USE OF NEWS ARTICLES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ON OFFICIAL WEBSITES OF UNIVERSITIES

ABSTRACT

Since corporate websites have become indispensable tools of public relations in parallel with the increase in the number of Internet users, they offer remarkable opportunities for universities as well.  University websites are operated in a more professional manner due to increasing number of visits by not only students and the academic staff, but also by various target groups such as families of students, potential students, persons and institutions who would like to take advantage of services offered, and media and public institutions.  Official websites have a potential to create a better communication between universities and societies that they are part, as well as brining academic knowledge to the public agenda more often.  In this research, most-visited official websites of universities in Turkey are compared with most-visited official websites of universities in the world in order to better utilize this potential.  A content analysis has been done in order to determine differences between most-visited official websites of universities in Turkey and in the world in terms of current news and announcements.