Social Media: Limited, but 'Liked' in Indian Elections
Limited internet penetration means social media activity may not quite define the Indian elections. But the value of 'likes', tweets and 'shares' is far from lost on political leaders
arack Obamas 2012 campaign made him what many call the first social media president (much like JFK was the first television president in 1961); it also made his digital campaign the gold standard for political parties in other democracies.
However, in the US, social media is ubiquitous, with more than 70 percent of the adult population engaging with it in some form. In India, on the other hand, internet penetration is just 205 million out of 1.2 billion, and registered voters (814 million) vastly outnumber social media users (103 million). So it may be premature to call these parliamentary elections Indias first social media elections. But a significant amount of the political discourse and campaigning has definitely shifted to the third and fourth screens.
A 2013 study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) indicates that there are 160 high impact constituencies out of 543, where social media will not only influence voter turnout but also sway poll results by 34 percent. This impact is not limited to metros and Tier I cities, because a third of Indias social media traffic comes from towns with populations of less than 500,000.
More importantly, the impact of social/digital media is not limited only to direct access. Conversations seeded online find their way into mainstream media, and get read, seen and discussed in towns and villages, says Rajesh Lalwani, founder of Blogworks, a social media consulting firm.
In national outfits like the BJP, the Congress, and new kid on the block, AAP, and state parties like the Shiv Sena, TMC and Telugu Desam, leaders and candidates have taken to online electioneering with much gusto. And the major social media platforms are not only acting as facilitators but also driving voter engagement in many ways. Falling in Like With Politics Facebook is the mass social network in India, leading the pack by quite a margin. Ninety percent of its 93 million Indian users are of voting age, and 11 percent of the countrys voting population is using the platform.
Most of the activity happens on Facebook Pages: There are close to 52,000 pages for politicians and political parties in India, according to data provided by the company, and 60 of these are verified pages.
Some have staggering numbers: Narendra Modi is one of the most influential global leaders on the platform with 11.8 million fans (second only to Barack Obamas 39.5 million). At any given point, more than a million fans are bustling around his page, twice the number on Obamas page. (The BJP, however, has a fan base of only 3.1 million.)
Facebook pages are mission control for politicians. They lend themselves well for political causes and public movements, says Ankhi Das, public policy director, India & South Asia, Facebook. The conversational power of the medium allows politicians to build real-time engagement with users. And they are engaging with authentic, real-name identities as opposed to fake or anonymous ones.
Facebook recently launched its India Election Tracker , a dashboard that tracks mentions of candidates and parties in real-time. Users see a live-stream of candidates and can take a poll on issues (like health care, jobs, education, corruption, etc) that concern them most.
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Social Media: Limited, but 'Liked' in Indian Elections