http://dergipark.gov.tr/ijhmt/ Doi Number: 10.31201/ijhmt.473076 Int Journal Of Health Manag. And Tourism 2018, 3(3), 154-163 I JHMT Editorial THE USE OF TWITTER TO INCREASE THE AWARENESS ON HEALTH ISSUES: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY MINISTRY OF HEALTH TWITTER ACCOUNT Elif Eşiyok 1* M.S., PhD., Public Relations and Advertising Department, School of Business, Atilim University , TURKEY *E-mail: elif.esiyok@atilim.edu.tr Received: 22-10-2018 Accepted: 27-12-2018 Abstract New media is preferred to be used by various organizations. Governmental organizations are also some of these which use the tools of new media to communicate with their target audience. From this point, the aim of this research is to explore how the Turkish Ministry of Health uses its Twitter account to create awareness on health issues. Through purposive sampling, the Twitter account of the Turkish Ministry of Health is analysed. Only the public advertisements- which are published between the dates of 11 July 2018 and 11 October 2018- are chosen. The total number of the public ads is 59. The results indicate that Turkish Ministry of Health uses Twitter in an effective way to communicate with its audience. The visuals and the messages used in their designs are used in a balanced way and they both support each other. They do not only create awareness on health issues but also try to emphasize the importance of blood donation, vaccination and giving a road to ambulance. Therefore, it is possible to say that they also use public advertisements in order to make changes on attitudes. Since new media is an important tool, each organization should use it effectively; because its power cannot be underestimated. Keywords: new media, awareness, advertising, twitter, public ads Internatıonal Journal Of Health Management And Tourism