Influencing the political preferences of metropolitan voters via Twitter "2019 Ankara example"

Political communication is not just one of the communication activities that need to be carried out during elections, but requires the concept of continuity. Just as companies in the market must treat them differently in order to sell their products, the parties in political competition must also propose differences that give them an advantage to influence their voters. Therefore, candidates should use political communication technology to interact with their voters, introduce their purpose, create the difference between opponents and themselves, especially to create successful candidate images to win elections. Today, the Internet has transformed the world into a global village by connecting all organizations with each other. Compared with traditional media, new media provides opportunities to reach the public in a shorter period of time. With this opportunity, the Internet has changed social habits through entertainment, communication, and business methods. Web 2.0 was launched in 2004. The system was created by Internet users sharing second-generation Internet services (social communication systems, Wikies, and several communication methods) and is defined as Web 2.0. With the concept of Web 2.0, the Internet has been widely used by political parties as a tool for political communication, especially during election campaigns. Social media is an important mediator between political parties and voters. This research aims to study how to use social media practices in political communication. Web 2.0 is described as the most common application in new communication tools. Papers related to the use of social media in the process of political communication; therefore, the concept of political communication was studied in the context of social media innovation, and how politicians who nominated for the Mayoral election in Ankara on March 31 use social media. Therefore, as the most common application of the new communication method defined as Web 2.0, the use of social media in political communication is the focus of this research. In this sense, it analyzes the innovative concept of political communication brought about by social media, and how politicians nominated for the mayoral elections on March 31stuse social media. Keywords: Political Communication, Public Relations, Social Media, Internet, Twitter