The effect of using social media on political efficiency, participation and interest: An examination on political identities

Social media, which deeply affects individual and social communication forms, seems to have managed to open a wide space for itself in all kinds of human relations and activities. Social media platforms have been the subject of many studies scientifically and scholars from various disciplines have tried to develop further understandings. In this sense, one of the fields of studies that focuses on social media is political communication studies. When the relevant literature is evaluated, it is seen that the use of social media in the context of political candidates, parties and leaders has been the focus of such studies, while the use of social media for individuals for political purposes has not been investigated extensively. From this point of view, this study deals with the use of social media as an area of political expression in an individual sense. In the study, the effect of the use of social media for political purposes on the axis of different political identities, political efficacy, attitudes of political interest and political participation were examined. The results showed that the use of social media for political purposes had significant effects on the levels of political efficacy, political interest and political participation. The results also showed that the social media platforms used by individuals with different political identities differed from each other to a certain extent.