TertAm The role of social networking websites should not be overestimated in terms of being powerful tools contributing to revolutions, an Armenian expert has said.

Arthur Atanesyan, the head of Applied Sociology Chair at the Yerevan State University, told Monday a news conference that the possibility of revolutions should not be linked to social networks.

"The expression of protest does not depend on the number of Internet users. The Internet is just an additional tool," he said, adding that the virtual networks actually reflect the relationship of people in real life.

"The Internet is very popular in Armenia. Some 450,000 people are registered on Odnoklassniki social networking website, where the Facebook subscribers' number is less – about 95,000 people. However, unlike the users of Odnoklassniki, those on Facebook are more active."

"With the activeness of its Facebook users, Armenia is the 124th country in the world. Georgia is in the 56th place, while Turkey and Azerbaijan rank as the 96th and the 4-th countries, respectively. However, the number of Armenian Facebook users has increased by 5,000 over the past six months, and if such trend is maintained Facebook subscribers may soon outnumber those registered in Odnoklassniki," the expert added.