Public institutions of the Republic of Türkiyesocial in the context of public relations activitymedia use practices:Instagram Reels example

ABSTRACT Public relations is the totality of an institution's actions to establish and maintain consistent and productive relationships with its target audience in order to adapt itself to its environment and society. Institutions and organizations use a wide variety of tools while carrying out their public relations activities. Variables such as the characteristics of the target audience, the environment in which the communication will take place, the time period in which the activity will be carried out, and the budget are decisive in the selection of these tools. Mass media are among the most used tools by public relations experts, with the advantage of reaching the target audience quickly and effectively. "New media" tools, which emerged with the developments in communication technologies especially after the 2000s and have a different appearance from traditional media with their structural features, have taken their place among the most used tools in the field of public relations. Today, social media platforms are used as public relations tools by institutions, organizations and even governments. New media applications, which have much more opportunities than traditional media, have added a new dimension to public use. How possible is it to cancel these models, which can be considered as representations of the digital public, in line with the Press Agency Promotion Model, Public Information Model, Two-Way Asymmetric Model and Two –Way Symmetric Models developed by Grunig and Hunt? Based on this question, the practices of the Ministries and Directorate of Communications of the Republic of Turkey in Instagram Reels in 2023 are examined through Grunig and Hunt's public promotion models. In the research, Reels posts on the Instagram accounts of a total of 18 public units belonging to the central organization in Turkey between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023, the technical features of Instagram were examined by the frame content analysis method and the resulting analyzes were made. In the research, it was found that individuals gave individual contact information in their Reels posts and clearly behaved in accordance with the Public Information Model. Keywords: Public Relations, New Media, Social Media, Instagram, Reels.