New media offer young people the opportunity to follow political news independently from the mainstream media and their personal networks, while at the same time they empower young people’s political participation, and produce new forms of political
participation based on digital, multimedia, flexible and visual features. The studies on political participation of young people on digital platforms are mainly focused either on apolitical youth or on young people, who are active in social movements. The uses of new
media by youth branches of traditional institutions such as political parties have been understudied. Considering the power of traditional politics and political parties in Turkey, the place and the role of young members of political parties merit a particular attention.
This study examines the role of social media within the youth branches of three political parties (AKP, CHP and HDP) in Turkey. Based on the semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus groups, this study reveals the opportunities and limits of social media for young members of the political parties. Our findings show that the opportunities of social media are limited for youth organisations due to several factors. Although social media empower and make more visible young members; and facilitate communication and organisation of the party youth; the factors such as state surveillance, censorship and self-censorship and the prevailing effects of traditional politics are among these limits.
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Hakan Yücel sitesinden daha fazla şey keşfedin
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