The Hidden Role of Twitter Users in Social Policy as an Agenda-Setting Tool: The Case of Yemeksepeti and Migros
Bilal CoşanMedia is an important agenda setting tool. With the development of Web 2.0 technologies in particular, many issues related to daily life have come to the agenda regarding social media. In this context in terms of social policy, the employer/employee relations and problems of other disadvantaged groups have also been able to come to the agenda on Twitter. As an important social policy actor, civil society also plays an active role in shaping social policies on the Web both in a narrow and broad sense. The aim of this study is to discuss the hidden role of Twitter users regarding social policies as an agenda-setting tool. This study evaluates how Twitter users have interpreted the wage raise struggle of Yemeksepeti motor couriers and Migros warehouse employees, which started in the beginning of February 2022 and lasted for more than a week. The study performs qualitative data analyses using the program MAXQDA. As a result, the majority of Twitter users’ tweets can be said to support employees’ social and economic rights.
Twitter Kullanıcılarının Gündem Belirleme Aracı Olarak Sosyal Politikadaki Gizli Rolü: Yemeksepeti ve Migros Örneği
Bilal CoşanMedya önemli bir gündem belirleme aracıdır. Özellikle Web 2.0 teknolojilerinin gelişmesiyle beraber günlük hayata dair birçok konu sosyal medyada gündem olmaktadır. Bu bağlamda sosyal politika açısından işçi-işveren arasındaki ilişkiler ve diğer dezavantajlı grupların sorunları da Twitter’da gündem olabilmektedir. Önemli bir sosyal politika aktörü olan sivil kesim de hem dar anlamda hem geniş anlamda sosyal politikaların şekillenmesinde Web’de etkin rol oynamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı bir gündem belirleme aracı olarak Twitter’ın sosyal politikadaki gizli rolünü tartışmaktır. Bu çalışmada 2022 Şubat ayı başında başlayan ve bir haftadan fazladır devam eden Yemeksepeti motokurye ve Migros depo çalışanlarının ücret zammı mücadelesinin Twitter kullanıcıları tarafından ne şekilde yorumlandığı değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışma, nitel veri analizine dayanmaktadır. Veriler MAXQDA aracılığıyla analiz edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak Twitter kullanıcılarının büyük çoğunluğunun tweetlerinde çalışanların sosyal ve ekonomik haklarını destekleyici bir tutum sergilediği söylenebilir.
The subject of social policy involves solving the problems of disadvantaged groups in society. In this context, solving the problems of disadvantaged groups is one of the requirements of being a social state. These problems may arise based on many reasons such as social, economic, cultural, or religious. As one of the most important actors of social policy, employees also face many problems, with unemployment, precarious work conditions, de-unionization, and low wages being among the main problems in the labor market. These problems are seen more intensely in extraordinary times. For example, as a result of the socioeconomic problems experienced during the COVID-19, many workers became unemployed or faced low wage raises. Being able to have the parts of social policy come to an agreement is very important for being able to solve these problems. Workers, their unions, employers, and the state when necessary are the most important actors in solving problems. However, all social policy actors can play an active role in solving problems, with social policy actors such as families, religious institutions, and non-governmental organizations also being important actors for solving socioeconomic problems. With the increasing effectiveness of technology and the media, socio-economic problems have also become much more visible.
The media has been frequently stated over the last 50 years to have a significant influence as an agenda-setting tool. For example, the media has been said to have a significant impact when determining the media agenda among TV channels, newspapers, and magazines. As a result of social media practices that developed much more rapidly as of 2010, social media began being evaluated by certain segments as a factor that strengthens democracy. As a result of Web 2.0 technology, users have started to manage content in addition to content production. In this context, Twitter is one of the most important applications to have been used as an agenda-setting tool.
The main purpose of this research is to examine Twitter users’ social policy role as an agenda-setting tool. The research examines how Twitter users reacted to Yemeksepeti motor delivery employees who rejected the wage increases and Migros warehouse workers who were dismissed for not accepting their wage increases. In this context, 8,536 tweets with the hashtags #migrosboykot, #yemeksepetiboykot, and #yemeksepeti were analyzed using content analysis. The tweets were analyzed using the quantitative analysis program MAXQDA. First, certain categories were created under the theme of social policy, then these categories were divided into certain codes. The categories were determined to be social policy actors, ways to fight for rights, and socio-economic problems. The codes created under the category of social policy actors are workers, employers, and the state. The codes created under the category of ways to fight for rights is strike/solidarity/boycott. The codes created under the category of socioeconomic problems are precarity, poverty/unemployment, and wages/rights/ raises. The related tweets were coded according to their specified codes. As a result of the coding, qualitative outputs were reported such as code relations browser (code co-occurrence model), a code map (code proximity), and a word cloud.
The results of the qualitative analysis show the majority of tweets to have defended workers’ rights and to have emphasized fair work. Many twitter users were seen to support workers on such issues as unemployment, poverty, wage increases, rehiring dismissed workers, working conditions, and boycotts. Meanwhile, some Twitter users were found to think that the state and unions should play an active role in solving problems. As a matter of fact, the Minister of Labour and Social Security emphasized he himself to be a follower of the process with his tweet. As a result, Twitter users can be said to be an important agendasetting tool in solving social policy problems during these mentioned processes and to contribute positively to solving problems.
