Strategies forming protest behavior in the Internet: Cybemetric analysis (based on Evromaydan case study, November 2013). part I

Abstract

The article presents the results of cybermetric analysis of Ukrainian protesters` digital footprints in Social media (November 18 - 30, 2013). Strategies forming attitudes of protest behavior of Ukrainian citizens in cyberspace are analyzed. The authors used tools combining event analysis, social media monitoring online, discourse analysis of posts that form protest attitudes of Ukrainian users. Event analysis allowed distinguishing three periods in the evolution of protest moods. Identifying the markers of intensity allowed implementing structural analysis of the Internet content, and the content markers revealed semantic content of messages circulating globally. Discourse analysis of social media posts showed the dominance of certain technologies of negative mobilization of protesters such as identifying political actors with the source of public threat or discontent, using anthropomorphic metaphors, or broadcasting provocative information. The article outlines future research prospects towards improving the methods of analysis of protest activity formation based on digital footprints.