Unveiling Public Sentiment: The Role of Social Media in Shaping Perception of Conflicts

Elja Dalipaj – Epoka University, Department of Business Administration, 1000 Tirana, Albania

Egla Mansi – Epoka University, Department of Business Administration, 1000 Tirana, Albania

Nerajda Feruni – Mediterranean University of Albania, Department of Economics, Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta 52, Tirana 1023, Albania

Abstract: Social media networks have become a critical tool for sharing in­formation and influencing public opinion on controversial political or so­cial events. Recent studies have revealed that users tend to alter the content before sharing it, hence spreading a point of view contrary to that of the original author. This phenomenon plays a significant role in shaping pub­lic opinion on delicate political matters, particularly considering the com­mon bias found in press reports and articles favoring certain ideological or political factions, which contradicts the supposed neutrality of the media. Hence, this study focuses on the ongoing global conflicts, aiming to uncov­er insights into how social media users are influenced by the political rhet­oric of prominent political figures worldwide. Our dataset consists of more than 1,000 comments on social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, where the French president discusses his views on the ongoing con­flict. This study utilizes natural language processing (NLP) techniques to an­alyze sentiment dynamics, media influence, temporal patterns, and user be­haviors within the comments section of social media platforms. The aim is to observe how the public’s perception is formed, including their attitudes towards support dynamics such as donations and other forms of assistance. The authors employ various methodologies to meticulously gather and pro­cess information from diverse sources, including data scraping. This ap­proach ensures the creation of a comprehensive and representative data­set for the study. The findings detect an underlying trend and correlation between the political conversation and societal stance, shedding light on the interplay of the two. The research aims to potentially inform the public, humanitarian organizations, and policymakers on the interplay between these variables and highlight the significance of using data-driven method­ologies to unravel the geopolitical discourse and the societal implications.

8th International Scientific Conference – EMAN 2024 – Economics and Management: How to Cope With Disrupted Times, Rome, Italy, March 21, 2024, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; ISBN 978-86-80194-83-7, ISSN 2683-4510, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/EMAN.2024

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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