The unevenly absorbed and induced intra-regional Facebook adoption in Western Ukraine

This paper aims to reveal and explain the spatial pattern of Facebook adoption in Western Ukraine. It discusses how to trace the fragmented nature of social networking services’ (SNS) penetration at the intra-regional level using Facebook data analysis. This study has confirmed the expectation that in Western Ukraine Facebook adoption is predominantly an urban phenomenon, but with some peculiarities depending on the local context. The largest cities and regional centers attract the highest number of users, while peripheral and the economically least developed places have the lowest Facebook penetration rate. However, there are some areas with a higher number of Facebook adopters caused by a specific rural settlement system and the location in the Carpathians with no large cities ‘pulling’ the audience. The spatial pattern of Facebook adoption in Western Ukraine is an intricate and intertwined mosaic of ‘SNS hubs’ and peripheries, suggesting a ‘digital differentiation’ rather than a ‘digital divide’.

1. Adams, P. C. (2006): Cyberspace. In: Warf, B. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Human Geography. London, SAGE Publications, 83-85. CrossRef

2. AdEspresso (2020): The Beginner's Guide to Facebook Audiences and Targeting, https://adespresso.com/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/demographic-targeting (accessed September 23, 2020).

3. Alexa (2020): The top 500 sites on the web, https://www.alexa.com/topsites (accessed January 12, 2020).

4. Andris, C. (2016): Integrating social network data into GISystems. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 30(10), 2009-2031. CrossRef

5. Bailey, M., Cao, R., Kuchler, T., Stroebel, J., Wong, A. (2018): Social Connectedness: Measurement, Determinants, and Effects. Journal of Economic Perspectives 32(3), 259-280. CrossRef

6. BBC (2018): Facebook scandal 'hit 87 million users'. April 4, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43649018 (accessed September 23, 2020).

7. Bingham, N. (1999): Unthinkable complexity? Cyberspace otherwise. In: Crang, M., Crang, P., May J. (eds.). Virtual Geographies. Bodies, space and relations. London, Routledge, 244-260.

8. Boellstorff, T. (2016): For Whom the Ontology Turns Theorizing the Digital Real. Current Anthropology 57(4), 387-407. CrossRef

9. Borge-Holthoefer, J., Rivero, A., García, I., Cauhé, E., Ferrer, A., Ferrer, D. et. al. (2011): Structural and dynamical patterns on online social networks: the Spanish may 15th movement as a case study. PloS ONE 6(8), e23883. CrossRef

10. Castells, M. (1996): The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford, Blackwell.

11. Crampton, J. W. (2006): Virtual Geographies. In: Warf, B. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Human Geography. London, SAGE Publications, 535-536. CrossRef

12. Dobysh, M. (2019): Euromaidan and conflict in Eastern Ukraine in social networking sites: Territorial differences of pro-Russian subscriptions in Ukraine. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 68(1), 51-64. CrossRef

13. Dubov, D., Ozhevan, M. (2013): Broadband Access to the Internet as an Important Prerequisite for Ukraine's Innovative Development. Analytical Report. Kyiv, National Institute for Strategic Studies. (In Ukrainian)

14. Facebook (2020): https://www.facebook.com (accessed September 23, 2020).

15. Gibson, W. (1984): Neuromancer. London, Grafton.

16. Glückler, J., Doreian, P. (2016): Editorial: social network analysis and economic geography - positional, evolutionary and multi-level approaches. Journal of Economic Geography 16(6), 1123-1134. CrossRef

17. Hong, S., Na, J. (2018): How Facebook Is Perceived and Used by People Across Cultures: The Implications of Cultural Differences in the Use of Facebook. Social Psychological and Personality Science 9(4), 435-443. CrossRef

18. Horton, J., Kraftl, P. (2014): Cultural Geographies. An Introduction. New York, Routledge. CrossRef

19. Jordaan, Y., Heerden, V. G. (2017): Online privacy-related predictors of Facebook usage intensity. Computers in Human Behavior 70, 90-96. CrossRef

20. Kellerman, A. (2016): Image spaces and the geography of Internet screen-space. GeoJournal 81, 503-517. CrossRef

21. Kitchin, R. M. (1998): Towards geographies of cyberspace. Progress in Human Geography 22(3), 385-406. CrossRef

22. Kvitka, S., Mazur, O. (2019): Internet access through mobile devices: world experience and perspectives of development in Ukraine. Public Administartion Aspects 7(9-10), 5-18. (In Ukrainian) CrossRef

23. Laniado, D., Volkovich, Y., Scellato, S., Mascolo, C., Kaltenbrunner, A. (2017): The impact of geographic distance on online social interactions. Information Systems Frontiers 20(6), 1203-1218. CrossRef

24. Lengyel, B., Varga, A., Ságvári, B., Jakobi, Á., Kertész, J., Lengyel B. (2015): Geographies of an Online Social Network. PLoS ONE 10(9), e0137248. CrossRef

25. Menezes, T., Roth, C. (2017): Natural Scales in Geographical Patterns. Scientific Reports 7, e45823. CrossRef

26. Miller, D., Slater,D. (2000): The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, 228p. Oxford, Berg.

27. Moores, S. (2012): Media, Place and Mobility. New York, Palgrave Macmillan. CrossRef

28. Moores, S. (2017): Arguments for a Non-Media-Centric, Non-Representational Approach to Media and Place. In: Adams, P.C., Cupples, J., Glynn, K., Jansson, A., Moores, S. Communications/Media/Geographies. London: Routledge, 132-159.

29. Paasi, A. (2003): Boundaries in a Globalizing World. In: Anderson, K., Domosh, M., Pile, S., Thrift N. (eds.). Handbook of Cultural Geography. London, SAGE Publications, 462-472. CrossRef

30. Pitzl, G. R. (2004): Network. In: Encyclopedia of Human Geography. London, Greenwood Press, 156-157.

31. PlusOne (2019): Facebook and Instagram in Ukraine (September 2019), https://plusone.com.ua/fb/Facebook_in_Ukraine_PlusOne.pdf (accessed September 23, 2020).

32. Postal codes of Ukraine (2020): http://www.uaidx.com/?lang=en (accessed September 23, 2020).

33. President of Ukraine (2017): Decree of the President of Ukraine No133/2017 "On the Implementation of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)". Official online representation of the President of Ukraine, http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/1332017-21850 (accessed April 4, 2020). (In Ukrainian)

34. Puhach, S., Maister, A. (2020): Spatial features of the distribution of social network services in Volyn region of Ukraine. Acta Geographica Silesiana 14/2(38), 21-27, http://www.ags.wnoz.us.edu.pl/download/wydawnictwa/ags/tom_38_3.pdf (accessed September 23, 2020).

35. Puhach, S., Mytchyk, Yu. (2017): Geography of social networking services in Ukraine. In: Barskyi, Yu., Puhach, S. (eds.). Human geographical factors of regional development. Lutsk, 99-101, https://konfgeolutsk.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/zbirnyk_sg_chynnyky.pdf (accessed September 23, 2020). (In Ukrainian)

36. Puhach, S., Mytchyk, Yu. (2018): Spatial analysis of social networking services in the Volyn region. Economic and social geography 79, 14-21. (In Ukrainian) CrossRef

37. Puhach, S., Pohrebskyi, T., Golub, G. (2020): Spatial peculiarities of social networking services distribution in Rivnenska oblast. Human Geography Journal 28, 43-50. CrossRef

38. Research and Branding Group (2020): Practice of using social networking servises in Ukraine, (in Russian), http://rb.com.ua/blog/praktika-polzovanija-socsetjami-v-ukraine (accessed April 4, 2020).

39. Rogers, R. (2013): Digital Methods. Cambridge, The MIT Press. CrossRef

40. Sanders, J., Patterson, D. (2019): Facebook data privacy scandal: A cheat sheet. TechRepublic, May 14, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/facebook-data-privacy-scandal-a-cheat-sheet (accessed September 23, 2020).

41. StatCounter (2021): Social Media Stats in Ukraine. Jan 2014 - Jan 2021, https://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/ukraine (accessed February 16, 2021).

42. State Statistics Service of Ukraine (2020): Area Bodies of State Statistics, http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua (accessed January 12, 2020).

43. Sui, D., Goodchild, M. (2011): The convergence of GIS and social media: challenges for GIScience. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 25(11), 1737-1748. CrossRef

44. Takhteyev, Y., Gruzd, A., Wellman B. (2012): Geography of Twitter networks. Social Networks 34(1), 73-81. CrossRef

45. Ter Wal, A., Boschma, R. (2009): Applying social network analysis in economic geography: framing some key analytic issues. Annals of Regional Science 43(3), 739-756. CrossRef

46. Tóth, G., Wachs, J., Di Clemente, R., Jakobi, Á, Ságvári, B., Kertész, J., Lengyel, B. (2021): Inequality is rising where social network segregation interacts with urban topology. Nature Communications 12, 1143. CrossRef

47. Tranos, E. (2013): The Geography of the Internet. Cities, Regions and Internet Infrastructure in Europe (New Horizons in Regional Science Series). Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.

48. Warf, B. (2006a): Introduction. In: Warf, B. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Human Geography. London, SAGE Publications, XXV-XXVIII.

49. Warf, B. (2006b): Geography and Identity. In: Warf, B. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Human Geography. London, SAGE Publications, 239-241.

50. Warf, B. (2013): Global Geographies of the Internet. London, Springer. CrossRef

51. Warf, B. (2017): Alternative Geographies of Cyberspace. In: Kohl, U. (ed.). The Net and the Nation State. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Internet Governance. Cambridge, University Press, 147-164. CrossRef

52. Wong, J., Morris, S. (2018): It's complicated. Facebook's terrible 2018. The Guardian, December 24, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2018/dec/24/facebook-2018-timeline-year-in-review-privacy-scandals (accessed September 23, 2020).

53. Yandex (2014): Review of Social Networking Services and Twitter in Ukraine according to Yandex Blog Search, 2013-2014, https://cache-man01i.cdn.yandex.net/download.yandex.ru/company/Yandex_on_UkrainianSMM_Summer_2014.pdf (accessed February 10, 2018). (In Ukrainian)

54. Zephoria (2020): The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics - Updated August 2020, https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics (accessed January 12, 2020).