Usage and administration of social media in public administration: Basic principles and recommendations

In this study, the social media management of public institutions was examined within the context of literature and current practices. The aim of the study is to determine basic principles of managing social media for public institutions and put forward some suggestions in order to ensure an effective social media management and usage in Turkey. The basic claim of the research is the limited degree of achievement of social media management despite the prevalence of social media usage by public institutions in Turkey. The research focuses on the guiding documents of public institutions in terms of giving clues as to how social media management is implemented. In this context, firstly the social media guiding documents of the public institutions from selected countries were examined by content analysis method, afterwards common approaches to social media have been identified and finally it has been confirmed that these approaches are covered by the relevant literature. In Turkey; the strategic documents that determine the social media approaches of the state, political parties and public institutions were examined and the contents of the corporate web sites were examined. Despite the widespread use of social media, it has come to the conclusion that there is no set of principles and rules for social media management for public institutions. Similar results were obtained in a field study of some selected central and local government units and it was determined that the use of social media in public institutions was limited mainly to informing citizens and informing their activities and a guiding document was needed in order to provide social media management. As a result; 10 social media principles have been developed in order to ensure an effective social media management and usage in public institutions of Turkey depending on the literature review, contents of social media guiding documents and the findings of field study. In addition, a structure has been proposed which envisages that these principles should be implemented in a guiding document depending on the institution's strategic plans. Within this structure, the social media principles constitute the framework of social media management to be established within the institution. Key Words Social Media Principles, Social Media Management, Social Media Guiding Document