Ukraine adaptation to Social Media Culture: How Zelensky win half the war on Social Media?
In the beginning of the war, everyone is worried about Ukraine situation as not only acknowledged the fact that Russia has a enormous army, but also Vladimir Putin’s statement on Ukraine — “Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood” and emphasized the instrumental revival of “Old Glory” on Russian Empire. However, as the time moves on, not only Russian’s army getting stuck within Ukraine, the whole world has listed series of sanctions towards Russia government and economy. These acts could only contributed to a very successful strategy on the President of Ukraine — Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As The Age mentioned “The power to end this war lies in his hands.” How could this happened within ten days? The answer is quick and simple : The Influence of Social Media culture.
Social media culture is important in three elements: communication, socialization and change. Communication is about the accuracy of delivery, the modes and the quality to give message. Zelenskyy has always understands the importance of communication when he starts his career being an actor, while his government officials also fully understands the power and accuracy to deliver right message is vital to gain influence from social media. The government adopted various culture within Facebook and Twitter to deliver simple, clear messages. One of the example is adaptation of Twitter culture for foreign aid.
Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a simple twitter in tagging Space X founder Elon Musk for communication satellites support while his nation continues to fight off Russian forces. While he received Starlink services and infrastructure within 24 hours, the government body understanding on Elon Musk’s “favours” on twitter is also worth-noting. It also motivates more giant corporations to make a statement and help Ukraine forces winning the war through technological support, infrastructure and social media anti-tracing.
The second essence of social media culture is about Socializations. Socialization Within several videos of Zeelensky adopt the selfie camera to deliver message, it also bring closeness to the Netizen, especially to Ukrainian on abroad and the globe. These videos generates sense of equality, which is very powerful in gaining aid, attention and support. Besides, Ukraine authorities encourages citizens to keep posting Russian soldiers on Twitter or TikTok. Meanwhile, Ukraine has a volunteer “IT Army” of computer experts not only hacking Russian targets, but also using software like FindClone tracing Russian soldiers on Russians’ social platforms. It took less than five minutes to find a matching and identify targets.
Without a doubt, President Zeelensky and Ukrainian government is making changes among the world. Through his videos and social media post, alongside his strength to defend his country, many Europeans countries has been determined in stand with Ukraine and sanction Russia with unprecedented measures. Three EU countries leaders has even stepped into Ukrainian soil to support the country. These all credits to his understanding of International Relations and social media culture while utilize Ukrainian’s interest with the digital platforms.
