THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF DIGITAL ACTIVISM: THE EFFECT OF GENDER ON SOCIAL ACTIVIST PARTICIPATION LEVEL OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The study aims to understand the participation status of the university students in the protest activities defined as digital or social activism, which are organized commonly through social media. The survey, in which the participants are asked whether they are participating to various protest activities that starts online and are delivered offline, was applied to 302 individuals in Nigde Omer Halisdemir University. The study results deduced out of testing 5 hypothesis in total showed that online activities have small effects on reality. The reactions are limited to subscribing or likes, and 80% of the students, that is 4 out of 5 students, do not participate in these physical offline activities.