Exploring the perceived opinion of social media users about the Ukraine–Russia conflict through the naturalistic observation of tweets

The purpose of the study is to explore and analyze the opinions of people associated with the Ukraine–Russia conflict expressed via User Generated Content (UGC), i.e., tweets and their influence on digital social circles. The "Twitter streaming application programming interface" (API) was used to retrieve the tweets against Ukraine–Russia conflict. The data were collected on March 31st, 2022, and analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The content analysis of tweets was carried out to interpret and code the content of tweets. The geographical location of users was identified by accessing the profile of every user and the location mentioned by users on their profiles was looked up on the Internet to determine the precise location so that the data can be categorized through the country. To assess the impact of tweets, the engagement metrics (likes and Retweets) were taken into consideration as both the engagement metrics are treated as endorsements or acknowledgments on social media. The stated hypothesis is tested by performing an independent sample Z-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test on different variables of the study. The content analysis of the tweets highlights that Twitterers have varied opinions toward the Ukraine–Russia conflict, with a majority of tweets expressing support for Ukraine, followed distantly by the ones that ask for fundraising and donations for the distressed people of Ukraine and tweets that express descent toward Russia. As far as the geographical mapping of the tweets is concerned the tweets were posted around the globe, with an immense contribution from the USA, followed by Ukraine, United Kingdom and Canada, respectively. According to the credibility of Twitter accounts, it is found that unverified users posted the majority of tweets. However, the tweets posted by verified users have a more significant impact than those posted by unverified accounts by earning the most online attention score in terms of likes and retweets. Moreover, no significant difference between the format, gender groups and impact of tweets is found so it signifies that the format and gender of a tweet do not influence the engagement metrics of tweets. The research illustrates the diverse opinions of Twitter users on the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The study offers valuable insights on how online studies can be structured for information seeking and analysis to acquire exciting insights about the conflict.