Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to reveal how and for what purpose The Ministry of Health uses popular social network site, Twitter, which has become significant in social life with its increasing usage in the past years. The great developments of information technology in the recent years enable individuals to have knowledge and awareness of health which is one of the priorities of their lives. Nowadays, individuals initially get their information about anything through internet and social media networks. As one of the Ministry of Health's constitutional missions is to make the society conscious about healthy life, it has been surveyed how the Ministry of Health informs it's followers through Twitter, on which subjects about healthy life and diseases the messages are being shared and how interactively Twitter is used in order to strengthen the communication with its followers, in twelve different categories according to Twitter content analysis. Depending on the findings, it has been reached to the conclusions that the Ministry of Health has not been using Twitter effectively, that it has not interacted with its followers within the month which was the duration of the research and that it has used Twitter mostly about healthy life and physical activity.

Keywords: