The role of corporate Twitter usage in universities' public relations (COVID-19 process)

This research aims to determine the role of corporate Twitter usage in public relations of universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted concurrently in both qualitative and quantitative mixed research design. The population of the quantitative dimension included the students continuing their postgraduate education in Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. Participants in the quantitative dimension were selected through stratified sampling and 1245 postgraduate students' views were taken. The population of the qualitative dimension of the research included Turkish universities owning corporate Twitter accounts. One state and one private university were chosen from each region of Turkey. The findings demonstrated that the public relations of the universities were at a sufficient level according to the perceptions of the participants. Besides, it was revealed that the communication dimension was the most effective factor in the public relations of universities. The perceptions of postgraduate students studying at private universities about their university's public relations were higher. Furthermore, as a result of the content analysis of the corporate Twitter accounts of the universities, 6407 tweets were shared between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020. Whereas Atatürk University was in the first place among these universities, Gazi University was in the last place. As a result of the categorization of the tweets, universities mostly shared to announce other public relations tools. The findings revealed that the usage of corporate Twitter had a role which aimed at strengthening informing in the public relations of universities during the COVID-19 pandemic.