Recap: The Social Media Context - Natural Social Spaces: How Do We Research Social Media and Development Trends, Dynamics, and Impact? Learning from a Polio and Routine Immunization and Social Media Research Initiative in Ukraine

Recap: The Social Media Context

The growth of social media use in Ukraine has been rapid. Online access is reaching near-universal levels across the country, as Figure 2⁷ graphically demonstrates. The spread has resulted in a large expansion of public spaces in which discussions of key development issues, including child health, have become increasingly prevalent.

A strong and perhaps defining characteristic of social media in Ukraine is the proliferation and scale of self-organized online groups. These include, for example, city groups, which engage citizens in a particular city, and parents' groups, which engage parents (mainly mothers) most often on maternal health, child health and safety, and educational and recreation-related issues. The participants seek and provide information, advice, and guidance. They also use these groups to organize around particular issues. The connections are often hyper-local, with strong links between participants. The scale is impressive, with many groups having tens of thousands of members in their locality. As the communication in these spaces is among peers, the level of communication inside of these communities can be strong and trusting. This is further reinforced by the fact that access to these groups is controlled by group administrators.

However, there are disconnects. These groups have limited involvement of, for example, healthcare professionals. So, discussion on vaccination, for example, usually happens on the basis of personal experience, rumors, and shared worries and concerns of the members (Postovoitova, September 2017; January 12 2018).

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⁷ Dynamics of internet usage in Ukraine: May 2017 from the Kyiv Institute for Sociology https://www.kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=705&page=1

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Editor's note: Above is an excerpt of a study made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID under the terms of the Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-14-00028. The contents are the responsibility of the Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. The full table of Contents is here.

The previous section in this paper is Recap: The Immunization Context.
The next section in this paper is The Research Questions.