Digital Propaganda and Political Success: Twitter Analysis of June 24, 2018 Presidential Election

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 1461 - 1482, 22.07.2019

Nurettin Güz , Ceren Yegen , Bayram Oğuz Aydın

https://doi.org/10.17680/erciyesiletisim.522546

Cited By: 7

Abstract

Propaganda that does not conceive a positive conotation in the human mind is an activity
that influences ideas and attitudes and shapes them in the desired direction. There are
many similar propaganda activities in many parts of the world. The propaganda which is
the veins fed by politics is quite common in some aspects of political propaganda. Digital
propaganda, which is conducted dialogically by using communication technologies, is also
very popular today and is preferred by political actors as well as political parties because it
enables the public to interact politically. Propaganda intensely involved in the social media
as well as the streets, is indication of this situation. So much so that for presidential and
parliamentary elections in Turkey on June 24, 2018 on Twitter that is one of the platform
of the leading social network, many digital propaganda activities have been conducted and
the public opinion on social networks, has been the current target audience to the news.
Because, in the digital age, public opinion is in social networks as much as it is in the streets,
and the public opinion has a power to agenda setting. So in this study, from the date that
Supreme Election Board (YSK) announced the presidential candidates (May 9, 2018) before
the presidential and parliamentary elections held on June 24, 2018 in Turkey, the sharings
of the candidates’ official Twitter accounts’ will be examined until June 25, 2018 via social
network analysis. As a result of the study, some structural features of political parties and
candidates’ use of social networking for propaganda purposes, and the relationship between
these characteristics and the political success that they achieved at the end of the election
were revealed.

Keywords

Propaganda, Digital Propaganda, Twitter, Social Network Analysis

Dijital Propaganda ve Politik Başarı: 24 Haziran 2018 Cumhurbaşkanlığı Seçiminin Twitter Analizi

Abstract

İnsan zihninde olumlu bir konotasyona gebe olmayan propaganda, fikir ve tutumlara etki etme
ve onları arzu edilen yönde biçimlendirme faaliyetidir. Dünyanın birçok yerinde benzer bir çok
biçimde yürütülen propaganda faaliyetleri söz konusudur. Siyasetin beslendiği damarlardan
olan propaganda, politik propaganda görünümleri bazında da bir hayli yaygındır. İletişim
teknolojilerinden yararlanarak diyalojik olarak yürütülen dijital propaganda da, siyaset
yapanların kamuya interaktif biçimde ulaşmasını sağladığından, bugün oldukça popülerdir
ve siyasi partiler gibi, siyasi aktörler tarafından da tercih edilmektedir. Propagandanın bugün
yoğun olarak meydanlardan, sosyal medyaya kayması ilgili durumun bir göstergesidir. Öyle ki
Türkiye’de 24 Haziran 2018’de gerçekleştirilen Cumhurbaşkanlığı ve Milletvekili seçimleri adına
sosyal ağlarda öne çıkan platformlardan olan Twitter’da birçok dijital propaganda yürütülmüş,
sosyal ağlardaki kamuoyu güncel haberlere hedef kitle olmuştur. Çünkü dijital çağda kamuoyu
sokakta olduğu kadar, sosyal ağlardadır ve gündemi bir ölçüde belirleme gücüne sahiptir. Bu
yüzden bu çalışmada, Türkiye’de 24 Haziran 2018’de gerçekleştirilen Cumhurbaşkanlığı ve
Milletvekili seçimleri öncesinde, Yüksek Seçim Kurulu’nun (YSK) Cumhurbaşkanı adaylarını
resmen açıkladığı tarihten (9 Mayıs 2018) itibaren 25 Haziran 2018’e kadar olan süreçte,
ilgili adayların ve siyasi partilerin resmi Twitter hesaplarındaki paylaşımları, sosyal ağ analizi
yöntemleriyle incelenmiştir. Çalışma neticesinde, siyasi parti ve adayların propaganda amaçlı
sosyal ağ kullanımlarına ait bazı yapısal özellikler ve bu özellikler ile seçim bitiminde elde
ettikleri politik başarı arasındaki ilişkiler ortaya koyulmuştur. 

Keywords

Propaganda, Dijital Propaganda, Twitter, Sosyal Ağ Analizi

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