An Analysis of the Social Media Use and Content Types of Young Adults in Turkey

Öz

Internet penetration is high in Turkey (TÜİK, 2022). Research conducted by official institutions and independent organizations points to the increasing trend of internet, mobile technology, and social media use in Turkey. Despite this, there is a dearth of systematic academic studies focusing on the internet and social media use practices of the age group 18-29, which is the one with the highest internet penetration (Statista, 2023). Furthermore, the statistics derived from research solely focusing on digital media, the internet, or social media use are inadequate in providing rich data to fully grasp the role of ICTs in different sociodemographic groups in society. Digital divide, accessibility divide, social class, and different identities are shown to have different social media use practices and motivations. While global studies examined the motivations and goals of social media, building upon the Uses and Gratifications theory, such academic inquiries are weak in their power of representation. They are either not generalizable to the nation; if they are generalizable, they do not provide an in-depth understanding of the internet and social media use by the specific young adult age groups. Against this backdrop, we argue that there is an urgent need for a nationally representative look at social media use practices and sharing patterns of the specific age group of interest with the highest internet penetration in Turkey (18-29). This research attempts to fill in the said gap in the literature by providing a detailed look at the use of social media platforms in Turkey through a nationally representative survey conducted on 1537 Turkish citizens in early 2021. We seek to answer the following research questions: (a) which social media platforms are mostly used, (b) how the social media platform preferences vary by sociodemographic variables, (c) what kind of content is shared on social media, and (d) on which platforms. The results indicate that, in line with global trends, Instagram is the most popular social media platform in the study's sample. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Tiktok follow Instagram in popularity. Also, following research conducted in contexts other than Turkey, our findings indicate that social media platform use preferences vary by socioeconomic status and education. Pew Research Center’s study on American internet users (2021) showed that those living in bigger cities use Twitter and Instagram more than those living in rural areas. They also found a direct positive correlation between Twitter use and the education level of users. Regarding the type of content shared by young adults in Turkey on social media platforms, the factor analysis we conducted points to two sharing indices: content shared about revealing the user’s personal identity and content on political opinion. A striking finding on the content indices shared is that nonheterosexual participants share more about politics and political identity than heterosexual men and women. This could be because those who identify as LGBTI+ or feminist activists find themselves marginalized and are subjected to discrimination in society, use these platforms to express themselves and socialize with others similarly discriminated and express themselves politically as forms of political activism (Altundal, 2019; Gedik, 2020; Karataş, 2021; Şen & Kök, 2017). Surprisingly, our data do not indicate that higher-educated people (associates and undergraduate degree) share more political content than the lower-educated (Primary school and below and high school) groups. The younger age group (18-24) shares less political content on social media than the older group (25-29). However, it is insufficient to argue that the younger generation is necessarily disinterested in politics. Further research should investigate how young adults interpret the meaning of “political” and explore alternative forms they engage in politics. Finally, our data suggest interesting patterns regarding specific social platform use and the type of content users share. First, those who use Instagram more than 30 minutes a day share more personal content than those who use the platform less than 30 minutes daily, at a statistically significant level (p>0.01). Next, Twitter use is correlated with political content users share. Those who use Twitter less than 30 minutes a day share fewer postings about their political identity than those who use Twitter more, at a statistically significant level ((p>0.01). These findings are in line with the existing literature suggesting that Instagram is highly used for self-presentation (Yorisa, Rakhmi & Andriani, 2021) and that among young adults in the US and Turkey, Twitter is perceived as a platform to create awareness about social issues (Burke & Şen, 2018). As Boczkowski et al. (2018) suggest, young people use social media platforms for different reasons depending on the affordances they provide.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Digital media
• Youth
• Content
• Platform
• Survey

Türkiye’de Genç Yetişkinlerin Sosyal Medya Kullanımları ve Paylaşım Türlerinin İncelenmesi

Öz

Bu çalışma, Türkiye’deki 18-29 yaş aralığındaki gençlerin hangi sosyal medya platformlarını kullandıklarına, ne kadar sıklıkla kullandıklarına ve bu platformlarda ne tarz içerikler paylaştıklarını incelemektedir. Literatüre katkı olarak, gençlerin sosyal medya kullanım pratiklerinin, paylaşım türlerinin ve motivasyonlarının sosyodemografik özelliklerle (cinsel kimlik, yaş, yaşanılan yer, sosyoekonomik statü, eğitim seviyesi ve dinî kimlik) ilişkisini araştırmaktadır. Türkiye’nin 12 ilinde yaşayan gençlerle gerçekleştirilen yüz yüze anket çalışmamızın (N=1537) bulgularına göre, en çok kullanılan sosyal medya platformları sırasıyla Instagram, YouTube ve Twitter’dır. Bulgular, bir zamanlar gençlerin yoğunlukla kullandığı Facebook’un popülerliğini yitirmeye başladığını ortaya koymaktadır. Gençlerin öğrencilik durumları, sosyoekonomik statüleri, yaşadıkları il ve cinsel kimlikleri ile sosyal medya tercihleri arasında anlamlı bir ilişki gözlemlenmektedir. Ayrıca cinsel kimlik, dinî görüş, sosyoekonomik statü, öğrencilik durumu ve yaşanılan il ile sosyal medyaya paylaşılan içerik türleri arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Çalışmamız, ulusal ve uluslararası çalışmaların bulgularını kısmen doğrulamakta ve önemli farklılıklar ortaya koymaktadır. Türkiye’deki genç yetişkinlerin sosyal medya pratiklerine dair güncel bir veri sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dijital medya
• Gençlik
• İçerik
• Platform
• Anket

Kaynakça

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