Institutions which use social media and their reputation management related to the perception of the generation Y

Due to nowadays conditions of rivalry reputation is not only an income for companies but also an important concern which must be treated in detail. It takes years as well as planned, detailed and disciplined work to build up a company's reputation and to protect and maintain it. Prestige has numerous advantages for businesses as it ensures a different perception in the eyes of their audience. Rivalry is incredibly intense these days and for that reason the prestige of a company is the most important component which shows the target group that the business is different and special. For that reason it is a great task for the companies to build up and protect their reputation, which they can achieve by using information and communication technologies such as the internet. Companies must present their difference in the Internet-environment and must manage these platforms very well. It is for certain that the fast growing usage of the Internet and social media force companies to create accounts in these platforms. When we consider that especially the Y-Generation use social media very actively there is no doubt that companies have to use well-known platforms to build up their reputation. In this context the aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how companies which build up their reputation or the ones which want to uphold their continuity have to use social media and how social media influences this process. The thesis will try to illustrate how the Y-Generations see businesses which use social media. It is for this reason that the first and second parts of the thesis form the literately base of the researches. In the first part the term of internet and social media was analyzed followed by an analysis about the Y-Generation, their role in social media platforms and their activity. The second part treats explanations about the link of social media and the reputation of companies. In the last and third part data, which were received through quantitative and qualitative researches from students of the Ege University faculty of communication department of Public Relations and Publicity, was evaluated and also the relation between social media and reputation was determined. The results will be evaluated and suggestions will be given.