Social Media Use During Political Crises

The widespread adoption of social media within the past two decades has led to an increased interest in how social media may transform the nature of communication during political crises. Researchers have investigated a number of questions related to how activists use social media for coordination purposes, such as social media’s potential as a source of information and a platform giving voice to citizens (e.g. Allagui and Kuebler 2011; Allan 2009; Andén -Papadopoulos 2013; Castells 2012; Hänska-Ahy and Shapour 2013; Johnson 2011). Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to how social media users may exhibit different usage patterns during times of crises. This chapter aims to fill this void by providing findings from two studies that examined how individuals used social media during the 2013 Gezi protests in Turkey.