TURKEY

Turkish minorities are wary when using social media

An important phase of the “Social Media and Non-Muslim Minorities” project, the first EU project that is led by a minority association in Turkey, has been completed. The conducted study has present important findings relating to internet and social media use of minorities.
Virna GÜMÜŞGERDAN
Turkish minorities are wary when using social media

The results of the study conducted by KONDA were announced by Bekir Agirdir during a press conference held in the Galata Greek School on Wednesday, the 10th of June. Agirdir, who stated that the exact number of minorities currently living in Turkey was unknown, began sharing the results by explaining the demographic information of the 746 people who responded to the questionnaire that was presented within the scope of the study.

Such information as the age range of the respondents (25% 14 – 28 age group, 37% 29 – 43 age group, 38% 44 and above age group), education level of the respondents (13% below high school, 25% high school graduates, 62% university graduates), marital status of the respondents (55% married, %4 engaged, 41% single), places of residence of the respondents (93% Istanbul, 1,4% Izmir, %0,9 Ankara) were shared with the listeners. The largest minority amongst the respondents were Jews. While 34,5% of the respondents were Jewish, %27 were Armenian, 18% were Assyrian and %15 were Greek.

 

FACEBOOK IS THE MOST POPULAR

After explaining the demographics and social data of the respondents, Agirdir started sharing the results regarding social media use. Accordingly:

- 68% use the Internet for work, 66% use the Internet for conversations with friends and relatives, 49% use the Internet for banking purposes, 79% use the Internet for keeping up with the news, 35% use the Internet to keep up to date with political content, 25% use the Internet for shopping and 39% use it to watch films and TV shows. 

- 43% of social media users are always online. While 13% checks their accounts hourly, 34% check their accounts 2-3 times a day. While 7% check their account 2-3 times a week, only 7% do not own any social media accounts.

- The most frequently used social media tool is Facebook, with 85%. This is followed by Twitter with 49%, YouTube with 57%, Instagram with 57% (a percentage way above the Turkish average) and LinkedIn with 32%.

- 86% of the respondents use social media accounts with their real names. While 2% stated that they used false names, 12% stated that they owned accounts with both their real names and false names.

- The percentage of people who are friends in real life with their Facebook friends is 24%.

- 41% responded to the question “How do you feel when you share content or comment on social media?” with the answer “I sometimes feel wary”. This answer was followed with the answers “I do not share content or comment, I just watch” (23%), “I freely share content, I feel comfortable” (21%) and “I hold back and most of the times I do not share my true opinions” (15%).

-  When asked whether they suffered a violation of rights due to news or opinion they shared on social media, 65% of the respondents stated that they had not suffered a violation of their rights. However, 15% stated that they had suffered insults, 14% stated that they had been belittled, 8% stated that they had been sworn at and 6% that they had been threatened.

- While 61% stated that they did not know their rights regarding social media, 80% stated that there should be sanctions against violation of rights and discrimination on social media.

 

 

 

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