Ways of expressing emotions in social media in the context of positive psychology: Facebook and twitter comparison

With the rapid growth of new communication technologies in recent years, the use of these tools has become quite common. The increasing share of social networks in interpersonal communication has led to a high level of increase in their impact on social life. Social networks provide a unique environment for testing many ideas that may be more difficult to test in a face-to-face communication. The ability to express emotions has an important role in the individual's ability to understand the feelings of others during social interactions. Today, social networks provide to users an endless opportunity to express emotions. Positive psychology, which is an approach that focuses on positive character traits, strengths and virtues, always leads individuals to lead a satisfying and happy life. In this study, the ways of expressing emotions in social media in the context of positive psychology were examined through Facebook and Twitter platforms. This study covers the lockdown period in Turkey between 30 April – 17 May 2021 due to the Covid-19 epidemic that affected the world. One of the common emotional expression indicators, facial emojis were examined throughout the posts made with the #tamkapanma tag on these two platforms. As a result of the research, it is possible to say that users express their emotions much more on Twitter than Facebook by using face emojis. In addition, it is seen that positive emotions predominate for both platforms. Unexpected situations encountered during this period, such as mandatory quarantine, also significantly affect the psychological state of individuals. In this context, it is clear that positive psychology, which carries the individual from zero to plus, is an important power.