Dr. Fatma Kamiloğlu
Kaynak/Reference:
Kamiloğlu, F. Şişman Gezmen B. (2013). ICCMTD 2013: International Communication, Media, Technology and Design Conference, “The Role of Social Media in Agenda Creation – A Case Study: The Style and Appearance of the President’s Twitter Discourse in Newspapers”, Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies – OJCMT (www.ojcmt.net ), 2-4 May 2013, Famagusta, North Cyprus. www.cmdconf.net/2013/Proceedings/Proceedingd.pdf, Pages: 200-206
ARTICLE / ABSTRACT
Millions of events occur in the world and in Turkey almost every day. Which of these events would be presented to the public opinion or be on the agenda is decided by the media professionals who are also called “the gatekeepers”. It is clear that the gatekeepers make use of many sources in order to determine the agenda of news. One of these sources is the social media. Today, social media remains as an important force that directs and effects the other types of media. The topics those are on the agenda of the media can also be found in the conventional media. The dynamic and unstable structure of the social media enables the public to share ideas freely, and these ideas in turn form a rating pool causing conventional media to rely on this structure. Especially press follows this dynamic structure and form its own agenda by making use of this structure. Under the light of the mentioned information, the aim of this research is to put forth the role of Twitter on influencing the agenda of press as one of the most important networks of social media. Within the period of four month between June-September 2012, the Twitter messages of the president of Turkey Abdullah Gul were taken into consideration. Whether President Gul’s messages existed in the press or not, their form and frequency were explained via scanning method. By means of the news published in 7 newspapers those have the authority of representing Turkish press, we tend to put forth the influence of President Gul’s tweets in creating news. The hypothesis of the study is that Twitter as a means of social media has a certain role in creating the agenda of press.
INTRODUCTION
Media is among the basic tools where people gain information about what is going on in the world. News, information and content reflected by the media create the agenda of the society, and especially selection and presentation of the news by the televisions and newspapers bring many matters of debate along with them. Which news shall be presented for how long, which news shall be included in the agenda, what the society shall deal with and what the society shall be made to like or dislike are determined by the media directors who are called gatekeepers. Thus, the perception of the people concerning world is shaped in parallel with the window opened by the media; moreover, the society can only see what the open window lets them to see. As mentioned by Shaw and McCombs, mass media is highly successful to tell about what we shall think for how long. According to McCombs and Shaw, creating the agenda has a hierarchy of the priorities; it is the list of topics arranged with an increasing importance. As Bernard Cohen says, media does not tell us “what” we should think; it tells us “what” to think. There are many approaches and research which introduce the effect created by media on the society, intellectual change and conversion. Among these studies, especially Spiral of Silence, Epidermic Needle, Media Addiction and Agenda Creating stand out. Agenda creating tells that place and time allocated by mass media to a certain topic should be measured and this measurement should be associated with either the amount of audience’s interest in the topics or their attitude towards the materiality of the topics.
Change of forms of mass media, and especially positioning the social media as a news source and information network has brought in changes in the dimension of agenda creating. In spite of classical media’s one way agenda creating style, bidirectional content determination of the social media and the speed of spreading the news or information has become the determinant in the determination of social agenda. Social media also directs the agenda of classical media, as well as reflecting and determining the agenda of society. Media’s including the news which it did not include in the agenda in some periods thanks to social media, making news in parallel with the sensitivity of the society and especially emergence of the awareness for instantaneity of the news have triggered the classical media and made the social media an important source of information. Although the social media is unable to give a clear answer to the question “does agenda determine the media or does media determine the agenda”, all studies made it clear that social agenda determines the social media, and the social media determines the agenda and classical media. Starting from this, the basic objective of this study is to determine the form of reflection of the discourse in social media on the classical media and the degree of its efficiency especially in the aspect of political discourse. For this purpose, the information given by Republic of Turkey President Abdullah Gul through his Twitter account shall be analyzed in terms of to what extent, how and with which content it is reflected in the classical media. Firstly, Twitter messages of Mr. Abdullah Gul within the time period determined for the study shall be evaluated. And then it shall be determined by “content analysis method” which news are published to what extent and with which content on the determined newspapers within the same period starting from these twitter messages. According to the result obtained, the influence of social media performance of a person who has a high power of creating agenda in the politics on the determination of the agenda of the newspapers shall be presented. Thus, the hypothesis that social media is effective on creating the agenda of mass media shall be verified
1.CREATING THE AGENDA – SETTING THE AGENDA
The main thesis of “agenda setting thesis” concerning long term effects is that media influences public opinion seriously by ignoring some events and expressing the others. (Lazar, 2001: 107).
Many events occur in our daily lives; however, the public is aware of only some of these facts. Individuals can have information as to what happens through the information they obtain from the media. At this point, the framework of the agenda established by media for the sake of people gain importance. Then the question to be asked here is who decides as to when and to what extent we would gain information from the events?
The process of selecting the visual data and comments in accordance with the publishing manner and policies of the media companies is called “gatekeeping” (Rigel, 2000:22). The senior administrators in the official institutions are the ones who determine the policy. However, to secure and pursue this policy is a necessity in lower levels. Thus, a main media publisher is in such a position. He/she determines the policy of the newspaper and enables its practice as the owner or representative of the newspaper. The executive editors, news directors, editors -also called the gatekeepers- are the authorities who decide which events would be presented to public attention during news production process. Within this process, they need to act within the framework of ethics necessitated by their professions, and of ethical values objectively and justly, not through their ideas and prejudgments. (Zıllıoğlu et al., 2007, pp.227-228).
The approach that media executes the creation of agenda in daily basis was developed by McCombs and Shaw (1973) and it was drawn from the studies of B. Cohen (1963). The former mass communication studies insisted on awareness and cognition whereas a change in the attitudes began to be given priority (Erdogan and Alemdar, 2005: 180). Among the proponents of agenda creation thesis, McCombs and Shaw insist on the change in the viewpoint of mass media. Media does not affect over its target group immediately but shapes the way the recipient, who decodes the messages coming from the source during the process of communication, views the social environment. This is the principal hypothesis of agenda setting. This effect that was shaped through a sort of identification is defined as the agenda of the messenger. At this point, mass media does not convey us what we should think directly. It identifies and interprets the chronology and line of events. Its effective power on formation of public opinion stems from this point. (Bousie and Yücel, 2012, pp. 94-95).
Due to limited time, various systems apply to some methods and tactics in perceiving and processing facts related to them. In this context, the subjects are selected from a whole of possible objects and processed accordingly. In short, media shapes our perception towards the environment rather by determining what is less important on behalf of us. Thus, the imagination of individuals concerning the social facts are established by some authorities on behalf of them. (Gokce, 2002, pp. 206-207).
This long term forming also points out the efficient power of mass media. Public perception is formed and shaped according to the way media arranges the events. Another important emphasis is that the claims of media those do not attract attention in short term would be forgotten (Tutar and Yilmaz, 2005:130).
According to Cohen, who expresses the agenda creating functions of media in brief, the press may fail in telling people what they should think whereas it is quite successful in disclosing what they should think about (Rigel and Caglar, 2009:127)
Dearing and Rogers define the concept of agenda in creating the agenda as listing the subject headings or the events organized according to the order of importance (Dearing and Rogers, 1996:2). In this approach, the subjects which were dealt frequently and were considered important create the agenda of the audience; on the other hand, the subjects those are not dealt by media do not come into question publicly.
McComs and Shaw try to describe the agenda setting in context of Watergate in 1976. Media kept this event on the agenda steadily and it was on the agenda of American society during the event; at the end of this period, American President Nixon had to resign his office. Media which tells people what they should focus is an important part of city dwellers and public by means of a hierarchal chart. In the chart below, there is a close link between the lines concerning these issues.
Events the emphasis of the media on the subjects Public perception
E1 ………………………………………………………… E1
E2 ………………………………………………………… E2
E3 ……………………………………………………….. E3
Figure 1. Agenda setting theory (Lazar, 2001:107)
Today, individuals prefer mostly social media among mass media to become aware of the world. The new order and system show that social media forms an effective power over the other types of mass media as an enormous power. Gatekeeping, which is executed by taking the broadcasting identity, policy and target group into consideration, begins to disappear gradually within this newly emerged order. The citizens make use of the facilities provided by the new media technologies and produce news of whatever they want by social media via their computers and mobile phones (Caglar and Porghamrezaerek, 2012:14). As the agenda setting theory is based on especially political events, election campaigns and election periods, political elite create the agenda of people by media mostly through social media in these days. (Yaylagul, 2008: 70).
2.THE ROLE OF TWITTER IN CREATING THE AGENDA AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media which grows rapidly against conventional media not only creates its own agenda but also directs the agenda of other means via its multiple structure, individual sphere it presents for its users, independent field and freedom of expression. Aksoy (2012) states that millions of organizations and individuals ranging from all sorts of consumers to celebrities, politicians, governmental institutions, universities, profit making or nonprofit making companies surf on internet which is social media and acquire information whereas only scientists and a limited number of researchers participated in internet environment. Together with this multiple structure, those who are in social media can mould public opinion, convey the news to the agenda of social media to the extent of importance and also can influence the agenda of conventional media directly. The media order in which what, how and how much will be determined under the control of gatekeepers, media owners and political power is displaced by the users of social media. Now each social media user has the quality of “gatekeeping”. Press and audio-visual media determine the content and the order of news according to the agenda of social media. In fact, both media types influence, direct and prompt each other. Despite the fact that no scientific research has been held as to which media structure is more efficient, the observed ones show that especially the power of social media and its impact on setting the agenda are more efficient.
This multiple structure of the social media generates the notion of “echo chamber” along with itself. Technologists are not alien to the impact of echo chamber at all. The echo chamber impact can be summarized as follows: The closed groups consider whatever they speak of among themselves as the general norm and begin speaking more, they speak of even more as they hear it is uttered, speaking creates more speech and they assume a really distant portrait as real. (Süleyman Okan, http://sosyalmedya.co/olculemeyen-internet/,2012)
Twitter which took over the priority especially in recent social network trend within the social media is seen as the principle source of acquiring news for people from all social stratum. As a social communication means established by an American citizen Jack Dorsey in March 2006, Twitter is a microblogging website that enables its users to share max. 140 letters of messages, and other users to read those messages and broadcast them through their own profile by retweeting; it also enables to add it into their favorites. Twitter enables users to send tweets consisting of 140 characters and approximately a billon tweets are sent a week by 140 million active users all around the world. As Scott Stratten (2012) states, each tweet represents the personality and also position of the sender in spite of the fact that the tweets are personal.
Twitter, which attracts the attention as a social café used by everyone from politicians to businessmen, celebrities, media workers acts in the agenda as quick as a news agency. Real identity made the tone and the atmosphere of the communication on internet better than before. Tweeters want praise, esteem and to be followed by their wits; as a matter of fact, they are rewarded by their nanosecond fames (Jarvis, 2012:146). Strategy Analytics announced that the number of smart phone users exceeded a billion users in the first three quarters of 2012 (http://sosyalmedya.co/akilli-telefon-sayisi-bir-milyari-asti/). People now remain on internet for 24 hours and continuously on social media environment. Thus, each twitter user may become the source of some news, convey audio-visual and written form from this source at any moment. Although it takes time for media staff to reach any event occurring at any place in the world and to process it as news, twitter users at that place share the event immediately; at the end, this information increases as snowball and creates the agenda immediately. These news shared by twitter users are taken and used by other media experts. In short, social media takes over the role of conventional media as a source of news and information.
A video, photo, a message by a famous person or discussions and quarrels become the topics of main news bulletin and are shown for minutes; thus, they create the agenda for days so that conventional media follows thousands of people immediately and lively.
The most evident agenda creation of twitter is trendtopic structure in itself. Trendtopics (TT), which means the list of most mentioned topics, consist of the most sensational events in the country and in the world. These topics create the agenda of the topics to be discussed in the social media and also direct the agenda of social media; furthermore, this process creates the public agenda. Alongside the discussion of the topics on the agenda in TT, the agenda created by the celebrities also take part in the TT list and form a platform of sharing ideas for its users.
People those are aware of this impact of Twitter and use Twitter effectively are celebrities and politicians. Now news bulletins are replaced by tweets. By means of twitter, messages are conveyed to people without any intermediaries whereas whether the news bulleting would reach people and how would they be presented are under the control of gatekeepers. This makes twitter an important medium. Celebrities announce their messages to their followers or politicians convey important medium declarations via twitter. These announcements create the agenda of conventional media.
The best example for the impact of Twitter over agenda setting is that many international reports, conference proceedings or the sentence structure in press releases can be designed in conformity with 140 characters. Each sentence is formed in 140 characters and these sentences can be tweeted by readers easily without any alteration or change in the text. In this way, the text can be read by many people and is brought to agenda.
Among the Turkish politicians, especially President of Turkish Republic Abdullah Gul uses Twitter being aware of its multiple structure, social broadness and its power to influence the agenda. President Gul has been in service as the 11th President of Turkish Republic since 2007. Abdullah Gul has a total of 974 tweets and 2.645.000 followers by 07.01.2013.
According to “e-diplomacy Hub” (2012) which is developed by French news agency AFD to analyze and measure the efficiency and effects of diplomatic figures on Twitter, Gul is the 8th among the most influential diplomatic actors in the world having 2.261 points and more than 2.310.000 followers. On the other hand, Prime Minister of Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan is 12th having 1818 points with 1.847.000 followers. According to “e-diplomacy Hub”, the most influential 10 diplomatic actors on Twitter and the number of their followers are as follows:
1. USA Barack Obama 20.823.285 20.278
2. USA Bill Gates 8.520.046 8.471
3. China Dalai Lama (Tibet) 5.273.532 5.431
4. Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías 3.611.626 3.923
5. Saudi Arabia Muhammad Al-Arifi 2.868.383 2.987
6. USA Al Gore 2.522.812 2.558
7. Venezuela Henrique Capriles R. 1.710.685 2.400
8. Turkey Abdullah Gül 2.310.261 2.261
9. Mexico Felipe Calderón 2.149.700 2.162
10. England David Cameron 2.119.304 2.122 (http://twitterhaber.com/siyaset/gul-twitterde-8-sirada/)
Apart from President Gul, Twitter is not used effectively by other political leaders in Turkey. Denet Tezel, production Director of “nediyor.com” which shares the related comments of 900 famous people concerning the events or agenda in 140 character columns said, “Erdogan and Kılıcdaraoglu, who have the greatest number of followers, consider Twitter as a media in which they present their announcements”. According to Tezel, leader of MHP (National Movement Party) Devlet Bahceli “does not appear” in Twitter; on the other hand, co-leader of BDP Selahaddin Demirtas uses Twitter “successfully”. Tezel states that other members of BDP also use social media effectively.
Some of Tezel’s remarks are as follows: “The measurements show that a celebrity sends approximately 3.7 authentic tweets each day. Some of them think of it as a means of advertising. Foreign politicians use Twitter more effective than Turkish politicians. Among the members of the government party, almost no one speaks except for the ministers. The MPs of opposition parties use it as billboards as seen in messages such as “I am here visiting this town etc.” (http://www.haberturk.com/polemik/haber/783056-siyasiler-bu-isi-yapamiyor, 23.11.2012)
During the June- September 2012 within the scope of the survey on Gul, some of his tweets which become subject of the press are as follows:
- I felt so sorry for Neset Ertas’ loss. They informed me that this situation was quite serious when he was taken to the hospital. 25th September
- My treatment at Hacettepe Hospital still goes on. I will probably stay here for a few days. pic.twitter.com/proaB8id 30th August.
- In the meantime, I do not have spare time. I am busy with my studies, read reports and books pic.twitter.com/XP0gnBKa 30th august.
- Ulucanlar is a living monument that depicts where there is no democracy and justice, there is nothing other than oppression. 5th August.
- I am going to Yesilyurt to participate in an iftar (breaking the fast during Ramadhan) by ferry. pic.twitter.com/XP0gnBKa 26th July.
- We had 310 quests from 53 cities yesterday. I welcomed each of them with my wife. pic.twitter.com/vjwokjhT 25th July
- I had a sorrowful day yesterday. I participated in the funeral of private Umit Akbas who was martyred in Van. 25th July.
- I realized that Besiktas’ success is not a coincidence during the visit of their team, I was so glad. 15th June.
- You know that I support Besiktas. It was not successful in football but showed a great success in basketball. 15th July.
- Happy weekends everyone. I returned from Igdır and Agrı which have borders with Azerbaıjan, Armenia and Iran.9th June.
- Ishakpasa Palace in Dogu Beyazıt is a masterpiece as it were built on an eagle’s nest. pic.twitter.com/FniZEgAd
3.THE SCOPE AND METHOD OF THE RESEARCH
This study aims to put forth the agenda setting capacities caused by tweets shared in Abdullah Gul’s twitter account in the broadest sense. The reason why Abdullah Gul was selected for the subject of the study is his using Twitter actively and being 8th among 10 most influential diplomatic figures. In the light of this information, whether the tweets in Abdullah Gul’s personal account are in the news of 7 important newspapers (Sabah, Radikal, Cumhuriyet, Zaman, Habertürk, Yeni Şafak, Taraf) from the point of content and circulation of print press in Turkey within a period of 4 months between June – September 2012, their way of creating news and the number of the news were analyzed. The selection of the newspapers was executed according to the circulation, content and their ideological approaches. In the study, scanning method is used to analyze the number of news, headlines and their contents. The principal hypothesis of the studies is as follows:
H1: As one of the medium of social media, Twitter has a certain role on agenda setting in press.
3.2. THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
The range of Abdullah Gul’s twitter based news according to newspapers, their release date, headline, page number and the topic of the news within the mentioned period is shown in the table below. The data belonging to the table which served as the source for hypothesis and main report of the study was analyzed in the context of number and content. As it is seen in the table, the tweets shared by Abdullah Gul became the subject of 53 news within a period of 4 months in 7 newspapers.
| THE NEWSPAPERS WHERE THE NEWS WERE PUBLISHED | RELEASE DATE | Page | NEWS HEADLINES | THE SUBJECT OF THE NEWS |
| ZAMAN | 10.06.2012 | 1 | We grieve when we see the unqualified buildings of today after seeing Ishak Pasha Palace. | TRAVEL |
| RADİKAL | 10.06.2012 | 10 | The recommendation of “see Mount Agri From Igdır” | TRAVEL |
| SABAH | 10.06.2012 | 27 | Private court warning from Cicek | TRAVEL |
| HABERTÜRK | 10.06.2012 | 20 | Imprisonment for 1 month for insulting Gul | TRAVEL |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 16.06.2012 | 21 | Champions are with Gul | SPORTS |
| ZAMAN | 16.06.2012 | 29 | The crises concerning trainer does not end in Besiktas FC | SPORTS |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 22.06.2012 | 10 | Show me your tweets, I will tell you who you are- egoist | COLUMN |
| RADİKAL | 24.06.2012 | 18 | He is writing the book of twitter. | SURVEY REPORT |
| HABERTÜRK | 24.06.2012 | 1 | Either we will transform or we will be transformed | COLUMN |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 14.07.2012 | 12 | His followers exceeded 2 million. | SURVEY REPORT |
| ZAMAN | 14.07.2012 | 13 | Gul will invite the families of martyrs for the first fast breaking | SOCIAL |
| HABERTÜRK | 16.07.2012 | 16 | Gul kept his promise that he gave to the fisherman in Gabon | SOCIAL |
| CUMHURİYET | 26.07.2012 | 5 | Şehit Yakınlarına İftar | SOCIAL |
| TARAF | 27.07.2012 | 2 | the most talkative of Twiplomacy, Amama | SURVEY REPORT |
| HABERTÜRK | 27.07.2012 | 17 | Gul to Alevites: “we are all real citizens of this country. | POLITICS |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 28.07.2012 | 13 | Gul’s sensitiveness for traffic. | SOCIAL |
| ZAMAN | 28.07.2012 | 14 | He went to iftar by boat: use maritime against traffic Jam. | SOCIAL |
| RADİKAL | 31.07.2012 | 8 | Alone in Cankaya: His advisor in chief describes Gul. | COLUMN |
| HABERTÜRK | 31.07.2012 | 1 | The number of followers of leaders in twitter. | SURVEY REPORT |
| TARAF | 06.08.2012 | 12 | Ulucanlar, a living Monument | TERROR |
| RADİKAL | 06.08.2012 | 8 | PKK carelessly participated in a plan. | TERROR |
| ZAMAN | 06.08.2012 | 1 | The terrorist organization is in a devil plan. | TERROR |
| RADİKAL | 06.08.2012 | 15 | We should protect it enviously. | TERROR |
| SABAH | 06.08.2012 | 23 | He shared Ulucanlar Observations on Twitter. | TERROR |
| HABERTÜRK | 06.08.2012 | 1 | Damn with terror. | TERROR |
| CUMHURİYET | 06.08.2012 | 4 | They will have to pay for their crimes. | TERROR |
| RADİKAL | 09.08.2012 | 10 | A Gobbells does not emerge easily. | TERROR |
| SABAH | 17.08.2012 | 2 | Master, death does not suit you. | MESSAGE FOR CONDOLENCE |
| TARAF | 20.08.2012 | 10 | You are like an actor, do you want to be star? | SOCIAL |
| SABAH | 20.08.2012 | 1 | Everyone should keep away from terror. | TERROR |
| ZAMAN | 28.08.2012 | 4 | Boat of amateur fishermen overturned: 2 dies, 2 lost | SOCIAL |
| TARAF | 30.08.2012 | 20 | 140 –character – messages. | SURVEY REPORT |
| TARAF | 31.08.2012 | 1 | Gul’s reading Syria report at the hospital was interesting. | POLITICS |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 31.08.2012 | 1 | Hospital agenda consist of Syria. | POLITICS |
| ZAMAN | 31.08.2012 | 1 | He reads Syria report in his bed at the hospital. | POLITICS |
| CUMHURİYET | 31.08.2012 | 1 | Syria Report at the hospital | POLITICS |
| CUMHURİYET | 31.08.2012 | 12 | Between the lines | COLUMN |
| RADİKAL | 31.08.2012 | 1 | He studies on Syria at the hospital | POLITICS |
| SABAH | 31.08.2012 | 1 | The reports on Esed in his hand, those on Bush are at the bed side. | POLITICS |
| HABERTÜRK | 31.08.2012 | 1 | Gul in pajamas. | HEALTH |
| ZAMAN | 01.09.2012 | 1 | Treatment ended, Gul will be discharged. | HEALTH |
| TARAF | 03.09.2012 | 12 | Gul: I am home and fine. | HEALTH |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 03.09.2012 | 12 | Praise be to God I am fine. | HEALTH |
| CUMHURİYET | 03.09.2012 | 5 | Gul’s tweet of appreciation. | HEALTH |
| ZAMAN | 03.09.2012 | 14 | Thanks God, I am fine | HEALTH |
| SABAH | 03.09.2012 | 19 | I am fine. Thanks everyone | HEALTH |
| RADİKAL | 03.09.2012 | 16 | Praise be to God I am fine. | HEALTH |
| HABERTÜRK | 03.09.2012 | 16 | Gul thanks his doctors over twitter. | HEALTH |
| RADİKAL | 05.09.2012 | 8 | Struggle with illegal twitter and Facebook organizations. | HEALTH |
| TARAF | 06.09.2012 | 12 | Briefing on Syria at Cankaya (Kosk). | HEALTH |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 08.09.2012 | 19 | Our son enters in Face(book). | COLUMN |
| ZAMAN | 09.09.2012 | 13 | Increase in demand for Hacettepe where Gul was treated. | HEALTH |
| YENİ ŞAFAK | 30.09.2012 | 1 | We stay at Twitter more than home. | SURVEY REPORT |
3.2.1. THE FREQUENCY OF BEING ON THE AGENDA OF NEWSPAPER.
The frequency of Abdullah Gul’s tweets being on the agenda of press within the mentioned period of 4 months is shown as a table. Seen from the ideological perspective, the frequency of being on the agenda in Cumhuriyet is at the lowest level. On the contrary, Zaman conveys Gul’s tweets more frequently.
TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF NEWS ACCORDING TO THE NEWSPAPERS.
| n | % | |
| Zaman | 10 | 18,9 |
| Radikal | 9 | 17,0 |
| Habertürk | 8 | 15,1 |
| Yeni Şafak | 8 | 15,1 |
| Taraf | 7 | 13,2 |
| Sabah | 6 | 11,3 |
| Cumhuriyet | 5 | 9,4 |
| Toplam | 53 | 100 |
GRAPHIC 1: DISTRIBUTION OF NEWS ACCORDING TO THE NEWSPAPERS.
3.2.2. THE FREQUENCY OF BEING ON THE AGENDA ACCORDING TO THE CONTENT OF THE NEWS
In the table below, we see the number of Abdullah Gul’s tweets were brought on agenda in the newspapers. As we see were, the agenda is evolved rather by political news out of Gul’s tweets. This fact is followed by health news. Within the period the study was executed, Gul stayed at hospital for a while due to health problems. Informing his followers by sending tweets, Gul attracted the attention by the Syria report concerning which he shared a photo; he said that he read it during this period.
TABLE 2: THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEWS ACCORDING TO THEIR CONTENTS
| n | % | |
| Politics | 16 | 30,2 |
| Health | 12 | 22,6 |
| Social | 8 | 15,1 |
| Survey Report | 6 | 11,3 |
| Column | 5 | 9,4 |
| Travel | 4 | 7,5 |
| Sports | 2 | 3,8 |
| Total | 53 | 100 |
GRAPHIC 2: THE DISTRIBUTION OF NEWS ACCORDING TO THEIR CONTENTS
3.2.3 THE CONTENT OF THE NEWS
A. THE NEWS ON SURVEY REPORTS (TRACERS)
In most of the survey reports in the newspapers, the results of survey on the most followed twitter users are given. It is clear that President Abdullah Gul is at the top.
B. HEALTH NEWS
President Abdullah Gul shared his first hospital photos from Hacettepe Hospital where he had treatment due to the illness in his hearing over Twitter, a social network website. As he was discharged from the hospital, President Gul stated through his Twitter account that his health was fine and thanked the doctors and other staff. All those news appeared on the first pages of the newspapers within the scope of the survey. In the news, there were photos and information about the fact that Gul made studies concerning Syria report.
Abdullah Gul shared his comments and photos those express his opinion after his official visits including his Agrı, Igdır, Ishak Pasha Palace visits with his twitter followers.
President Gul’s sending a few photos with a fisherman whom he met during his visit to Gabon last year in which he was walking with bare foot on the beach attracted too much attention in the press. They remained on the agenda for a long time. After this photo, Habertürk presented it from the 16th page under the headline of “Gul kept his promise to the fisherman from Gabon.”
In the news, the sentences which stated that Gul supplied fisherman the engine and nets the President promised to supply him caused great interest.
C- POLITICS
President Gul evaluated his impressions concerning Ulucanlar Prison which was transformed into a museum by a message over twitter. Expressing the importance of democracy and justice in the news, President Gul stated that we should protect democracy and our rights with utmost care.
D- SPORTS NEWS
President Gul shared some news concerning sports from time to time during the season in his website. Gul welcomed Besiktas Milangaz which completed the season with 3 cups together with the Chairman Fikret Orman and Board Members in Tarabya Mansion; His photos showing Gul in sports gear no 38 were shared in Twitter.
E- SOCIAL NEWS
It is seen that the President Gul’s answers from the Twitter to the questions from the citizens through social media were reflected on the news. In the news published on Zaman dated 08.28.2012, the families of 4 people who sailed to catch fish and were lost in Istanbul/ Kumburgaz sent messages seeking help through social media. The President answered from the twitter saying “Wait, we will provide help”. After the iftar given by Alawi- Bektashi federations and organizations, his messages on solidarity and unity became the subject of many news in press. The photos of Gul and messages on remarks solving traffic problem by maritime in Istanbul on the way to iftar on a ferry were shared in social network.
F- COLUMNS
In the columns, the phenomenon that tweets focus mostly on leaders is discussed. It is stated that Abdullah Gul uses Twitter frequently and shares messages those set the agenda as many other leaders.
CONCLUSION
In parallel with the changing communication means and life styles, the usage of social media becomes popular and the process of influencing the way and form of communication also advances. As a decisive medium, social media determines the agenda of conventional media together with the public agenda in Turkey and in the world directly or indirectly. The dynamic and multiple structure of twitter as a medium of social media enables individual users to convey their emotions, thoughts and knowledge to the public simultaneously and freely. The political and social leaders and opinion leaders who are aware of the synergy and communication potential make use of Twitter actively and share the institutional information together with their private lives with the public without any intermediaries. This sharing creates the agenda in Twitter and also become headlines in conventional media.
One of the leaders who use this process in Turkey is President Abdullah Gul. As it is mentioned in the article, he is at the 8th rank among the most efficient leaders in Twitter.
In the light of this information, tweets of President whose efficiency in Twitter was proven also have the efficiency of establishing an agenda on the press in a parallel manner.
In this context, with in the 4 months of period (June-September 2012) beginning with the initial stage of this article, the tweets of president Abdullah Gul were examined and the main subjects they dealt were determined. Then 7 magazines those have the ability to represent the typology of press (Sabah, Haberturk, Zaman, Yeni Safak, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Taraf) were scanned during a period of 4 months (June- September 2012). During the scanning process, all the news in which the words “Abdullah Gul” and “Twitter” or their content were examined. In some news, there is an attribution to twitter by using the words social media instead of Twitter whereas in some of them it is seen that the words “President” or “Gul” are used. Thus, not only the word-based scanning but also content-based scanning were executed. The news that are gained were classified and the intenseness of being the subject of news were analyzed in the context of newspapers.
Within the framework of findings obtained in the survey, our hypothesis that “as a medium of social media, Twitter has a role over agenda setting in press” was proven. It was observed that President Gul sent approximately 90 tweets within the period of the survey. In newspapers scanned in this period, a total of 53 news were published but of these tweets. Most of these news consist of news on politics in parallel with the contents of the tweets. It is also observed that the tweets sent by Abdullah Gul due to health problems in this period consist mostly of health news. The classification of the news according to the frequency of agenda setting is as follows: Social, Tracers, Columns, News about Travelling and Sports.
Finally, twitter as an important share domain of social media influences the content and frequency of news and the agenda of the press in a strong manner through the example of President Abdullah Gul.
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