UNDERSTANDING THE INITIAL RECTIONS OF TURKISH TWITTER USERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This study aims to evaluate the initial reactions of Turkish social media users to the spread of the COVID-19 disease and the consequent pandemic in Turkey. The primary purpose of this investigation is to provide readers with an understanding of the transformative effects of social media on the dissemination of information and feelings, especially in moments of crisis. Content analysis approach was used for the analysis of the selected tweets with codes and themes. The themes broadly identified by the study included personal opinions, humour or sarcasm, requests and questions, emotional state, information sharing, marketing and spam. The initial reactions of Turkish Twitter users on COVID-19 related primarily to sharing personal thoughts, which included the articulation of personal opinions and the critique of the views of others. The second significant response thread involved humour and sarcasm. The third theme is requests and questions including warnings, suggestions, demands and questions.