Anger and fatigue from war: What moods prevail among Ukrainians in social networks - research
From October 26 to November 1, 2024, one-third of citizens' posts on social media expressed angry moods. The reasons include the consequences of Russia's constant shelling and anger at Ukraine's Western partners.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing UP.Life.
Experts from the CAT-UA NGO conducted a study to find out what mood prevailed in the Ukrainian information space from October 26 to November 1, 2024.
Anger
According to the analysis of posts, pessimistic sentiments prevailed among Ukrainian Internet users last week. Researchers say this was due to constant attacks by Russia and, as a result, the destruction of buildings, injuries and deaths.
In addition, angry posts concerned Western partners, in particular the Polish authorities, whose representatives refused to provide MiGs. Users were also outraged by the world's weak reaction to the participation of North Korean soldiers in the war against Ukraine. In total, 33% of posts were angry.
Anxiety
Anxious sentiments were observed in 22% of posts. They were caused, in particular, by news about North Korean troops who have already arrived in the war zone.
Citizens are also concerned about the Russian offensive in the east. Ukrainians discussed possible scenarios for its development. Sometimes these discussions became more emotional.
Joy
More upbeat moods prevailed in 15% of reaction posts. In particular, to the events in Crimea and Chechnya, as well as to the advance of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
Other reasons for positive reactions were the aid from the United States and Denmark, and the visit of the Norwegian Defense Minister to Odesa.
Emotions of Ukrainians in the information space from October 26 to November 1, 2024. Public organization CAT-UA
Sadness.
The researchers note that last week the share of posts with sad sentiments increased significantly - up to 13%. In particular, due to the deaths of Ukrainian civilians as a result of Russian strikes on Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.
Hope
Ukrainians most often expressed hope for global support, especially from the United States and South Korea. There were 5% of such posts.
Fatigue
Researchers believe that over the past week, there has been an increase in posts in which Ukrainians express fatigue from the events around them. According to their observations, many lyrical poems on this topic appeared on social media. This is evidenced by 2% of reactions.
How the research was conducted
According to the research methodology, CAT-UA daily uploaded a full array of mentions of military terms - more than 300,000 posts in total - using automated monitoring systems, using 50 key search terms on Facebook, X, TikTok, Telegram, YouTube, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki (the latter two are banned in Ukraine).
From this array of messages written by users from Ukraine, 1,350 posts are randomly selected daily, which is approximately 0.25% of the total number of posts. The data is processed manually: users with a pro-Ukrainian position - on average, 85% of the total number - are identified and their emotions are determined based on coding protocols.
