Political participation and decision making in the age of digital communication: A research on Turkish youth

Media has always had an impact on individuals' political participation and political decisions in political communication processes. Developing media technology has created transformative effects on the structure of political communication by expanding the range of individuals in acquiring traditional political information, political interest and political socialization. This research aims to examine and analyze the effects of social media in this field. Specifically, it provides a comprehensive analysis to understand the political participation of young people, the effects of social media on this participation, and the interaction of young people in political processes. In this process, it has been tried to reveal how social media shapes young people's perceptions of general political and social attitudes, and the practices of using social media for political purposes in order to create political awareness, obtain information about political issues and express their political views. This study, planned as a field research, was carried out in the "general survey" model. In today's world where individuals are intensively exposed to social, cultural and political information, to reveal the ways and levels of participants' involvement in political processes, the effects of the media in this process, social media usage practices, ways of perceiving social media, political information tools in relation to their socio-demographic characteristics. Data was collected for this purpose. Findings that more than 45% of the participants in the 18-24 age group, the target audience of the field research, spend an average of 3-4 hours a day on social media and use these platforms for political interaction to a significant extent, reveal that social media is a special political communication tool for young people. . According to the research, gender, education and income variables affect young people's participation in political processes through social media; Access to political information, political socialization and political behavior are important factors affecting the level of engagement. According to the final results presented by the research data, social media has emerged as the most effective tool in the political participation and political decision-making process of young people. Young people have made classical political communication practices more effective through social media, and more importantly, they have implemented new forms and patterns of political communication such as political expression, online activism, grassroots movements, digital signature campaigns, collective action and solidarity, in accordance with the conditions allowed by interactivity. While traditional forms of political participation such as voting and party membership remain relevant, the research is based on the observation that there is a new trend among young people towards more fluid and decentralized forms of participation facilitated by digital platforms.