Indian Politics is changing and one of the changes is the dependency over social media to connect with the people. India is a country of diversity and youth makes up a huge 34% of the total population of our country. The best way to reach such a massive community is to connect with them through social media which plays important part in their lives.
AAP ‘s Use of Social Media
During the Delhi elections in 2015, the power of social media was clearly felt. AAP used the modern way of campaigning and reached out to public. They were using the tool in a way no one has ever thought of. Most of their leaders made their presence felt on Facebook and Twitter. From Arvind Kejriwal to their grassroots workers, everyone leveraged social media to ensure that they are reaching out to larger audience. All this while, the BJP was trying to win the hearts of people by using the conventional way, the more familiar way of campaigning by going door to door and conducting rallies. Election results turned out to be the game changer and it also made sure that the social media will continue to play a vital role in the coming years of Indian politics.
Use of Social Media in Politics
Since that time, use of social media in politics has significantly increased. There are various ways by which people connect, by commenting, creating memes and even trolling. Their news feed is the space which they own and feel more comfortable. They don’t have to move out of their room to follow a certain political face or to be a part of campaign. The dependency over print media and electronic media has reduced as people can now be a part of news, express their views with others on this platform. Videos and pictures of sting operation are shared on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms showing the truth without any moderation. The common man participation in politics has increased.
The recent use of social media websites by Indian government has been much talked about. Mr. Suresh Prabhu, along with his team, very efficiently used Twitter for helping out the Indian Rail passengers in need. From sending food to school children by taking action on a tweet to helping women who tweeted that she is in distress due to harassment faced in her train journey, he has done everything right so far. Ministry of Railway’s heartiest efforts were truly a sweet surprise for the people who got assistance when they needed it the most. HRD Minister Sushma Swaraj has also been quite active on twitter and she also made her presence felt by promptly assisting on request over her twitter handle.
Social media has influenced politics and it has also increased interest of people in politics. The political parties have now taken social media as one of the most important channels for their public relations activities and almost every party has its official pages on Facebook and twitter where they post political updates, press releases and news about their campaigns. In recent times, social media has been a integral part of politics and its growth seems to be continuous.
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