Comperetive analysis of social media in the construction of social identities from the example of university students in different regions

The concept of identity is among the most discussed concepts in social theory. This concept, which has been talked about since the early years of philosophy, has been of interest to almost all disciplines, from anthropology to social psychology, from literature to political science. In early studies on the concept of identity, a psychological perspective was been made and assessments were made that identity had a static structure that was not affected by the experiences of the outside world. In subsequent studies, a sociological perspective was developed from the argument that identity has individual and social sides. According to the understanding accepted today, identity is the result of a construction process and has a quality that is affected by both social structure, social movements and technological developments. Social Identity theory is also a theory of social science that develops propositions on the social aspect of identity. In the process of obtaining identity, he focused on issues such as awareness of belonging, intergroup relations, group membership and group bias, prejudice and discrimination. In today's heterogeneous society structure, social media platforms are the most convenient medium for identity building. It provides users with a variety of possibilities, especially for the display and conversion of individual identities. Social media has a significant impact on the construction of individual identities. Do social media have the same effect on social identities? This study was done in search of answers to this question. For this purpose, an area survey was conducted on 1439 participants studying at universities in different regions of Turkey. The data obtained were interpreted by subjecting them to appropriate analysis in the SPSS program. As a result of the research, it was found that social media is not an important variable in the construction and editing of social identities. Keywords: Identity, Identity Construction, Social Identity, Social Media, Social Media and Social Identity