Political actors' use of twitter in the context of political communication: Content analysis for the 24 June Presidential Government System Elections

The new media practices of which the age is supposed to begin in the 1960s have been an indispensable element of human life in a very short time. The discovery of the internet, web 1.0, the development of web 2.0, and subsequent social media conventions have removed the time and space limitations by enabling users to interact with other users. It has become increasingly popular among users. New media have large number of users and it is frequently used by political actors, especially during election periods, because of ease of use and cost-effectiveness. Contrary to traditional media, political actors are ordinary users in social media. Political actors‟ relationship with other users constituting voter groups in the characteristics of Twitter is main line of this work. In this sense, the official twitter shares of politicians who were candidates for the presidency were examined during the election period of June 24, 2018 and findings were evaluated according to content analysis method. As a result, it was determined that the candidates were not only trying to be visible on Twitter but also used this announcement to communicate and have not been able to use Twitter's bi-directional communication to appeal to different masses of voters.