The role of social media in determining the cultural identity of sociology students: The case of Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University

When we examine the wars that have been going on for centuries, it is clearly seen that the destruction of a country cannot be achieved by physical force alone. It can be said that in order to destroy or seize a country completely, it will be achieved by damaging the culture that is the building block of that country. Kocadaş (2005: 1, 2) states that the media conveys culture to people on a global scale and that even one of the political, economic and cultural characteristics of the country should not be missing for the integrity of the country, and that culture and media are the two most important institutions in society. From this point of view, the general purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University Sociology Department students' use of social media platforms, some of their online and offline attitudes, how and to what extent social media affects their cultural identities. In order to achieve the determined purpose, first of all, a literature review on the subject was made. Survey technique was used as a data collection tool in the research. The questions in the Survey were prepared in the light of previous studies. Afterwards, this form was revised together with experts, consisting of a total of 30 questions, 8 of which include demographic information, 8 of which are related to social media use, and 14 of which are related to social media use and cultural identity; A Survey form containing 8 closed-ended question forms with a structured, semi-structured and 5-likert scale was determined. Obtained in the research were analyzed using the SPSS program, and the findings were interpreted by using the literature. In this direction, among the variables, chi-square test and frequency table analyzes were used. Responses to open-ended questions were noted and added to the analysis.In the findings of the research, it was concluded that there is a relationship between the social media usage habits of the participants and their daily lives, the demographic characteristics have little effect on the use of social media and thoughts, and the participants mostly think that social media has no effect on cultural identity and social media changes cultural identity. KEYWORDS: Globalization, Social Media, Cultural Identity, Youth, Global Culture