Browsing by Author "Bal, Tuncer"

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    Master Thesis
    The Use of Social Media by Local Governments: Comparative Study Based on Political Parties in Istanbul
    (Kadir Has Üniversitesi, 2021) Bal, Tuncer; Güvenç, Himmet Murat
    This study examines the social media use of selected local municipalities in Istanbul from a comparative perspective. Today, social media, as a new medium of communication, became prominent in politics, compelling political parties and their local representatives to use social media accounts. Web 2.0 technologies, which are mainly attributed to social media tools, empowered citizens and made them more willing to participate in political decision-making. Local politicians are increasingly using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram for many reasons. These tools can be seen as an important facilitator to promote citizen-oriented governance, boost democratic participation, and increase public services' efficiency. Each Local municipalities representing different political parties may have different core strategies and communication methods but in e. Still, the way they use social media accounts can not be taken as a single entity independent from the political standing of the parties they represent. In this context, this thesis aim at analyzing selected local municipalities' social media tactics and the topics they mostly highlighted on their social media accounts. In so doing, the main question of this study is that "What type of information is disclosed by local governments through their Twitter pages in order to legitimize their policies and actions." In this thesis, ten municipalities 5 from JDP(Justice and Development Party) and 5 from RPP(Republican People's Party), are chosen to analyze their official Twitter accounts. Two main methods of data collection and analysis are applied in this thesis: (1) the quantitative analysis aims to gather data regarding the social media usage frequencies of selected local governments. (2) Another method is based on the comparative content analysis of the local government's social media posts to understand how local governments differ in their communication tactics on social media and what kind of topics they focus on.