This paper aims to assess the extent to which social media use of news agencies, political figures and ordinary citizens reflects recent political debates in Turkey. Inspired by Halpern and Gibbs’ study (2013), which analyzed comments posted on the White House’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page, I combine data from Twitter and Facebook to examine reactions expressed on social media concerning the worst mining accident in Turkey’s history. Using R’s twitteR package, I extract 250 tweets from news agencies and political figures and generate word clouds. I also estimate demographics of the news agencies’ audiences from a sample of 100 Facebook users who provide comments.

1. Social Media and Politics in Turkey: A
Mysterious Relationship
Duygu Basaran Sahin
The Graduate Center, CUNY
February 27, 2015
#digitalsociology
@basaranduygu

2. Gezi Park Protests
From the protests Gezi Park
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 2
Photo credit: Osman Orsal/Reuters Source: showdiscontent.com

3. Allude to CNN Turk’s Indifference
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015
3
Photo credit: C. Mehmet Kösemen

4. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Former
Primer Minister of Turkey
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 4
Source: http://www.tccb.gov.tr/

5. “Social media is the worst
menace to society”
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6. Where is Soma located?
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7. Soma Mine Disaster
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Source: Reuters

8. Abdullah Gül, Former President
of Turkey
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Source: http://www.abdullahgul.gen.tr/

9. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Leader of the
Opposition Party
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Source: www.chp.org.tr

10. Research Questions
Question 1: To what extent political figures’
reactions on Social media match their reactions
in non-social/conventional media? Do news
agencies with different political orientation
react/behave differently on social media?
Data & method: 250 tweets, R’s TwitteR
package, word clouds
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 10

11. Official Twitter Accounts
Leader of the Opposition Party Former President of Turkey
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 11

12. Official Twitter Accounts
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 12

13. Research Questions
Question 2: What can Facebook comments tell
us about the demographics of the
commentators?
Data & method: 90 Facebook comments posted
to CNN Turk’s and AA’s official Facebook pages,
descriptive statistics
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14. Abdullah Gül, Former President
of Turkey
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15. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Leader of the
Opposition Party
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16. CNN Turk
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17. Anadolu Ajansı
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18. Hürriyet
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19. Most Frequently Used Word
The Former
President
Leader of
Opposition
Party
CNN Turk Anadolu
Ajansı
Hürriyet
about Turkey Soma AA Soma
bicycle not In Soma Soma minute
Rome today mine Yıldız last
today let it be Erdogan minister custody
Tim (Cook) CHP custody energy Istanbul
Nice big about resources disaster
@anadoluaja
nsi
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20. Facebook Comments
AA
• Video on the mine
accident, its casualties
and arrests
• 33 unique comments
CNN Turk
• Video by a surviving
coalminer talking about
poor work conditions
• 57 unique comments
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21. Gender Distribution of
Commentators
Male
65%
Female
35%
Male
76%
Female
24%
CNN Turk AA
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 21

22. 41%
41%
14%
4%
62%
21%
13%
4%
Turkey urban
Turkey rural
Europe
Other
Where CNN Turk
Respondents Say
They Live
Where AA
Respondents Say
They Live
Duygu Basaran Sahin ESS 2015 22

23. Visits to Soma
The Former President’s visit to
Soma
Opposition party leader’s visit to
Soma
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24. Thank you!
Comments/suggestions/corrections are welcome.
dbasaransahin@gradcenter.cuny.edu
@basaranduygu