The use of social media as a tool public relations: A research on social media accounts of the metropolitan municipalities in Turkey

In the historical process, the conditions of the organizations in macro and micro environments change in time and the expectations of the stakeholders in these changing conditions increase. Therefore, in order to comply with changing environment and stakeholder expectations, organizations need to reorganize their ways of doing business, strategies, plans, practices, tools, their perspectives and communication processes against their stakeholders and society in general. It is inevitable of the change of public relation functions which integrate all the changing structure of the organization with their processes and bring them together with their stakeholders. Therefore, in this process, public relations functions also become an equilibrium element that leads to the separation between the organization and its stakeholders by being eliminated from mere recognition and publicity and the importance of them on behalf of the organizations increase day to day. One of the main reasons for changing of public relations functions is the innovations experienced in technological tools. While these tools change organizations and public relations functions, they also diversify public relations practices, outputs and tools to which their outputs are transferred. Organizations are now required to include to their process social media and networks as well as traditional communication tools to reach their stakeholders. In the first part of the study, which is based on these changes and requirements, the history of the public relations discipline in the historical process, the diversity of the media from the traditional media to the new media and social media, and the effects of these media and tools on the processes were discussed. In the second chapter, the social networks in which the research is carried out are explained and the reasons and necessity of using these media and tools in public relations applications are emphasized and national and international studies in this subject are included in the literature. In the third chapter, the use of social networks by public institutions and private organizations and their differences in the use of social networks were discussed. In the fourth and the last part it was demonstrated by a quantitative research desing how metropolitan municipalities, which are basic structures among public institutions that are seen as the first examples in Turkey, use social networks as public relations tool. Keywords: Public Relations, Metropolitan Municipalities, Social Media, Social Networks.