Abstract:

Social networks are networking organizations that bring people together in a virtual environment by transcending the limits of space and time with the help of communication technologies. According to data from 2018, 3.19 billion people, which is 42% of world population have social media accounts. With the virtual communication carried out on a global scale, a virtual culture and environment arises between individuals and societies; people living in different conditions and cultures get closer and a cultural change takes place. Moreover, a research conducted in 26 countries by Reuters Institute of Oxford University in 2016 to learn about people's news sources revealed that 51% of the participants used social media to get weekly news. This rate is 73% for Turkey. The number of users in Facebook, which can be accessed through 19 language options today and expressed as the world's largest social network, is close to 2 billion. The purpose of this study which is structured upon these phenomena is to approach social networks as one of the virtual communication tools and to determine the usage preferences of generation Z, who were born in the years 1995-2012. The conclusion reveals that the 29% percent of generation Z members do not use Facebook and the 10% do not have an active Facebook account. Those who use Facebook actively stated that they predominantly prefer following the humor pages, that they don’t use it for playing games or listening to music, that they prefer in person communication rather than communicating via Facebook, that they do not refrain expressing their true feelings and thoughts through posts and comments, that they are not interested in advertisements in the pages and there are not affected by them, and that they are disturbed by fake accounts, attempts of fraud, harassments, voyeurisms, and by those who use their personal accounts for commercial purposes. This “virtual voyeurism” which disturbs the generation Z brings a new dimension to voyeurism, thanks to the combination of the explosion of modern technology and the social networks. On the other hand, a Facebook scandal which has taken place during the period of this study, involving disclosure of user information improperly with the company Cambridge Analytica, displayed the voluntary submission of subjects to the visual control of local and global governments by signing up Facebook. It revealed that while they intent to express their existence, they are actually confronted with the disappearance of their subjecthoods.

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