On February 6, 2023, at 04:17, according to the information provided by the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, an earthquake occurred with its epicenter in Sofalaca, Şehitkâmil district of Gaziantep. According to AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Authority), this earthquake, recorded with its epicenter in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş and measuring 7.7 magnitude, caused significant destruction and loss of life in eleven provinces in southeastern Turkey. Later, on the same day at 13:24, another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 and its epicenter in Elbistan, Kahramanmaraş occurred, leading to similar loss of life and property. These two major earthquakes, along with subsequent aftershocks, triggered feelings of pain, fear, and helplessness among the affected people in the region. As a response, a major relief effort was initiated with the contributions of government institutions, non-governmental organizations, and volunteers in Turkey and worldwide. During this process, folk poets expressing the emotions and thoughts of the era composed elegies and epics that focused on the causes and consequences of the earthquake. With the increasing technological literacy, folk poets who utilized media tools also shared their works on various digital platforms, addressing the earthquake. In this study, the netnographic research method was employed to identify the works of folk poets regarding the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. The works shared by the folk poets on the digital media platform YouTube were determined, and their audio recordings were transcribed into text. Subsequently, the content of the works was analyzed to determine their functions. By examining the posts made in the electronic cultural environment, the social roles of folk poets and the current state of the folk poetry tradition were also addressed. This study, along with functional analysis, presents an assessment to understand how folk poets interact in the digital realm and how the tradition of folk poetry is reflected in the electronic cultural environment.

Minstrelsy tradition, electronic environment, function, protest, netnography.