This essay explores the practices of gift-giving on the Russian platform darudar.org. We understand giving as one of the strategies of the consumer society, which aims to sustain and fuel consumer desires. We analyise the practices of gift-giving on www.darudar.org and the reasons for the popularity of this practice in the post-Soviet society. We problematise the relationship between online gift-giving and other symbolic exchanges of values. We maintain www.darudar.org has an important social function which protects users from non-consumption, and in this regard it is similar to the practices of the traditional society in which participation in the reciprocral exchange was a means to survive for all members of the society. www.darudar.org creates an environment of convergence which transforms our understanding of gift-giving in the era of new media.
Language of contribution: Russian