Networked Gatekeeping in ‘Twitter’ During a Crisis Event: A Case Study of #Taksim in Türkiye

Abstract

Social media allows both elites and non-elites to share real-time information about crisis events, such as terrorist attacks, and express support and sympathy for victims using hashtags. Recently, a terrorist attack occurred in Taksim Square, Türkiye, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. Following the attack, Turkish citizens created the popular hashtag #Taksim to share information and express their emotions about the incident. This article explores the key influencers within #Taksim during the attack on Taksim Square by reviewing literature on hashtags, crisis events, gatekeeping, and networked gatekeeping theory. Through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 285,081 tweets under the hashtag #Taksim, the article examines how key users became prominent in the information flow. The findings demonstrate that Twitter's communicative practices (retweets, likes, replies, and quote tweets) allowed primarily elite actors, such as politicians and mass media journalists, to become key gatekeepers following the attack. This suggests that views of Twitter hashtags and their democratizing effects in crisis events need to be reconsidered, as the study highlights the significant role of elites. The findings also confirm that users who played crucial roles in the information flow through #Taksim became more prominent by addressing problematic issues like the refugee problem and freedom of the internet in Türkiye. Additionally, users gained prominence within #Taksim by posting messages accompanied by influential visuals.