Advocacy of non-govermental organizations: Investigation of social media usage of non-govermental organizations in the gender field in Turkey

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are organizations that are active in solving social problems in many different areas ranging from humanitarian issues to environmental problems and that also enable citizens to participate in the government process by developing new policies and approaches. Like every organization, NGOs need public relations and promotional activities in order to achieve their goals; advocacy is the basic working strategy that NGOs use when fulfilling their functions. Gender inequality is one of the problems that NGOs are trying to make a difference with advocacy. NGOs aim to raise public awareness through their advocacy work, to play a role in the solution process of the problem, to influence potential decision makers, and to support or trigger social change. Today, along with the developments in new communication technologies, social media has become one of the most important tools that must be used to realize this aim. This master thesis aims to depict the usage of social media by NGOs which conduct gender equality-oriented advocacy activities in Turkey within the scope of public relations and to guide NGOs in this aspect . It is anticipated that the findings will show the route that should be followed in advocacy activities of NGOs. It is a cross-sectional and scan-type study for descriptive purposes where qualitative and quantitative research methods are used together. data was obtained through interviews with NGO representatives to measure the level of advocacy of NGOs and by examining NGO's profiles on Facebook and Twitter. Qualitative data was evaluated with the help of the thematic analysis and quantitative data with the help of the SPSS package program. As a result of the study, although the level of institutionalization in NGOs was generally low, it was seen that knowledge and awareness levels on advocacy were high and advocacy activities were influenced depending upon institutionalization levels. It has therefore been found that NGOs can use social media in relation to their level of institutionalization in advocacy activities on gender equality. It has been understood that all NGO representatives emphasize the importance of social media, but cannot use it adequately and effectively. Based on the findings of the study, it can be predicted that increasing the level of knowledge and awareness about how social media can be used effeciently in the advocacy activities of NGOs will contribute to the development of democracy through civil society. Key Words: Non-Govermental Organizations, Gender, Gender Equality, Public Relations, Advocacy, Social Media.