The Role of Social Networks in Political Participation: A Research on University Students

Abstract

Political participation is the activities that are carried out in the political fields and the pressureof the citizens on the part that holds the government in different ways or who is in power in the political sense, to create various effects by directly or indirectly participating in the politicalprocess. Along with traditional participation methods, social transformations experienced withtechnology development and modern participation types gained importance along withinnovative developments. The aim of the study is whether the technological developments andsocial networks in daily life affect the political participation of the students who use these networks the most. For this reason, the political participation behaviors and the effect of socialnetworks on the student studying in Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Faculty of Economicsand Administrative Sciences were examined. In the study; social networks are frequently usedby university students, these uses increase students' interest in politics however, it was concluded that social networks were not effective in the active political participation behaviors of studentsin general.