Since the end of May, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Turkey, using social media with great skill to propel their rebuke of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan forward. Day after day, the protesters have leaned on Twitter and other social platforms to spread information and organize demonstrations, spurring the masses into action and regularly dominating Twitter?s list of worldwide trends in the process.
Turkish phrases dominate Twitter?s world trend list
In the age of social media, protesters often turn to social channels to push their cause, but rarely with the skill of those in Turkey. While the protesters? widespread use of social media can be ascribed to many factors, the root of their social media skill and audacity can be traced back to a uniquely Turkish form of social media called the sozluks ? a phenomenon that sprung up and thrived in Turkey years before Facebook and Twitter came into existence.
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?I?ve never seen Turkish media so obedient to the government. Never,? said Erkan Saka, a new media professor at Istanbul?s Bilgi University in an interview in his office a week before the Gezi Park protests began…..
?We have seen one of the greatest media blackouts in Turkish press history. In this context, citizens could only rely on social media, especially Twitter, as news sources and also news making.? -Erkan Saka….
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