The effect of social media usage levels on voter behaviors: A research specific to Sakarya province

Social media is the most preferred multidirectional communication channel today with its technological infrastructure. Since the versatility of communication makes it possible to measure the interaction, it has recently been used as a communication method that has attracted attention in political communication. The relations between society and individuals, which are reshaped due to developments in the field of technology, also differ in political communication behaviors. It is known that voters who vote in elections are affected by different factors while determining their political preferences. The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of the usage levels of social media, the most popular communication tool of today, on voter behavior in the context of political consent. Most of the time, research seek to answer the question of which factors are more effective in voters' preferences than others. In this study, while seeking an answer to the question of how much political consent exists in determining the political preferences of individuals, the relationship between the impact of social media usage levels on these preferences was sought in the scale of Sakarya province. Relational survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group of the research consists of 604 voters aged 18 and over who use social media residing in Sakarya province. The participants were administered the Social Media Usage Levels Scale, Political Consent Scale and Personal Information Form, the validity and reliability study of which had been conducted previously, through online survey method and Statistical Program in Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. It has been determined that there is a difference between the continuity and competence dimension of voters' social media usage levels and political consent and its sub-dimensions (continuity, competence, accuracy, free will) for some elements and not for others according to demographic structure. In this study, it has been observed that voters' levels of social media use and perception of the elements of political consent affect voter behavior in different directions and levels according to demographic characteristics