Political Communication In Digital Age – Social Media Analysis

By

Mr. Vijaykumar Meti

Ph.D Research Scho lar

Dept . JMCGulbarga Univers i ty

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.


Thank You

Date post:	09-May-2015
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