between diaspora members. We confirm the global scale of ties that are developed by the Russian-speaking “InstaMigrants” by network analysis. We also show that such seemingly apolitical publics possess a potential for politicization of everyday life and migration experience in unconventional ways.

上个世纪，讲俄语的侨民遍布世界各地，在东道国的文化和政治生活中发挥着重要作用。但它的虚拟存在仍未得到充分研究。只有俄语新闻网站受到了一些学术关注。本研究旨在评估作为一种新形式的想象社区的虚拟侨民研究背景下俄罗斯移民在 Instagram 上的大众自我交流的全球性。移民的 Instagram 交流说明了大众自我交流的性质如何影响侨民成员之间联系的性质。我们通过网络分析确认了由讲俄语的“InstaMigrants”开发的全球范围的联系。