President Zelensky and the power of new media
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky uses Instagram in a similar way to how US President Franklin D. Roosevelt used radio during the Great Depression, according to a new study.
Academics have analysed 2,175 videos published on Zelensky’s official account during the first 12 months of the Russian invasion, as part of a study of crisis communication.
A series of short Instagram reels, posted at the end of each day, helped convey a message of hope and strength to the Ukrainian people, and mirrored the sentiment of President Roosevelt’s famous ‘fireside chats’ on the radio in the 1930s, the paper concludes.
Dr Lindsey Drylie Carey, Reader in Marketing at Glasgow Caledonian University and a co-author of the study, said: “The format of the ‘fireside chats’ was important because they redefined the relationship between the President and the American population.
“The leader was able to address his people directly and without any intermediation. Nine decades later, Zelensky used the same strategy as President FDR but adapted to the new media environment.”
Dr Drylie Carey co-authored the study, published in the Journal of Risk Research, with Sebastián Sánchez-Castillo of Universitat de València and Esteban Galan of Universitat Politècnica de València.
The paper, the third in a series exploring leadership, examines the content and tone of hundreds of video clips issued in the early months of the conflict.
The reels attracted an average audience of almost three million people, with viewing figures peaking at 14,126,731.
Dr Drylie Carey added: “Zelensky plays with his tone and timbre of voice. He speaks in a loud voice in his morning publications and whispers seductively ‘to his people’ in the evening ones.
“At the beginning of the day, President Zelensky raises the sound of his voice to claim the attention of international media, but at the end of the day whispers a comforting message to demonstrate empathy with the Ukrainian citizens who are suffering the consequences of the war.”
Read more: Zelensky’s most notable war instrument: the use of ‘reels’ on Instagram - Journal of Risk Research