A Look at Turkish National Values in the Context of the Social Media Shares of Opinion Leaders in Maintaining Collective Memory
Zeynep ÖzcanCollective memory emerges as a result of the togetherness of individuals within society; It is the storage of characteristics, events or situations that reflect society in order to be remembered again. It is formed by the preservation and transfer of past experiences related to the society among the members of the society, and the values that become specific to that society by archiving it are of critical importance in maintaining the collective memory. When these values are specific to nations, national values emerge. National values are social and cultural elements specific to a nation; they help nations protect and maintain their existence. National values are acquired through learning during the socialisation process of individuals; is passed on from generation to generation. Opinion leaders, who have the power to influence individuals’ emotions, thoughts and behaviours with their opinions and comments, also have an important role in protecting and sustaining national values. Today, on social media, one of the main places of collective memory; The shares of opinion leaders were examined with content analysis. Content such as Turkish language, Turkish names, Turkish soldiers, Ataturk, and Turkish food are frequently shared by opinion leaders; It has been observed that they include content related to Turkish national values, especially on special national and religious days. In this context, it can be said that opinion leaders act as intermediaries in the use of content related to Turkish national values and therefore the maintenance of collective memory
Toplumsal Belleğin Sürdürülmesinde Türk Milli Değerlerine Kanaat Önderlerinin Sosyal Medya Paylaşımları Bağlamında Bakış
Zeynep ÖzcanToplumsal bellek, toplum içindeki bireylerin bir aradalıkları neticesinde ortaya çıkan; toplumu yansıtan özelliklerin, olayların ya da durumların tekrar hatırlanması üzere depolanmasıdır. Toplumla ilişkili geçmiş yaşanmışlıkların toplumu oluşturan üyeler arasında korunması ve aktarımı itibariyle ortaya çıkan toplumsal belleğe arşivlenerek o topluma özgü çıktılardan biri haline gelen değerler de toplumsal belleğin sürdürülmesinde kritik öneme sahiptir. Bu değerlerin milletlere özgülük kazanması ile milli değerler ortaya çıkmaktadır. Milli değerler, bir milletin kendisine özgü toplumsal ve kültürel kaynaklı ögelerdir; milletlerin varlığını koruması, varlığını sürdürmesi noktasında ortak paydada buluşmalarını sağlamaktadır. Milli değerler, bireylerin toplumsallaşma süreci içerisinde öğrenme yoluyla edinilmekte; nesilden nesile aktarılmaktadır. Bireylerin duygu, düşünce ve davranışları üzerinde görüşleri ve yorumlarıyla etkileme gücüne sahip olan kanaat önderleri de milli değerlerin korunması ve sürdürülmesi noktasında önemli bir role sahip olabilmektedir. Bugün, toplumsal belleğin başlıca mekanlarından biri olarak sosyal medya, bireylerin günlük yaşam pratiklerinin ayrılmaz bir parçası haline geldiği üzere çalışmada kanaat önderlerinin sosyal medyadaki paylaşımları içerik analizinde bulunularak incelenmiştir. Türk dili, Türk isimleri, Türk askeri, Atatürk, Türk yemekleri gibi içeriklerin yüksek frekansla kanaat önderlerinin paylaşımlarında yer aldığı; ayrıca kanaat önderlerinin özellikle de milli ve dini özel günlerde Türk milli değerlerine ilişkin içeriklere yer verdikleri gözlemlenmiştir. Bu bağlamda Türk milli değerlerine yönelik içeriklerin kullanımı ve dolayısıyla toplumsal belleğin sürdürülmesi noktasında kanaat önderlerinin birer aracı niteliğine sahip olduğu söylenebilmektedir.
Collective memory; it is an archive that is formed in line with the events and situations experienced by individuals in the society and reveals the characteristics of that society; it is the product of a collective effort. It emerges as a result of the common experiences and sensations of the individual within the society with other individuals. Collective memory; it cannot be considered independent of the culture, values, teachings and lifestyles in that society. Values as one of these components; it includes the characteristics adopted by that society, which provide a certain criterion for the emotions, thoughts and behaviours of the members of the society. Values have a structure that is loaded with ideological meanings and adds meaning to society. As members of the society in which they live, individuals adopt the basic values of the society and shape their socialisation processes in line with these values.
Values can be universal or national depending on their scope. While universal values refer to values that have the same qualities in all societies and cultures in the world; national value corresponds to the values that are unique to nations. National values are among the elements that keep collective memory alive as the memory of a society. It is decisive in the existence of collective memory. National values specific to a nation occur in the collective memory of that nation and create citizenship awareness and loyalty in the members of that nation. Therefore, national values are important for the collective memory of nations and help maintain the collective memory.
Time and space are important in transferring and keeping collective memory alive. In particular, space determines the area and scope of memory. Just as the memories of individuals in their personal lives cannot be considered independently of place; collective memory also exists with space. This space can be concrete or abstract. The memories that the memory keeps are realised within a certain perception of space. The existence of a place is a must for these memories to be experienced and stored in memory. Members of society who create collective memory during the socialisation process and remember or forget the memories in collective memory; they perform these actions in the places where they communicate. One of these places is social media.
Social media are virtual environments where users can communicate and interact with each other regardless of time and place. In other words, it is possible to think of social media as a new form of space that eliminates the necessity of physical space. Many individuals with small or large target audiences, such as ordinary individuals, celebrities, and political leaders, can participate in this venue. Among these individuals, there are also people called opinion leaders who have the power to influence the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of other individuals.
Opinion leaders are those who have an impact on those who watch, listen or read them with their actions and opinions; they are people whose actions and opinions are valued. These people eliminate the necessity of physical time and space; they also occur in social media, which creates an alternative to the condition of time and space commonality of collective memory in a different form. Opinion leaders on social media appeal to their target audiences by sharing posts for various purposes and motivations.
Collective memory is constantly updated as it is transferred by the members of the society, and it updates itself and presents itself to its members. National values are important in terms of how close or far away they are from the essence in this updating process. The existence of national values enables societies to preserve their identities in the global world and prevents them from assimilating. It is a necessity to protect and keep alive national values in order to prevent the separation from the essence in the updating of collective memory and to prevent the loss of national characteristics in the globalising world. The existence of national values means that the collective memory exists with its essence, and therefore the collective memory is maintained with its essence.
In this context, the study focused on national values in maintaining collective memory and national values; It was examined through social media, which has a central position in today’s daily life practises. In this review, the posts of opinion leaders who have influence over other individuals on social media and whose behaviours and opinions are given importance were discussed. In the review, content analysis was conducted; frequency analysis and categorical analysis techniques were used. The last 50 inactive posts of the selected opinion leaders on Instagram, one of the most used social media platforms, were analysed. Because of the analysis, it was observed that opinion leaders included national values in their posts. In particular, it has been determined that content such as Turkish, Turkish names, Turkish soldiers, Ataturk and Turkish food are included at high frequency. Therefore, in transferring and keeping national values alive; at the same time, it was concluded that opinion leaders play an important role in maintaining collective memory. It is expected that the study will raise awareness on this issue and contribute to the maintenance of collective memory and national values through future studies.
