Political Communication In Digital Age – Social Media Analysis

B y
Mr. Vijaykumar Meti
P h . D Re s e a rc h S c h o l a r
D e p t . J M C
G u l b a rg a Un ive r s i t y
Political Communication In
Digital Age
Social Media Analysis
Social Networking Media Boon or Bane?, SDM, Ujire March 7 & 8, 2014

Introduction
 The Internet is a sphere that involves virtually all levels of the political
communications.
 Social media has caused major changes in the political
communication and has become useful resource often used by the
politicians in order to strengthen their visibility.
 All the new media resources viz., the websites, blogs, Facebook,
Twitter, Google Plus, etc., of the politicians or the political parties
allow the affirmation of a discursive identity of politicians
contributing to the customizing of the political discourse.

Social Media
 In the past few years, social media have made a rapid
growth in terms of user counts globally.
 Facebook has more than 1.2 billion active users.
 Twitter counts more than 200 million users .
 Google Plus has more than 540 million users.
(Facebook Statistics & Wikipedia)

Social Media & Politics
 Social media has emerged as an essential tool of communication for
political parties.
 Social Media has created new ways of political mobilizing and
encourage social media users in political activities ranging from
joining their political groups by:
 Tweeting Short Messages in Twitter.
 Facebook Status Update.
 Expressing Supports Through Blogs.
 Videos on YouTube.
 Group Hangouts on Google+.

Functions of the Social Media in the Political Communication
 Politicians promote their controlled speech and present their point of view
without being interrupted by journalists or by media format limitation.
 Social media has given privilege for politicians to post a presumptive political
agenda.
 By means of social media, political parties or politicians can mobilize public
and invites them to participate in discussion on some issues of public
interest.
 By using the social media tools, politicians and political parties interacts
apparently with more efficiently with their supporters, beyond institutional
and bureaucratic rigors.

Social Media in Indian Politics
 Social media is playing a considerable new role in Indian democracy.
Presently, political parties are increasingly embracing social media to
encourage people.
 With the changing scenario of India Politics, political parties and
politicians have found a new ways of reaching out to a younger and
aspiration population.
 It is really a long leap from the times when politicians were relied
mainly on posters, cardboard, cutouts, graffiti, banners and personal
canvassing to win over voters.

Social Media & Indian Political Parties
 Among major political parties in India, BJP has the biggest charisma
in social media.
 BJP started using the social media even before 2009 general election,
which it lost.
 Several senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley,
Narendra Modi and many are on social networking sites.
 Social media has also credited with helping the new Aam Aadmi Party
and its candidate, Arvind Kejriwal, won a surprise victory in Delhi
against major political parties

Active Indian Politicians on Social Media
 Narendra Modi
 He is one of the most famous politicians on social media with
approximately 1.3 million followers on Facebook page and 3.42
million followers on Twitter.
 He joined Facebook and Twitter in 2009 and became the first
politician to use Google Plus.
 He also has a YouTube channel which has reached the 15,000
mark of subscribers and has more than 1500 videos.

Narendra Modi: Social Media Profiles
Modi’s Official Twitter Account Modi’s Official Google+ Account
Modi’s Official YouTube Account Modi’s Official Facebook Account

 Rahul Gandhi
 He is very interactive on his Facebook page and has
approximately 2 lakh fans.
 He is also very active blog writer and writes blogs for people to
know his views on issues.

Rahul Gandhi: Social Media Profile
Rahul’s Official Facebook Account
Rahul’s Official Twitter Account

 Shashi Tharoor
 At times, he was also referred to as the "Twitter minister'‘.
 He do not have an official page on Facebook but to cover that up,
he has almost 15 lakh followers on Twitter and a Facebook fan
page.

Shashi Tharoor : Social Media Profile
Tharoor’s Official Google+ Account Tharoor’s Official Twitter Account
Tharoor’s Official Facebook Page

 Sushma Swaraj
 She has made her presence felt on social networking sites very
prominently.
 She doesn’t have an official Facebook page but her following is
such that her community page on Facebook has approximately
95,000 likes.
 She also has more than 3 lakh followers on Twitter.

Sushma Swaraj: Social Media Profile
Sushma’s Official Facebook Page
Sushma’s Official Twitter Account

 Manmohan Singh
 He han official page on Facebook with more than 3.5 lakh fans.
 He tweets frequently and has a dedicated website on which one
can find his speeches, press releases, photos and videos.
 His Facebook page is updated with latest activities in the
government, PM's conferences and functions.

Manmohan Singh: Social Media Profile
Manmohan’s Official Facebook Page
Manmohan’s Official Twitter Account

Conclusion
 In the last few years, social media have become an important political
communication channel in India and globally.
 Social Media enables political parties and voters to directly interact
with each other.
 Social Media allows political activities to gain more transparency and
citizens might be more involved into political decision-making
processes.
 The political parties, which have exploited the benefits of promoting
their image and political messages by means of the social networks,
have enjoyed active participation of their supporters.

Political Communication In Digital Age – Social Media Analysis

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