The effect of social media on elections in Turkey: 2018 Presidential elections and Twitter example

Humanity is faced with the reality of a network society that develops whit tecnology, wich is the greatest driving force of the 21st century. Social media platforms of the digital World, which bring information age societies together, are the most widely used areas of communication today. In this research the communication of political actors in the world, which has turned into a global/ global village with the convergence of cultures and social interaction, is discusssed through social media. In the research, the effects of globalization initiatives that eliminate the boundaires of communication on a global scale, the transformation of political communication and how it corresponds in virtual environments are discussed. In terms of the development of the subject, the definition and historical processes of concepts such as communication, politics, media and globalization are mentioned. The impact of social media on the elections in the context of political communication in Turkey and its reflection on the 2018 Presidential elections, where the most intense interaction was experienced especially in terms of candidates an voters, and finally, Twitter analysis, which is the most active channel of social media, was included. In the first stage of the research, a detailed literature review was made and the first and second sections were created based on the relevant sources. In the third part of the research, the Twitter accounts of the candidates were examined and the content analysis of the tweets about the elections on 9-24 June 2018 covered by the research was made.