"How Ukrainian protestors are using Twitter and Facebook"

 Pablo Barberá and Megan Metzger, graduate researchers in the NYU Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) laboratory, report on the use of social media by Ukrainian protestors. 

"Taken together, our data suggests that Ukrainian social media users are strategically using the tools available to them in the ways that seem most effective. The disparity in language use between Facebook and Twitter suggests an understanding on the part of users about the audiences consuming the content they produce in each medium. The spike in Twitter use is, to our knowledge, a previously unobserved phenomenon. It suggests a reciprocal relationship between social media and protest, where social media can serve as an important strategic tool for protest, and at the same time attract new users to online communication platforms."

Facebook activity on public pages related to Ukrainian protests [Data: NYU Social Media and Political Participation (smapp.nyu.edu) lab; Figure: Pablo Barberá and Megan Metzger]

Ukrainian protests tweets by language [Data: NYU Social Media and Political Participation (smapp.nyu.edu) lab; Figure: Pablo Barberá and Megan Metzger]

Ukrainian protests and creation of new twitter accounts[Data: NYU Social Media and Political Participation (smapp.nyu.edu) lab; Figure: Pablo Barberá and Megan Metzger]