Aditya Gupta is the Co-founder of SocialSamosa.com - an Indian social media knowledge storehouse that covers everything that happens in the Indian social media ecosystem. In his role as the co-founder, he leads Social Samosa's vision and future strategies; leading it to become one of the most popular portals in India and win accolades such as Best Blog in India at WAT Awards, 2013 and The Best News and Media Blog in India at Blogadda Awards 2014. His entrepreneurial skills and leadership have won him several awards at National forums such as the "Star Entrepreneur Award" and he has also been invited to prestigious institutes such as IIM Calcutta & NMIMS for speaking sessions. He writes on the importance of social media in the 2014 polls for IBNLive.
In the past few weeks, I have not been able to ignore that Social Media has been a pioneering platform for politicians to build a strong bond with their voters and the same has also become a medium to cease any boundaries between the two. The 2014 elections are particularly expecting a high social media impact considering the rise of social media into mainstream politics. Being a part of the young generation, I can say that five years back, these platforms were hardly a place to discuss the movements and developments of Lok Sabha agendas.
According to the Live Real Time Election Tracker that we have launched, in the past 15 days, there are over 10,000 mentions on Twitter, combining all political parties, where Aam Aadmi Party is leading the same by 4000+ mention. On the web too there are 10,000+ mentions about the 3 parties combining together while BJP is leading with 5000+ mentions. On both, Facebook and Twitter, millions of users are following and participating in conversations related to politics. This clearly indicates the level of involvement online users are showcasing when it comes to 2014 elections.
Here are 7 things that I believe will change the game for the upcoming 2014 General Elections:
Hashtags debut on a daily basis
We have all been a witness to Obama's winning strategies in 2012 using social media. Following his footsteps, Indian politicians seem to have dived head strong into social media conversations. Their constant activities are aimed towards spreading awareness and having a direct connection with users.
On a daily basis, various competing hash-tags like #NaMoInUdhampur, #KejriwalInVaranasi are making a debut and becoming the topic of core conversation for the day. They are constantly a part of the trending topics section on Twitter. Regular Twitter users tend to get pulled into such conversations.
Online influencers will start influencing the masses
The online community is an influential community. They have a command over their respective following and hold the potential to influence party preferences. It is the online community that is looked up to when offline political discussions happen. They are known to be wired in and hence more aware, that leads to the masses being influenced. In fact social media even influences conventional media.
News stories are often created out of the tweets of politician and most often they are the spicier ones. Politicians are using social media to influence this digital community indirectly influencing the mass. Political parties are integrating YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts and various microsites to reach out to these influencers. Online influencers then take the conversation offline among family, friends and professional circles, thereby playing an important role in influencing the masses.
Google Hangouts
Lately, Congress, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party are using Google Hangout to address various questions about party movements. Google hangouts are encouraging real time feedback from the public. Such hangouts are great for effective reach and reinstate the fact that politicians are available for the masses through advanced tech support.
In limited time period this allows to political parties to reach voters all across the country without having to actually travel to those places. Digital audience is not the audience that will go on the field to attend a public rally of a politician, but will be most comfortable sitting in from of their systems and interacting directly with their leaders.
The new rules of the Election Commission
Social media has crept in so deep into the political framework that the election commission is bound to demand transparency in the advertising budgets of these parties on various websites. Recently it was made mandatory for parties to submit their advertising spends to the election commission to maintain a record and avoid malpractices. Various guidelines have been rolled out with regards to advertisements by political parties.
Wooing the young and first time voters
Another positive facet of the election activity lies in inspiring and motivating the youth to vote in the coming elections. The peer recommendations play a vital role in influencing youngsters and this has ensured that a massive number of first time voters will participate in the 2014 elections. More than 800 million voters will be below the age of 25 according to a survey by the time the elections arrive. Where do these youngsters spend their most time on, you ask?
Operation Black Dot was launched to get young and new voters on board through various social media activities.
Social Media gives politicians a larger than life image
Social Media is a public platform and since there are no regulatory guidelines or credible cross checking tactics, political parties are leaving no stone unturned while boosting the image of their own party. This is creating a somewhat larger than life image of the leaders. The evident number of likes, followers, connects on their social properties, shows who is more popular. Everybody wants to get a piece of the most talked about politician, ArvindKejirwal, GulPanag, ShashiTharoor are so popularly known now majorly because of social media.
Social Media is creeping into mainstream media's political discussions
News Channels or Print media have started including, rather creating some key hash-tags which create a hurricane of tweets on Twitter, during the debate hour and go on for a few days. Social media has totally seeped into mainstream media and is given the status of a secondary public platform, reversing the concept of second screen, to promote discussions on such public platforms.
Videos, images, important actions/activities are discussed and promoted on these social sites through dedicated pages and accounts of the parties.
Whether or not, social media will be a game changer in the 2014 Elections is yet to be revealed. In the meantime, tracking such social mentions on a weekly basis will give us a better idea of the electorate.
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