Doctoral defence: Ivan Slobozhan “Studying Online Social Media Engagement in CIS Countries during Protests, Mass Demonstrations and War“

To address this gap, this PhD thesis aims to undertake a comprehensive analysis of social media and the behaviour of active participants during significant political and socioeconomic events in CIS countries. We study at the following three levels of analysis:

One-side, individual level. In this aspect of our research, we focused on analyzing how individuals' behaviour on a specific Facebook group, representing one side of the conflict, was influenced by external events. Specifically, we looked at the changes in behaviour among active participants on the group's page before and after the Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine. Our investigation revealed that users altered their language patterns, which we attribute to political and historical factors.

One-side, collective level. In the next study, we examine the behaviour of numerous groups aligned with one side of the conflict. Specifically, we focused on observing the dynamics of multiple groups in Telegram that are likely to facilitate protests in Belarus during the 2020 protests. Our analysis entailed studying the activity of people on Telegram and tracking the evolution of their interests using more than four years of data spanning before, during, and after the protests.

Two-sides, collective level. In the last dimension of our analysis, we undertook a comparative study of the behaviour of organizations aligned with the two conflicting sides. Our specific focus was on examining the actions and strategies employed by the most prominent and influential mass media outlets in Ukraine and Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In particular, interest was how these outlets shaped their propaganda efforts in response to the conflict that influenced the behaviour of individuals.