A netnography of actions of women and girls within Ramadan War on virtual networks

Purpose-The rapid expansion of social networks in recent years has transformed cyberspace into one of the most significant arenas for shaping social responses during crises. During conflicts and wars, social media users not only reflect events but also express their emotions, attitudes, and actions in this space. Among these users, female university students represent a particularly active group, playing a significant role in content production and dissemination. The main objective of this study is to conduct an ethnographic investigation of the actions of female university students in cyberspace during the Ramadan War and to analyze their motivations and behaviors in content creation and participation on social media.

Methodology- This study employed a qualitative approach based on network ethnography (Netnography). Data were collected through semi-structured online interviews with 20 female university students active on social media. Participants were selected using purposeful sampling to capture diverse experiences of online engagement during a crisis. The data coding process was carried out at three levels: sub-subcategories, subcategories, and main categories.

Findings: The results indicate that female university students’ participation in cyberspace during the Ramadan War can be analyzed along two dimensions: motivations and online actions. In terms of motivation, three main categories were identified: awareness-raising and information-sharing, empathy and social responsibility, and identity-based and civic engagement motives. Regarding online actions, three primary patterns emerged: communication and information-sharing actions, supportive and solidarity-based actions, and protest and advocacy-oriented actions. These behaviors manifested through activities such as sharing and reposting information, participating in online campaigns, expressing empathy toward victims, and raising social demands on digital platforms.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that during crises, cyberspace can serve as a platform for expressing collective emotions, fostering social solidarity, and enabling digital civic engagement. Female university students, through their social media participation, not only convey their emotional responses to wartime events but also play a role in meaning-making and shaping public discourse in digital spaces. The study further suggests that motivations, emotions, and actions of female university students in cyberspace operate as an interconnected process, where cognitive and social motivations give rise to collective emotions, which in turn drive communicative and social actions online. Therefore, attention to the role of these users, particularly female university students, can enhance our understanding of the dynamics of social interaction in cyberspace during wartime