how social media played a part in this revolution
Social media has had an even more prominent role in these protests than those during the 2004 Orange Revolution. In fact, many have started to refer to the current situation as Ukraine's Social Media Revolution. "Our first impression -- compared to the Orange Revolution, which I also witnessed -- is that everything is better organized...there are places for people to eat and get warm," said one Belarusian protester.
Thousands of protesters organized and gathered using Facebook and Twitter from the very beginning. The hashtag #Euromaidan, the name given to Independence square by pro-EU protesters on social media, went viral almost immediately after it was first introduced on november 31, reaching hundreds of thousands uses in a matter of days. Analysts say that while Twitter was not very popular before these protests, the number of Ukrainians using both Twitter and Facebook to get the latests news increased by ten-fold in the first few weeks. The Facebook page both provided real-time updates on ongoing protests and instructions to organize protestors. Some examples of the type of information provided are "posts with maps of places to get free tea and access to warm spaces, advice on how to avoid being provoked by government agents, flyers to print and distribute around the city, as well as information on where protesters will be gathering." Soon after a Facebook page was also created to provide legal advice to protestors. Interestingly enough, though the majority of Tweets were from Ukraine, many of them were written in English, whereas the Facebook page was almost entirely in Ukrainian. Analysts suggest that "one possible explanation for this result is a division of purposes across social media: while Facebook is used to create content targeted to a domestic audience, Twitter appears to be a tool to convey information about the protest to the rest of the world and to draw the attention of the international community."
For a more in-depth analysis of social media usage click here.
Thousands of protesters organized and gathered using Facebook and Twitter from the very beginning. The hashtag #Euromaidan, the name given to Independence square by pro-EU protesters on social media, went viral almost immediately after it was first introduced on november 31, reaching hundreds of thousands uses in a matter of days. Analysts say that while Twitter was not very popular before these protests, the number of Ukrainians using both Twitter and Facebook to get the latests news increased by ten-fold in the first few weeks. The Facebook page both provided real-time updates on ongoing protests and instructions to organize protestors. Some examples of the type of information provided are "posts with maps of places to get free tea and access to warm spaces, advice on how to avoid being provoked by government agents, flyers to print and distribute around the city, as well as information on where protesters will be gathering." Soon after a Facebook page was also created to provide legal advice to protestors. Interestingly enough, though the majority of Tweets were from Ukraine, many of them were written in English, whereas the Facebook page was almost entirely in Ukrainian. Analysts suggest that "one possible explanation for this result is a division of purposes across social media: while Facebook is used to create content targeted to a domestic audience, Twitter appears to be a tool to convey information about the protest to the rest of the world and to draw the attention of the international community."
For a more in-depth analysis of social media usage click here.
The demonstrations that started in November 2013 reached a new height by December as pictures and videos of the brutal attacks on protesting students gathered at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) by the authorities circulated around social media sites. This demonstration of brute force did not thing but enrage the Ukrainians more and led to even more people take to the streets. Any reports of beatings, arrests and missing persons were reported online. The popularity of the Facebook page prompted the beginning of support protests also driven by Facebook posts. Euromaidan Cleveland, Euromaidan Milano, Euromaidan Tbilisi, ect., Facebook pages were created to show outrage over the treatment of the Ukrainian citizens. Youtube has also been essential in making sure the situation was being communicated with the rest of the world.
Social Media was and continues to be a major source of marketing for protestors. It does not only provide a platform to communicate to the world that these protests are peaceful and legitimate but also provides a way to convince the protestor to remain peaceful when the situation escalated. Though this strategy has been fairly successful in influencing the Ukranien government, Putin does not seem to be deterred by the constant negative backlash he is receiving from most of the world.
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-euromaidan-neighbors/25204027.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-25201784
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/01/02/social-networks-and-social-media-in-ukrainian-euromaidan-protests-2/
http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3322932/Blog/From-Egypt-to-Ukraine-Social-Media-Now-Allows-You-to-Share-Revolution.html#.U2m8kl77HDN
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-25201784
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/01/02/social-networks-and-social-media-in-ukrainian-euromaidan-protests-2/
http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3322932/Blog/From-Egypt-to-Ukraine-Social-Media-Now-Allows-You-to-Share-Revolution.html#.U2m8kl77HDN