Zelensky’s most notable war instrument: the use of ‘reels’ on Instagram

This study analyzes social media publications, in particular Instagram reels, by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky during the Ukrainian War to demonstrate the reach of this audiovisual narrative type for crisis communication and their utility as a war tool. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th 2022, Zelensky has been very active on social media. This is particularly the case on Instagram, where he has over 17 million followers. Zelensky’s previous professional background as a successful actor and audiovisual producer qualifies him to publish technically and persuasively high-quality videos on Instagram. This investigation analyzes 2,175 videos (also known as reels) from Zelensky’s official Instagram profile during the first year of the war (2022). The analysis of data suggests that the Ukrainian leader has built a remarkable audiovisual discourse through social media. He has done this by implementing a professional media strategy that appears to have its roots in the production of fiction and entertainment. For example, institutional videos are published at a chronological time compatible with international media agendas. Zelensky’s images with the uppermost number of views are released at the end of the day and also achieve the highest number of ‘likes’. Furthermore, he uses short spoken videos (which we have termed ‘emotional speeches’) to address Ukrainian citizens. At the end of the day, like Franklin D. Roosevelt’s infamous ‘fireside chats’, Zelensky lowers his tone of voice to convey his message of hope and strength to his people whilst looking straight and unwaveringly into the camera. This research adds to the extant literature available on risk and crisis communication.