The Russia-Ukraine war on TikTok. The representation of the present and its impact
Abstract
As well as transforming interpersonal relationships between citizens, social network platforms are also impacting the information ecosystem. Increasingly, young people are obtaining information through social networks, while journalists and traditional media strive to maintain their roles as sources of information. In order to observe this evolution in information consumption, the war between Ukraine and Russia is examined. The author-profiles of contributors who publish the most about this war are analysed, as is the most viral content on TikTok, currently the most frequently downloaded social network platform. A content analysis was conducted on 420 videos relating to the Russia-Ukraine war created and shared by 107 authors during the first 42 days of the conflict (22 February to 05 April 2022). The profiles of media outlets, influencers, anonymous users, the authorities, professionals, governmental and international entities and NGOs are examined as sources of information on the conflict. The results confirm that anonymous authors and influencers are the ones who share the most content about the war, while influencers are the most followed profiles, with more than 113 million followers. This number is significantly higher than the number of followers (49 million) reached by verified media outlets.
Keywords
social media, news, TikTok, Russia, Ukraine, warReferences
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