Ilgın Karlıdağ
May 12, 2016•Update: May 12, 2016
By Ilgin Karlidag
ISTANBUL
Photo-sharing app Instagram is the most popular social networking service among Turkish youth, according to new survey results released Thursday.
In a report entitled ‘A Study On Young People’s Digital Habits,’ a Turkish media organization interviewed 810 students from 40 different universities between April 1-30 this year.
According to the results, 39 percent of respondents said they used Instagram the most while Facebook, which owns Instagram, came in second place with 26 percent and Twitter third with 17 percent.
Atakan Seniz, chair of the University Media Union, told a news conference in Istanbul on Thursday: "I don’t think anyone is denying the power of digital [media] anymore."
Image-messaging app Snapchat was the fourth most-used multimedia mobile service among Turkish students with 14 percent of them at private universities saying they use it the most out of all social media apps.
Seniz said Instagram was more popular among female students while Facebook was more popular among males. He said the main reasons why Turkish students use digital media are to stay in touch with their friends (37 percent), to pass the time (18 percent), to watch videos (15 percent) and to conduct research (10 percent).
‘Stalking and addiction’
The survey found that 67 percent of respondents followed other people’s social media profiles anonymously.
"Female Turkish students stalk more compared to male students," the report said Thursday.
While two out of four male students admitted having followed someone else’s social media profile in secret, three out of four female students admitted having done so, according to the report.
More female students (20 percent) have a fake social media account compared to male students (14 percent), the report said.
It looks like the use of social media is not going to decline anytime soon as the report also found that 31 percent of both female and male respondents said they perceived themselves to be social media ‘addicts’.
Female students not only perceive themselves as more addicted to social media compared to men, but also tend to delete their comments and shares more than male students, according to the report.
