Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN AND BLACK SEA STUDIES, ss.1-23, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus)
TikTok has become a central arena for political communication,especially in engaging younger voters. This study examines howRecep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu employed TikTokduring the 2023 Turkish Presidential Election by analysing 265videos through quantitative content analysis. Rather than directlymeasuring voter attitudes, we focus on how leaders’ use of affor-dances (association, editability), thematic content, and rhetoricalappeals related to audience engagement (likes, comments, shares).Results show that both leaders prominently highlighted the econ-omy and relied on pathos-driven appeals, consistent with persona-lization in Turkish political campaigning. Regression analysesrevealed that Kılıçdaroğlu’s ‘other’ and ‘law/justice’ themes signifi-cantly boosted engagement, while high use of association features(hashtags and mentions) reduced it. In Erdoğan’s case, ethos andpathos appeals strongly decreased engagement, whereas logos-based messages performed relatively better. For both leaders,longer videos predicted lower engagement. These findings illus-trate how affordances and persuasive strategies interact to shapeengagement on TikTok.