Ombudsman and Social Media: An Empirical Analysis of the Twitter use of Turkish Ombudsman Institution

Ombudsmen essentially act to render public administration operate in line with law and principle of equity, encourage citizen participation, and improve citizen-state relations. Social media tools have potential to contribute ombudsman to fulfill these duties in a country. However, the relationship between ombudsman and social media in Turkey has not been analyzed in the relevant literature. This study focuses on the nature of this relationship within the context of Twitter case in Turkey. Using the method of content analysis, the aim of this study is to analyze for which purposes Turkish Ombudsman Institution uses Twitter, and evaluate whether this social media tool contributes Turkish Ombudsman Institution to fulfill its role or not. The findings of this study exhibit that Turkish Ombudsman Institution successfully uses Twitter for informing citizens on its decisions and inspection results as well as self-promotion. Nevertheless, it seems Twitter is not effectively employed by the Institution for encouraging citizen participation and interacting with citizens. As a conclusion, we have found that Turkish Ombudsman Institution has not completely benefited from the opportunities that Twitter offers for public institutions.