Tweeting Taksim communication power and social media advocacy in the Taksim square protests Brian G. Smith a,⇑ , Rita Linjuan Men b , Reham Al-Sinan c a 2144 Beering Hall, 100 N. University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States b Southern Methodist University, United States c Purdue University, United States article info Article history: Available online 16 May 2015 Keywords: Social media Empowerment Internet Content analysis Activism abstract The extent to which social media empower individuals represents a fruitful yet untapped area of commu- nication research. This study explores the phenomenon whereby individuals exert their influence and seek change in a particular case of social media engagement—the Taksim Square protests in Turkey in 2013. Building from literatures in social media engagement and empowerment, and using Bandura’s the- ory of self-efficacy, we content analyzed 770 Taksim-related messages on Twitter. Results suggest that efforts to seek change in social media are realized through information dissemination more than through calls to action and social organization. Namely, social media users seek influence through vicarious expe- rience—representation of the experience of others—than direct personal experience. From these findings, we argue that social media is used to effect change from a distance, and that content ownership and online reputation are driving forces of online participation in an issue. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the pursuit of understanding the pretenses and themes of social media behavior, the assumption that social media grant power through their capacity for connectivity and visibility has gone relatively under-examined. Instead, research exploring the promotional and strategic side of social media has been a domi- nant, ongoing theme (Cho, Schweickart, & Haase, 2014; Mangold & Smith, 2012). What drives individuals to complain, seek change, and otherwise exert influence via social media has received rela- tively less attention. In fact, Williams (2013) reviewed the litera- ture and found few studies examining the way individuals express their power and seek influence on social media. Yet, the overlap between social media and power is a critical research need because of the ease of ‘‘dispersed individuals with seemingly mar- ginal concerns to connect and collectively promote issues’’ (Fieseler & Fleck, 2013, p. 759). Though the relationship between social media use and issue and political participation has already been established in research (Conroy, Feezell, & Guerrero, 2012), what remains to be understood is the way publics use social media to communicate their social media-based empowerment and seek change. The purpose of this study is to provide insight on the way publics communicate power and seek change through social media. In this study, we analyze messaging in a particular case of social media advocacy—the Taksim Square protests in Turkey. In 2013, civil unrest erupted in Turkey when a small group protesting urban development in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park was met with violence from police (Letsch, 2013). Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration (citizens staged a sit-in at the park), authorities retaliated using tear gas and burning down protesters’ tents, sparking what would be a drawn-out protest effort resem- bling the Occupy Movement that lasted for months (Letsch, 2013). Social media played a pivotal part in the protests, as Turkish media downplayed the demonstrations, with CNN-Turk infa- mously airing a penguin documentary rather than covering the developments (Kates, 2013a). Demonstrators commonly used Twitter, Facebook, and other social media applications to rally sup- port and share information with each other (Kates, 2013b). Turkey leaders, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denounced social media during the protests and sought to restrict their usage. In fact, dozens of people were arrested for using social media in protest efforts (Pearson & Tuysuz, 2013). Overall, social media enabled protestors to assemble against Erdogan’s authori- tarian regime, as protestors used Twitter hashtags and other link- ing devices to connect disparate groups of Turkish citizens (Kates, 2013b; Zakaria, 2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.04.012 0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 765 494 3321. E-mail addresses: bgsmithphd@purdue.edu (B.G. Smith), cicirita@gmail.com (R.L. Men), Ralsinan@purdue.edu (R. Al-Sinan). Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 499–507 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh