Özet:

Like in every other spheres of life, new media brought about a paradigm shift in political communication practice. The first-time election of president by the public at the presidential elections on 10 August 2014 made the performance of political communication practices for such elections obligatory. For this reason, the use of new media became an indispensable component of these election campaigns in Turkey in which the use of new media becomes increasingly widespread. This paper seeks to identify how the presidential candidates utilized new media during their campaigns. The objective of this paper is to describe the new media dimension of the campaigns that were held for the first time ever for the presidential election. Election campaigns were analyzed within the context of how presidential candidates were positioned on new media, which content these candidates posted on their web sites, and which innovative new media techniques they used. This paper uses the quantitative research method. The web sites and social media accounts of the candidates were examined using the descriptive content analysis technique. An observational analysis was made through the continuous monitoring of the candidates’ new media posts over the course of the election. It was concluded that the conventional media content had been transmitted literally onto the new media. The web sites and social media accounts of the candidates assumed the function of informing the public on their election efforts. A key contribution of the new media to the candidates during the presidential election was the fact that it enabled online donations. On the other hands ın terms of political communication, the new media was used unproficiently to mobilize voters and provide interactivity.

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