Social media and public policy interaction: An assessment on the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes

It is observed that events affecting society have an impact on public policies as a consequence of reaching more people through social media. In the past, cases such as the "Wikileaks Revolution, the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street" and the "Gezi Park Events" in Turkey have been recognised, grown, gained supporters and influenced public opinion and public policies with social media. In parallel to these actions, natural disasters that occurred unexpectedly and without human intervention had the same influence on social media and public opinion. Social media, commonly used as a powerful communication tool, has had a critical role in disaster management and subsequent policies. This study aims to examine the relationship between social media and public policy in detail and to reveal the role and impact of social media in the public policy-making process. Within the scope of the thesis, firstly, the definition and development process of social media is analysed on the basis of the literature. Then, the concept of public policy is explained by dividing it into public and policy and public policy actors are included. Afterwards, the interrelated aspects of the concepts of social media and public policy are discussed. In this context, the impact of social media on the public policy making process is evaluated within the framework of various social events. Then, the reflection of disasters on social media through the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and its impact on the public policy making process were analysed in the last section. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that social media has a direct impact on the public policy making process such as making public opinion heard, agenda setting, policy demands and policy implementation. Keywords: Public Policy, Social Media, Earthquake, Public Opinion.