Assessing Atmospheric Air Quality by Social Media Users: A Case Study of Two Single-Industry Towns

The article explores how digital footprints can be used as a data source revealing citizens’ assessment of the environment. The rapid digitalization in recent years has enabled the use of non-traditional sources of data about the state of environment. These may include social media, search queries, video hosting, and other sources. The use of non-traditional data sources has given rise to new environmental research directions, including "ecological culturomics" and "Internet ecology" (iEcology). Drawing on these methodological approaches, the study examines air quality perceptions among VKontakte users in the single-industry towns of Magnitogorsk and Cherepovets. The semi-automatic search identified 481 air-quality-related posts: 433 in Magnitogorsk and 48 in Cherepovets community discussions. Posts with the highest levels of user engagement were identified through a quantitative analysis of key metrics: reactions, comments, and shares. Confirming our hypothesis, the most popular posts highlight the issues most relevant to users, accurately reflecting their key concerns about air quality. The study reveals a significant dissonance between the official assessments of air quality and the public perception as expressed by social media users. Citizens assess the air quality far less optimistically than the officials do.