Abstract
ÇANAKKALE İLİNDE SİVİL TOPLUM KURULUŞLARININ SOSYAL MEDYA KULLANIMINA YÖNELİK NİTEL BİR ARAŞTIRMA
Use of social media platforms in Turkey has increased promptly in recent years. Although prior research has intensively scrutinized individuals’ use of social media, there is a body of research focusing on the use of social media platforms by NGOs. The aim of the study is to fill the gap by shed light on use of social media by NGOs in Turkey. To this end, data from interviews with key informants in NGOs such as managers, employees or volunteers managing social media activities in the city of Çanakkale are analyzed. Through this analysis, questions such as in which extent they use the potential of social media, the impact of using social media on their activities and performance, and barriers prohibiting their use of social media are answered. Analysis shows that most of the NGOs use social media for sharing information regarding events, celebrations of important days and legislations that have an impact on their target audience. The most important barriers preventing NGOs from using social media effectively are; lack of professional personnel specialized in social media, lack of time, lack of funding (smartphones, computers etc.), and fear of being misunderstood. Although most of the NGOs don’t fully benefited from use of it, they considered themself sufficient with current use. Nevertheless most of them plan to find a professional or volunteer expert in the next few years to organize their social media activities.
Keywords
Non-Governmental Organizations, social Media, communication, qualitative research
