My friend Ross Dawson was the keynote speaker at the IPZ2009 (interactive marketing summit) last week here in Istanbul. It was great catching up with him and listening to his insightful social media presentation.
To follow up, he has just posted his "Five reasons why Turkey is one of the hottest Internet markets in the world". Since I have made it my business to invest in the Turkish internet industry, I obviously agree with all of his points.
One interesting point Ross has picked out is the language skills. He found English skills outside of the professional sector pretty weak. However, Turks grew to be the third largest nationality on Facebook prior to the introduction of Facebook in Turkish. Which makes me think there is a level of language skills, while not sufficient to communicate conversationally, allows one to utilize social media pretty effectively.
Ross's post would be an excellent primer on anyone interested in the Turkish internet market.
Cem Sertoglu 
Great post!
I also have an extended version of Turkish Digital Market Overview for 2009 called “11 Reasons Why to Invest in Turkish Digital Market?”…
http://koksala.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/why-to-invest-in-turkish-digital-market/
The list can still be axtended more with new info.
Best,
– Köksal.
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Hi Cem,
You are right and it is in a way a paradox. A good explanation is the extremely social nature of the the people of this country. Think about it, families are huge and close-knit, everyone talks and loves to share.
Facebook, FriendFeed provided the perfect platform to give free rein to this need for expression.
Nobody cared if they couldn’t understand the most sophisticated functions…
On the other hand, whilst social media consumption is so pervasive, there is a great reluctance for corporations and institutions to use it as a business tool…
There are reasons for that as well…
Regards
Ivan
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