Mocking birds "Tweeting": The use of humor in political sharings and posts on social media

Abstract

The efforts to interpret, share, and keep the current political developments on the agenda constitute important stages in the formation of the political atmosphere. In democratic societies, citizens' negotiation of ideas in public spaces is considered an important source of legitimacy. The use of humor in negotiating ideas can be identified as an important trend in the recent period. This study is based on the argument that humor has an important role in the evaluation and sharing of current political developments on social media and aims to draw attention to the important role humor play in such processes by exploring the humorous narratives of political developments in different social media environments. In this respect, the relationship between humor and politics will be discussed, democratic negotiation opportunities of social media will be emphasized, and finally, examples of humor-based language and narration of social media will be examined.