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Exploring the perceived opinion of social media users about the Ukraine–Russia conflict through the naturalistic observation of tweets

Authors:
Aasif Ahmad Mir
Aasif Ahmad Mir
Rathinam Sevukan at Pondicherry University
Rathinam Sevukan
Sumeer Gul at University of Kashmir
Sumeer Gul
Suhail Bhat at VIT-AP University
Suhail Bhat
  • VIT-AP University
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Abstract

The purpose of the study is to explore and analyze the opinions of people associated with the Ukraine–Russia conflict expressed via User Generated Content (UGC), i.e., tweets and their influence on digital social circles. The "Twitter streaming application programming interface" (API) was used to retrieve the tweets against Ukraine–Russia conflict. The data were collected on March 31st, 2022, and analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The content analysis of tweets was carried out to interpret and code the content of tweets. The geographical location of users was identified by accessing the profile of every user and the location mentioned by users on their profiles was looked up on the Internet to determine the precise location so that the data can be categorized through the country. To assess the impact of tweets, the engagement metrics (likes and Retweets) were taken into consideration as both the engagement metrics are treated as endorsements or acknowledgments on social media. The stated hypothesis is tested by performing an independent sample Z-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test on different variables of the study. The content analysis of the tweets highlights that Twitterers have varied opinions toward the Ukraine–Russia conflict, with a majority of tweets expressing support for Ukraine, followed distantly by the ones that ask for fundraising and donations for the distressed people of Ukraine and tweets that express descent toward Russia. As far as the geographical mapping of the tweets is concerned the tweets were posted around the globe, with an immense contribution from the USA, followed by Ukraine, United Kingdom and Canada, respectively. According to the credibility of Twitter accounts, it is found that unverified users posted the majority of tweets. However, the tweets posted by verified users have a more significant impact than those posted by unverified accounts by earning the most online attention score in terms of likes and retweets. Moreover, no significant difference between the format, gender groups and impact of tweets is found so it signifies that the format and gender of a tweet do not influence the engagement metrics of tweets. The research illustrates the diverse opinions of Twitter users on the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The study offers valuable insights on how online studies can be structured for information seeking and analysis to acquire exciting insights about the conflict.
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Social Network Analysis and Mining (2023) 13:44
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-023-01047-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Exploring theperceived opinion ofsocial media users
abouttheUkraine–Russia conflict throughthenaturalistic observation
oftweets
AasifAhmadMir2· SevukanRathinam2· SumeerGul1· SuhailAhmadBhat3
Received: 7 December 2022 / Revised: 12 February 2023 / Accepted: 17 February 2023 / Published online: 4 March 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2023, corrected publication 2023
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to explore and analyze the opinions of people associated with the Ukraine–Russia conflict
expressed via User Generated Content (UGC), i.e., tweets and their influence on digital social circles. The "Twitter streaming
application programming interface" (API) was used to retrieve the tweets against Ukraine–Russia conflict. The data were
collected on March 31st, 2022, and analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The content analysis of tweets was carried
out to interpret and code the content of tweets. The geographical location of users was identified by accessing the profile of
every user and the location mentioned by users on their profiles was looked up on the Internet to determine the precise loca-
tion so that the data can be categorized through the country. To assess the impact of tweets, the engagement metrics (likes
and Retweets) were taken into consideration as both the engagement metrics are treated as endorsements or acknowledg-
ments on social media. The stated hypothesis is tested by performing an independent sample Z-test and analysis of variance
(ANOVA) test on different variables of the study. The content analysis of the tweets highlights that Twitterers have varied
opinions toward the Ukraine–Russia conflict, with a majority of tweets expressing support for Ukraine, followed distantly by
the ones that ask for fundraising and donations for the distressed people of Ukraine and tweets that express descent toward
Russia. As far as the geographical mapping of the tweets is concerned the tweets were posted around the globe, with an
immense contribution from the USA, followed by Ukraine, United Kingdom and Canada, respectively. According to the
credibility of Twitter accounts, it is found that unverified users posted the majority of tweets. However, the tweets posted by
verified users have a more significant impact than those posted by unverified accounts by earning the most online attention
score in terms of likes and retweets. Moreover, no significant difference between the format, gender groups and impact of
tweets is found so it signifies that the format and gender of a tweet do not influence the engagement metrics of tweets. The
research illustrates the diverse opinions of Twitter users on the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The study offers valuable insights
on how online studies can be structured for information seeking and analysis to acquire exciting insights about the conflict.
Keywords Twitter· Conflict· Crisis communication· Text analysis· Online information extraction
The Original article is revised to update all the author names and
affiliations.
* Aasif Ahmad Mir
miraasif7298@gmail.com
Sevukan Rathinam
sevukan2002@yahoo.com
Sumeer Gul
sumeersuheel@gmail.com
Suhail Ahmad Bhat
suhail87icfai@gmail.com
1 Department ofLibrary andInformation Science, University
Of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
2 Department ofLibrary andInformation Science, Pondicherry
University, Puducherry, India
3 Department ofManagement Studies, University ofKashmir,
Srinagar, India
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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Applying sentiment analytics to examine social media crises: a case study of United Airline's crisis in 2017
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Purpose In recent years, social media crises occurred more and more often, which negatively affect the reputations of individuals, businesses and communities. During each crisis, numerous users either participated in online discussion or widely spread crisis-related information to their friends and followers on social media. By applying sentiment analysis to study a social media crisis of airline carriers, the purpose of this research is to help companies take measure against social media crises. Design/methodology/approach This study used sentiment analytics to examine a social media crisis related to airline carriers. The arousal, valence, negative, positive and eight emotional sentiments were applied to analyze social media data collected from Twitter. Findings This research study found that social media sentiment analysis is useful to monitor public reaction after a social media crisis arises. The sentiment results are able to reflect the development of social media crises quite well. Proper and timely response strategies to a crisis can mitigate the crisis through effective communication with the customers and the public. Originality/value This study used the Affective Norms of English Words (ANEW) dictionary to classify the words in social media data and assigned the words with two elements to measure the emotions: valence and arousal. The intensity of the sentiment determines the public reaction to a social media crisis. An opinion-oriented information system is proposed as a solution for resolving a social media crisis in the paper.
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