Social Media Activism in Post-Euromaidan Ukrainian Politics and Civil Society

Abstract

Social Media has become an important political tool in Ukraine. During the 2013-2014 protests many Facebook groups were established. With the success of the protests and the change of the government, they did not disappear but rather switched their focus to raising awareness of internal corruption and providing support to the Ukrainian citizens involved in the conflict in the east of Ukraine. The research aims at filling the gap of understanding of social media civil activism in Ukraine in the context of ongoing military conflict in the east of the country. Paper provides attempt at categorizing the Facebook activist communities according to the type of published content and illustrates the Facebook activism in Ukraine through several recent examples.