Tools for Studying Protest Socio-Political Campaigns (a case study of the Pray For Paris movement)

This article deals with the hashtag #PrayForParis in modern virtual communication. Users of second-generation Internet networks began to actively use this element throughout the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015. The research material comprised texts including the digital lexical unit #PrayForParis. The research methodology consisted of three main stages. Using a comparative analysis, the author studied research works of different scholars investigating the phenomenon of hashtagging with the example of the lexeme #PrayForParis, which showed that hypertext lexemes should be analyzed in two different ways. The researchers’ data on the #PrayForParis phenomenon as represented on various social networks were displayed, and the author’s analysis of this digital lexical unit was performed in the Google Trends service. The author also carried out critical analysis of the discourse in which the hashtag #PrayForParis currently operates. The relevance of the study is determined by the iterative nature of the use of lexical units expressed in the form of hashtags, which indicates the importance of reflecting upon and comprehending the events of the past in order to gain a proper understanding of the current situation. Currently, the lexical unit #PrayForParis indicates a new milestone in the confrontation between communicants representing the Arab world and their opponents, which occurs against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the Middle East, repeating to a certain extent the situation in France in 2015. An integrated approach to analyzing the functioning and distribution of the digital lexeme #PrayForParis in modern virtual communication (in particular, on social platforms) makes it possible not only to look at the phenomenon from the point of view of communicants in France but also to show a lexical unit expressing protest in modern virtual communication.