Nothing Is True? The Credibility of News and Conflicting Narratives during “Information War” in Ukraine

In international politics, the strategic narratives of different governments compete for public attention and support. The Russian government’s narrative has prompted western concern due to fears that it exerts a destabilizing effect on societies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. However, the behavior and thought processes of news consumers targeted by contradictory strategic narratives are rarely subjected to analysis. This paper examines how Ukrainian news consumers decide where to get their news and what to believe in a media environment where “propaganda” and “disinformation” are regarded as major threats to national security. Evidence comes from thirty audio-diaries and in-depth interviews conducted in 2016 among adult residents of Odesa Region. Through qualitative analysis of the diary and interview transcripts, the paper reveals how participants judged the credibility of news and narratives based on their priorities (what they considered important), not just “facts” (what they believed had happened). The attribution of importance to different foreign policy issues was associated, in turn, with varying personal experiences, memories, and individual cross-border relationships

Digital methods for ethnography: analytical concepts for ethnographers exploring social media environments

The aim of this article is to introduce some analytical concepts suitable for ethnographers dealing with social media environments. As a result of the growth of social media, the Internet structure has become a very complex, fluid, and fragmented space. Within this space, it is not always possible to consider the 'classical' online community as the privileged field site for the ethnographer, in which s/he immerses him/herself. Differently, taking inspiration from some methodological principles of the Digital Methods paradigm, I suggest that the main task for the ethnographer moving across social media environments should not be exclusively that of identifying an online community to delve into but of mapping the practices through which Internet users and digital devices structure social formations around a focal object (e.g., a brand). In order to support the ethnographer in the mapping of social formations within social media environments, I propose five analytical concepts: community, public, crowd, self-presentation as a tool, and user as a device

A Tweet is Not Just a Tweet: Public Sector Understandings and Analysis of Social Media Customer Service Data

Twitter data is often gathered and analyzed in academic settings with either strictly qualitative or quantitative methodologies or research questions in mind. But how might we observe the ways organizations outside of academia understand and act upon their own social media data? This empirical paper recounts both the qualitative and quantitative ways that Transport for London (TfL) used their social media data in the weeks and months after initial customer service interactions

Looking for you: An analysis of video blogs

Blogs are a form of self-presentation on the Internet and variations like video blogs (vlogs) have expanded with the support of sites like YouTube. This study examines the culture of video blogging --- its rhythm, language, and communication style. Utilizing Goffman's (1959) notions on the presentation of self as dramaturgical, multi-stage and multi-audience processes, this textual analysis of ten personal vlogs deconstructs the structure of each site, text, links, as well as the videos and their comments to identify dominant modes of communication. Three dominant themes emerge, reflecting employment of vlogs as diaries, media for identity expression, and a means to indulge in narcissism. Vloggers emphasize one or more of these modes in creating their online performances