Changing Trends of Election Campaign with Induction of New Media- a critical analysis

(General Elections 2014)

By:

Gyanesh Sharma

Enrolment No.0094202413

III Year, V1 Semester

BJ(MC)

Jagannath International Management School

GGSIPU

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere acknowledgement in the support and help of my mentor Ms.

Aakansha for her wise ideas throughout the project. Her continuous guidance helped me in

meeting the desired goal.

I would also like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to friends specially Kartik

Chhabra, Sanchit Singh and Aatif whose support and co-operation truly helped in the smooth

progress of my project. The project would be nothing without their enthusiasm, encouragement,

help & unconditional support.

Heartfelt thanks to Dr. Neeru Johri (HoD Communications) and Shikha Kukreja, Faculty,

Department of Journalism, for their constant guidance and help during the project.

Last, but not the least, I would like to pay my gratitude towards my college library for providing

me the valuable books and Google for providing me the research material.

Thank You!

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DECLARATION

I, Gyanesh Sharma, declare that this research project represents my own original work, and has

not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university.

Signed:___________________

____day of _____________2015

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Gyanesh Sharma, of BJ(MC) of Vth Semester, Jagannath International

Management School, GGSIPU, has completed this project under my guidance.

Date:

Ms. Mehek

Associate Professor,

Jagannath International Management School, Vasant Kunj

GGSIPU

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Table of Contents

Synopsis 6

Introduction 8

Objective & Methodology 11

Review of Literature 15

New Media & its Tools 19

New Media 20

New Media Applications 23

The Influence of New Media over Traditional Media 25

Television news & New Media 27

Newspaper industry & New Media 29

Relationship between New Media & Political Campaigning 32

Impact & Scope of New Media in Indian Political Scenario 35

Aam Aadmi Party 38

Bhartiya Janata Party 42

Narendra Modi 43

Indian National Congress 46

Scope for New Media 47

Conclusion 48

References 56

Synopsis

Social Media has rapidly grown in importance as a forum for political activism in its different

forms. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, Face book and YouTube provide new ways to 5

stimulate citizen engagement in political life, where elections and electoral campaigns have a

central role.

Personal communication via social media brings politicians and parties closer to their potential

voters. It allows politicians to communicate faster and reach citizens in a more targeted manner

and vice versa, without the intermediate role of mass media. Reactions, feedback, conversations

and debates are generated online as well as support and participation for offline events.

Messages posted to personal networks are multiplied when shared, which allow new audiences

to be reached.

Although the presence of social media is spreading and media use patterns are changing, online

political engagement is largely restricted to people already active in politics and on the Internet.

Other audiences are less responsive. For example, television news together with print and

online newspapers is still the most important sources of political information.

Social media has reshaped structures and methods of contemporary political communication by

influencing the way politicians interact with citizens and each other. However, the role of this

phenomenon in increasing political engagement and electoral participation is neither clear nor

simple. The General Elections 2014 gave a clear indication of the impact of social media in Lok

Sabha elections.

This research deals hardly with the changing trend of election campaigning by political parties

in our country through the use of New Media. My work includes the behaviour of most of the

New Media applications and platforms like Twitter, Face book, Hangout, You Tube, Mobile

telephony, SMS and so on, according to their uses by politicians during General elections

campaign and their positive/negative impacts. Though it is very tough to lure local voters

through innovations because the mindsets of these people are to see the local and regional

issues primarily, but still a lot of campaigning was used to address the huge masses through

New Media tools. These tools were mainly youth friendly.. The election campaign carried out

by the political parties on these platforms was mainly to reach out to the 100 million youth who

are newly registered voters, but the success of whether or not they have reached is doubtful. As

many users of the new media are below the age of 18 and hence cannot vote, while the

possibility that many using the new media platforms have a voter ID is not something one can

be certain of. Hence, the political parties did reach to the youth but whether or not it was the

right youth is questionable. The online activities generated a lot of communication online in the

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past few months, the words election & lok sabha began to be used thousands of times each day.

This general election was India’s first which was heavily fought using the internet based new

media.

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Introduction

Politics and Mass Communication have been an unbreakable duo for many centuries. Public

meetings, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Television are the major communication tools. With

the advent of new media technologies, the political campaign has gained a new dimension.

During the last elections Indian political parties used Websites, E-mails, IVRS, SMSs, Internet-

Banners, Online Advertising, Blogs, Mobile Phones, etc. This study has aimed to assess the

effectiveness of new media political campaigns during the elections. Content analysis, Survey

and In-depth Interview methods were used in the study. The study has revealed surprising facts.

Every large political party has tried to use all the available new media tools. Television, Mobile

phone and Internet have played a great role. The utilization of new media communication tools

and strategies gave a new facet that was highly beneficial to the Indian politics. The political

parties have reached a large number of voters through the new media. It made their election

campaign easy, fast and successful.

Mass communication is one of the inevitable allies of political parties. Most of the parties and

their leaders exploited the mass communication tools very effectively. Even, most of the political

parties and leaders have won seats in the government with the help of effective media and

communication strategies. Erstwhile traditional political campaigners are now looking towards

newer technologies as means of expanding their vote bank. There is a rush to capitalise on the

newer technological innovations available today and the leaders of the pack in this race are

setting benchmarks. Political parties and leaders are moving towards the new media

communication tools for spreading their policies, communicating with the people and election

campaigning. These newer forms of technology are actively being embraced by the political

parties to gain more mileage.

The new media technologies have given a new dimension to the political campaign. Many

political parties have created their own websites, blogs and Face book/twitter accounts. They are

regularly watching and reading their new media content. Some of the political leaders respond to

the queries of the public and cadres. They are enthusiastically using the tools for the election 8

campaigns. This paradigm shift has significantly helped them in reaching the voters. Political

parties and leaders are enjoying the communication development and travel in the cyber world.

The power of social media can be seen by all of us; Face book and Twitter are the new socio-

political voice which has gained momentum in the past few years. Not just social media but also

telephonic voice and SMS campaigning has been witnessed in the 2013 State Elections which

had originally began in the India Shining Campaign by BJP in 2004. Arvind Kejriwal & his team

of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2013 Assembly Elections, Delhi, used such campaigning and sent

SMS from time to time to the people of Delhi and also having used recorded telephonic voices to

achieve a personal connection with its voters.

During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in India there were very few political leaders with good

virtual presence whereas at this point in time, you would find every politician well known

certainly has a very good online presence. Amongst the top names of political leaders with great

online presence are Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind

Kejriwal and so on. En-route to the general elections of 2014 in India, the Ministry of

Information & Broadcasting is going all out to expand the government’s web media reach, with

face book pages, twitter handles, You Tube channels; all which promote the works of the

government and attempt to provide information to the people in this case the youth presence of

the web.

Narendra Modi launched the India 272+ mobile application which enabled volunteers to share

latest updates through prominent mediums of social media including Face book, Twitter and

Whats App. While Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party launched a missed call and SMS

membership campaign which fetched 60,000 members on day 1 of its launch.

The new ICT-enabled opportunities for political parties to develop or maintain relationships are

increasingly acknowledged. Nowadays, many political parties around the world have their own

website for reaching out to potential voters or establishing more efficient relationships with

internal staff members.

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This study is also an indicator of the times to come when new media takes on a more powerful

role. A sense of technology’s power as a crucial agent of change has a prominent place in the

culture of modernity (Smith and Marx, 1994). According to the technological determinism

theory, technical developments, media or technology as a whole, is the key mover in history and

social change. New technology today can alter the very structure of daily life and is no longer

just a bystander in everyday life. The introduction of technology therefore into the sphere of

election campaigning has its own effects. Therefore in the future the new media may no longer

take the role of a small player but might be a central player around which elections are fought.

These new forms of campaigns have thrilled the common people and influenced them greatly.

Political and media critics are also surprised. An ordinary person received a phone call from his

fascinating leader and listened to the leader’s appeal for voting. A semi-urban woman received

alluring message from a political party in which she was interested. Some of the people

received/listened to the leading political parties‟ election agenda, assurances, etc. through e-mail.

Few of them initially felt that the phone calls are directly received from the party leaders. Later,

they understood the advantages of the new media technologies.

Through this research, I would like to show that how the Political Parties are exploiting the

available new media resources and how they can further make better use of the same.

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Objective & Methodology

Objectives

To know and understand the New Media.

The impact of New Media in context with political campaigning, and their impacts on Political front

The knowledge and Identification of the Target Audience that the political parties try to woo through campaigning on New Media.

The advent of New Media tools of mobile telephony & SMS during Election Campaigns.

To analyse all possible scopes of New Media to strengthen the fair democratic fights so as to change the Indian Political Scenario.

To study the degrading trend of traditional media with the New Media becoming impactful.

Methodology

The purpose of this study is to analyse the usage and reach of new media technologies like

websites, blogs, mobile phones, Social Networking sites (Face book, Twitter, Hangout), SMS

and Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) in the General Elections 2014 in the Month of

April and May to determine the impact of technology in media that is taking place.

Within political parties, there are parties who are at various stages in the adoption stage and the

methodology used in this study was designed to see how each party used new media. This

study also involves survey method. This is a quantitative research method that involves data

collection through e-mail and Internet surveys. The survey was conducted with 150 voters

those have the access to new media tools like mobile phones, internet. The sample included

100 male and 50 female with the age group of 18 to 70. Random Sampling technique followed

in this study. This dissertation obtains data through the observation of online behaviour of the

political parties & their candidates. The observation of the online behaviour includes the

observations & archival of the Tweets, videos uploaded, posts shared on the various new media

& social media portals.

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Quantitative analysis of the data gathered through observation & archrivals of their respective

web content (new media content) will be done in order to reach the conclusion of the research

as to how aggressively new media has been used in the Lok Sabha Elections in 2014.

This research will also include interviews of Media Professionals in order to understand the

role played by new media and whether the new media has influenced coverage methods of the

traditional media, mainly, television & newspaper.

Content Analysis

A complete in-depth content analysis of political party’s websites, Internet Banners, SMS and

Voice campaign of the parties was carried out both quantitatively and qualitatively. The

following variables like Type of advertisement, Colour, Photos, Catchy statements,

Allegations/Promises, Sites that published the advertisements, Dynamic links, Archives,

Photos, Voice Messages, Videos, Documents, Updates, Multimedia Contents, Languages used,

Nature of message, Text, SMS were analysed for the study.

Table 1 Advertisement given by the main Parties for Lok Sabha Elections in the Internet

Party

Name

Type Of

Advertiseme

nts

Colours

Used

Photos Catchy words Allegations/

Promises

Advertisements

in the website

BJP Both Red

Saffron

Green

Narendra

Modi

Lotus-

Party

sign

Acche Din aane

wale Hai,

Nayi soch, nayi

ummeed,

Congress mukt

Bharat

Fight against Corruption

End of Dynastic ruling

Development of Country

BJP Website,

Narendra

Modi’s Website

Cong

ress

Static Saffron

Green

White

Rahul

Gandhi,

Sonia

Gandhi,

Sign of

Hand

Stability and

Integrity

NIL Official website

of Congress,

Google and

Hoarding ads

AAP Both White Arvind We want Introduction of Website of 12

Kejriwal ‘Swaraj’ Jan Lokpal Bill AAP

Table 2 Voice campaign through mobile phone done by political parties during 2009 elections

Sl no Party name Leader Promise/allegations Language used

1 BJP Narendra Modi Promises- fight against corruption and developmentAllegations- dynastic ruling of Congres

English/Hindi

2 Congress Rahul Gandhi Promises English

3 AAP Arvind kejriwal Promises- introduction of Jan Lokpal Hindi/English

Survey

Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population.

Surveys of human populations and institutions are common in political polling and government,

health, social science and marketing research information depending on its purpose and many

surveys involve administering questions to individuals.

Almost 54% of the samples taken are not aware of websites of political parties while the rest

46% know that political parties have official websites which gives details and information about

that particular party. Among the samples almost 64% of them recall the name of the particular

political party when they see a political party. 16% of them recall the slogans of these parties

while 20% of them were able to recall the message of the party.

When asked about the quality and content of the advertisements 44% of the sample thought BJP

had a good advertisement, followed closely by AAP with 36%. 8% of the sample also thought

AAP had good advertisements. While only 2% each of the samples thought regional parties like

DMK and AIDMK advertisements were good. A minimum of respondents (8%) didn’t have any

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particular opinion about these advertisements. About 1/4th of the sample thought Congress had

bad advertisements followed closely by AAP with 22%.

When it came to reach via mobile 50% of the samples thought AAP did better followed closely

by BJP with 35%. A small portion (10%) of the samples thought Congress did much better in

mobile arena when compared to regional parties. 5% thought AIDMK had a good reach via

mobile.

Literature ReviewThis year, social media played a very important role in encouraging the citizens of India to

vote. The efforts Indian politicians have been making to reach their audience through social

media were clearly reflected in this season’s election results. For years, India has seen only

two parties realistically compete: the BJP and the Congress Party. This time around, a third

party was formed and became a viable competitor in Assembly Election of Delhi: the Aam

Aadmi Party (AAP.

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Social media has certainly changed the face of political campaigns; it has not replaced other

traditional forms of communication. That said, the issue of funding often poses problems

for smaller campaigns or new candidates. After all, it takes money – a significant amount –

to produce and run expensive television or radio ads, which are still key in reaching

audiences.

AAP’s use of social media was not just integrated, it was fascinating. It urged NRIs (Non-

Resident Indians, a critical audience and source of investments in India) to leave video

messages of support for the party on YouTube.

While politicians believe that in-person support lends credibility to their campaigns, the

same holds true for social media campaigns. It’s about more than having a lot of followers.

It’s about getting them to amplify the campaign’s message as well.

On Election Day, I saw my Face book timeline swell with pictures of people in my network

with ink on their finger (the sign of participating in the elections). A few of them updated

their status to inspire people to go out and vote. This surely showed the sense of pride that

each felt after voting. 

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, Face book and Twitter, millions of users are following and participating in

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conversations related to politics. This clearly indicates the level of involvement online users

are showcasing when it comes to 2014 elections.

Social Media has been a pioneering platform for politicians to build a strong bond with their

voters. Here are 7 things that I believe will change the game for the upcoming 2014 General

Elections:

Hash tags 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, Face book,

Twitter, Google Hangouts and various micro sites 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

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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.

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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.

New Media & its Tools

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This chapter comprises of the concept of media, new media & the differences between new and

traditional media. The new media is not just a medium but it has multiple tools through which

the process of communication takes place, this chapter will also tell as to what these tools are &

how they are being used.

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New Media

New media refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as

well as interactive user feedback, and creative participation. Another aspect of new media is the

real-time generation of new and unregulated content.

Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of

being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive. Some examples may be

the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, video games, augmented reality, CD-ROMS, and

DVDs. New media does not include television programs (only analog broadcast), feature

films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications – unless they contain technologies that

enable digital interactivity. Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia, is an example,

combining Internet accessible digital text, images and video with web-links, creative

participation of contributors, interactive feedback of users and formation of a participant

community of editors and donors for the benefit of non-community readers. Face book is an

example of the social media model, in which most users are also participants. Wikitude is an

example for augmented reality. It displays information about the users' surroundings in a mobile

camera view, including image recognition, 3d modelling and location-based approach to

augmented reality.

Interactivity has become a term for a number of new media use options evolving from the rapid

dissemination of Internet access points, the digitalization of media, and media convergence. In

1984, Rice defined new media as communication technologies that enable or facilitate user-to-

user interactivity and interactivity between user and information. Such a definition replaces the

"one-to-many" model of traditional mass communication with the possibility of a "many-to-

many" web of communication. Any individual with the appropriate technology can now produce

his or her online media and include images, text, and sound about whatever he or she

chooses. Thus the convergence of new methods of communication with new technologies shifts

the model of mass communication, and radically reshapes the ways we interact and

communicate with one another. In "What is new media?" Vin Crosbie (2002) described three

different kinds of communication media. He saw Interpersonal media as "one to one", Mass

media as "one too many", and finally New Media as Individuation Media or "many to many".

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Difference between Traditional & New Media

Reach

Both the traditional & new media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Traditional media use a centralized framework for organization, production & dissemination of content, whereas the nature of new media is decentralized and distinguished by multiple production & utility points.

Accessibility

The tools of production of the traditional media are either government owned or privately owned, while social media tools are available for use of people at little or no cost.

Usability

Traditional media requires specialized set of skills & training for its usage. New media does need the skills of being aware of basic usage of computer & internet, hence can be used by anyone with access to the new media.

Immediacy

The traditional media uses a longer time, which could be anywhere from a day to a few

months, new media has a distinct advantage over the traditional media as it is capable of

accommodating instantaneous replies. Immediacy does benefit traditional media in the

way that the information that is disseminated can be authenticated before publication,

which makes it more authentic than new media.

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New Media Applications

Types Purpose Example

Forums & Discussion on topics, Sharing of information by www.animeforum.com

Chat-rooms interest groups, fandom chat.oneindia.in

E-mail Send and receive communications www.gmail.com

& attachments mail.yahoo.com

Social Networking Peer & Professional Networking www.facebook.com

Sites www.linkedin.com

Content Hosting content for information & education www.youtube.com

Aggregators www.slideshare.com

Blog Sites Opinions, information, viewpoints www.wordpress.com

Mobile Telephony Receive & make calls, SMS

These are the new media applications or tools that would be emphasised upon in the research

process. These tools are very powerful individually and if combined can become more

powerful than one can think of. The working of these applications or tools very much depends

upon the user as well as the receiver.

Forums & Chat-rooms

An Internet forum is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form

of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line

of text, and are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the

forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes

visible. While chat-rooms are more personalised and feature real-time chat with peers whom

they may or may not know. Chat-rooms are often a fine way of sharing discussions with like

minded-people.

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E-mail

Electronic mail is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more

recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early

email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the same time, in

common with instant messaging. E-mail in today’s world becomes the cheapest way of

communicating or spreading information to the masses.

Social Networking Sites

A social networking site helps build social networks or social relations among people who share

interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. A social network service consists of a

representation of each user (often a profile), his social links, and a variety of additional services.

Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the

Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging and dedicated websites for networking like face book,

LinkedIn and so on. Social network sites are varied and they incorporate new information and

communication tools such as, mobile connectivity, photo/video/sharing and blogging.

Another kind of social network sites are micro-blogging sites, “Micro-blogging is a tool that

Combines the elements of blogging with that of the instant messaging & social networking”

(Mayfield 2008). The Kind of Micro-blogging undoubtedly is “twitter” with 645,750,000

users worldwide (Twitter Statistics- Statistics Brain, January 2014).

Content Aggregator

It refers to a web site or computer software that aggregates a specific type of information from multiple online sources. Aggregators can be of various kinds:

Data aggregator, an organization involved in compiling information from detailed databases on individuals and selling that information to others

News aggregator, a computer software or website that aggregates news from other news sources

Poll aggregator, a website that aggregates polling data for upcoming elections 23

Social network aggregation, the collection of content from multiple social network services

Video aggregator, a website that collects and organizes online video sources

Blog aggregator, a website that collects and organizes blog sources

Blog Sites

It reflects the personal style of the person writing the blog. Blog writers can easily insert their

links to other websites & forums in attempt to increase the visibility of their blog. Blogs include

the comment section thus making it interactive between the audiences & the author. Blogs can

also be subscribed and shared on other new media platforms; the subscription of the blog content

makes it easier to follow new content every time it gets posted by a certain author.

Mobile Telephony

Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move

around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Mobile phones connect to a terrestrial

cellular network of base stations to allow any phone in the world to be dialled.

In 2010 there were estimated to be five billion mobile cellular subscriptions in the world. The

mobile phones have become the most frequent tool of new media, the applications or tools that

have been mentioned earlier are all accessible through mobile phone, in particular through the

smart-phones, hence, making mobile the most used new media tool. We use mobile to check

mails, connect to social networks, chat with friends, update our blogs, sharing of photographs

& videos and what not.

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The Influence of New Media over Traditional Media

This chapter focuses on how the new media provides news, and the advantages it has brought

among the people. This chapter also provides an understanding as to how the new media is

influencing the traditional media and also changing their style of presentation and content. This

chapter mainly focuses on the television & newspaper industry as traditional media.

The pressure from new media has also forced the traditional media outlets of television &

newspaper to enter the field of new media in order to sustain.

New Media has trashed many of pillars the traditional media stood upon.

• Privacy: In particular privacy of the individual, where are the boundaries? Are there any

areas off limits? It seems we can all discuss pregnancies, affairs, ethics, finances, abilities,

families. Even sharing of the first baby picture or the entire experience of the delivery has been

put out online. It's out there on Twitter and Face book and there's no real protection for what,

had been largely personal or private. This leaves traditional media in a very different universe.

• Anonymity: Many people joining the debate or discussion or sometimes condemning, or

attacking, have no name and no face and therefore no claim of personal responsibility for

the impact or truth or authentication of what they publicly say.

• Ethics: Most journalists in traditional set-ups work within an ethical framework. It is

unethical to report the death of someone until their family is informed, pushing for the facts

before publishing a story are some fundamentals that they operated on. But these ground rules

are not always followed by many, who use social media.

• The Rule of Law: Traditional Media Organizations have to work within the laws of the land

- avoid libel; or contempt of court; or revealing the names of juveniles accused of crimes.

Some new media users do many of these things, it has been argued that the users of new media

show up the failures of the laws of the land, and they may do so, but often it is done in

ignorance of the law, or simply on the assumption that it doesn't matter. And that can leave

traditional media looking like an "establishment" that doesn't tell the whole truth.

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• The role of traditional media: Some of the roles are probably long gone. Will they be

"First with the Breaking News"? Probably not in most cases. Someone on Twitter might be.

Will they have the first still of a hero or victim? Face book might just have it. Will they get the

first video out of Syria or Burma? YouTube will almost certainly have it posted first, although

the traditional media will often be the first ones to verify it's genuine or not.

However, a lot many times we mistake the squalls on Twitter or the views of ten or 20

vociferous tweeters for the view of the audience as a whole. It is possible that it could be,

but often it isn't.

Today’s world has to be multimedia journalists. Not only do journalists have to know how to

Write but also the knowledge of taking compelling photographs and shoot and edit video. And the

knowledge of writing has become essential for photojournalists. Digital media has allowed news

organizations to blend disciplines and provide the readers with a rich online experience.

Traditional media has been transformed; for example, just print newspapers, to an interactive

Website where video is incorporated into the story and discussion boards that allow readers

to weigh in.

Journalists have their own blogs within the website of the news organization, allowing in-depth

analysis and discussion with readers. Radio and TV stations are streaming live content via their

websites. Social media is allowing news organizations to get news out faster. For example, when

news worthy incidents occurs, a newspaper can start publishing on its website instead of waiting

to go to print on paper. During a disaster, the power of social media and websites becomes

evident, and helps make the people residing in the area aware about the safety steps and updates

of the disaster is provided. Journalists as well as their citizen counterparts, in such scenarios

receive all updates through Twitter and Face book.

There is no such thing as just a “hometown” newspaper or station any more. With a website, any

News outlet can become national or an international one. And this is all searchable on

the Internet. In addition, citizen journalism increases our ability to share news.

The Internet can be described as a “virus” to organizations. The Internet and the new media are

Contagious. Information on these platforms spread quickly and has no control over its reach. It

spreads regardless of the fact that whether the carried information is right or wrong.

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Television News & New Media

The new media in its early days had hardly any impact over the broadcast industry. The growth of

the internet demanded the TV News channels to have their own website, but they did not

manufacture the content accordingly, they posted write-ups, published videos. But the most

Important aspect of using the internet space was completely missing, “interactivity”. It is only of

Late, in the past few years that television news channels have developed websites and content

to match up to the potential of the new media. The interactivity over the years have grown

permitting almost anyone to participate in online discussions, through moderated comments, so

in that way they can also maintain some standard for themselves.

The content of news on Television has also had some changes in the recent past due to this

emergence of new media. Earlier the News on Television would show, pictures, videos, bytes

and archival footages of the person in discussion, if the media has the actual footage of the

person making the news while the statement was said well and good, and if not they would

manufacture similar scenario to broadcast on television. Consider, for example, A politician

makes a statement to which video footage is not available, in such a case the television media

would use archived footage of the politician and play the statement, if the statement is recorded

in the politicians voice well & good, and if not a journalist would be the voice speaking the same

statement, hence there would be different visuals and voices in almost every channel.

New Media creates content for TV News

New Media tools like internet calling through Skype or VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

discovered a new level of communication in the news media. Skype has become handy in use for

the television journalists for them to receive experts’ opinion from ground zero, using video

calls. Such steps have lowered the clarity of the voice and video in some way but it has become

acceptable to the audiences as well as the television media.

An example of such usage was, when the Supreme Court of India announced Sunil Gavaskar as

the Interim President of BCCI. Sunil Gavaskar at that point in time was in Bangladesh,

overwhelmed by the news he had received. The news media through Skype video call

presented his interview to the audience in India & Worldwide.

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Tweets & Posts have become a major part of TV News, for instance a week ago BJP leaderGiriraj Singh stated that there is “no place” for those who “want to stop” Modi and “their place

will be in Pakistan”. While Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu & Kashmir reacted by saying “I will

prefer to go to Pakistan than stop criticising Modi… Thanks to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, I

won’t have to go to New Delhi. I can board the bus from here only.” Narendra Modi to this

Scenario went to twitter for replying to the comments, instead of an old fashioned

television interview or sound byte.

These were the replies of Narendra Modi within hours of Omar Adbullah making his statement

and it reaching the television news to the houses of the audiences.

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Newspapers & New Media

The presence of the Internet shall not replace newspapers, just as the radio did not replace

newspapers or television. Although it is quite likely to see the layout of newspapers may change

over time making the content more visible and attractive than what it was, but the content

continues to remain in the form of news.

The population of India that is availing internet services count to about 137 million (Internet

World Stat, June 2012), so they can read newspapers online. In India, however, the new media

and conventional media will seemingly continue to coexist and reinforce each other, as the total

Internet Population is only about 10% of the entire population and also a large majority of the

population are aged who would opt to read the physical newspaper rather than reading it on a

computer screen. The new media have also affected the way newspapers get and circulate their

news.

In addition to that, a large number of citizens in the US have their own internet connection so

they can read newspapers online. The US has the second largest Internet user population in the

world with 245.2 million users trailing only behind China. In terms of the percentage of

population or penetration of internet users, the US has 78.1% (Internet World Stats, June 2012).

Newspapers in India, however, have a different experience from their US counterparts. The

Times of India, for example has had an increase in readership compared to that in 2005 in the

city of New Delhi. The circulation as well as readership of the two leading English dailies have

neither grown by much nor decreased by much, hence we can understand that the population of

the country has not lost its faith from Newspapers and neither have they adapted solely to the

online news editions.

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulation, Hansa Research & Indian Readership Survey

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Readership has yet to drop, while advertisers still regard it as the medium of choice. The

Internet might have become a force to be reckoned with at least in the political arena, but the fact

remains that majority Indians still get their news from conventional media like newspapers and

TV. This does not mean, however, that newspapers in India can sit back and do nothing while

expecting their readership to be maintained or increase.

In India there are lots of efforts by the owners of conventional media, especially newspapers to

counteract the challenge being posed by the Internet and Information and Communications

Technology in order to survive. This would mean that they will need to have online presence by

having electronic copy of their print newspaper. In India, like the US, people go online where

they get to read newspapers for free.

The newspapers though deserve some credit as they do a better job in covering local interest

stories, which are often neglected by the politically and nationally minded online publications.

These newspapers keep one informed on the little things going on in the neighbourhood, city and

state. Online newspapers not only have gained popularity, but have also managed to attract

advertisements and also possess a challenge to the mainstream newspapers to maintain their

advertisement revenue. The mainstream newspapers are challenged in many aspects but against

all odds they continue to stay and remain as the first important reading material for Indians in the

morning.

The Internet is still struggling with privacy issues, content accuracy, reliability, and other related

concerns, and all these predict trouble for online news in future. Newspapers and the new media

in India are complementing each other. At present many Indian newspapers have online

presence. The Times of India and Hindustan Times are marked examples. Both versions of

online newspapers are free and thus increasing their penetration.

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Conclusion

As the public turns toward participatory forms of online journalism, and as mainstream news

outlets adopt more of those interactive features in their online versions, the media environment

is shifting, slowly and incrementally, away from the broadcast model where the few

communicate to the many, toward a more inclusive model in which publics and audiences also

have voices. This has rubbed off on the advertising industry .New media not only lets people get

their voice heard but it’s also a low-cost way to advertise their business to many people.

While print, radio and television ads still exist, traditional advertising's influence has decreased,

forcing the marketing industry to consider new media. Consumers are increasingly on the

Internet to communicate, receive news and purchase products.

In India, by far the traditional news organizations & new media both reinforce each other. Even

though the traditional media have their own online versions, they have not fully adapted to the

new technology yet. Although there is a drop in circulation and viewership, it would mainly be

due to the preference of younger generation in using the interactive new media.

As the figure above shows the market values of America’s Old & New Media Industry, the

Number reaches almost the same mark. The Old Media been in existence for many years more

than the New Media but still have only a slight percentage higher market value which indicates

aDecline in Old Media, while the new media’s number being quite competitive as compared to the

Old media. This shows the rate at which the new media Industry has grown in just the past twoDecades.

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Relationship between New Media & Political Campaigning

Social media - as the term says is a huge media when it comes to having interactions with

people. It is the home ground of a place where anyone belonging to any section of the society is

allowed to come ahead, in order to confess, profess, criticize, appreciate, debate and interact over

issues that concern the future of our society at large. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein,

define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0 that allows the creation and exchange of user-generated

content.” Social media focuses at using mobile and web-based technology to increase the

feasibility of communication at all levels. It can be seen as the object that opens all gates to shed

off the hierarchal structures, and provide an equal base that gives people the opportunity to be

the artistic ones in a huge crowd. The contrast that offers the other side of this debate calls this

openness as the no-privacy zone, where everyone gets to spy and even steal ideas at simply no

cost at all. Nonetheless, this branch definitely brings humanity at a level where globalization of

cultures becomes more important and easy. It offers itself as the utopian world which can

construct the best to make or break things.

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The term ‘new media’ is usually interpreted in terms of the older media methodologies, and yet,

This latest discovery is any day, a free and less restricted form of expression. It offers the

initiation of thought in a beginner’s mind, and even invites the creative minds, the innovators

and the risk takers, who all wish to voice their thoughts and make those opinions count. Art has

always remained intertwined with technology, and the new media involves the active

incorporation of the creativity of art with the newness of the information oriented media. It

articulates the visual aesthetics between the old and new forms of media, marking a new

beginning altogether. Social media began with the unleashing of YouTube being used for endless

purposes, and with the publicity acts being brought to the front, earlier by ORKUT, and then at a

larger scale by FACEBOOK and TWITTER. The Blog culture brought people the opportunity to

attempt a new language of their own to write all that they wished to say out loud. The chat rooms

brought in a scope of a debating room, as if at the round table. The construction thus brought in

all that had never been thought of. The virtual-in-the-air-talks gained ground.

However, the latest chatter about the 2014 elections has brought to the ears a lot of influence in

the head, being created only due to these social sites. The New Media became a tale teller, being

used by the politicians to put their messages, ideologies, and their own wishes-for-reforms

Forward. It also became the new space zone where criticisms could be tackled. It gave the brains

who read it all a way to understand their leaders better. The method could at a level be called

lethargic, and yet, the modern challenger, was provided with all that is required to be convinced.

Reading and interpreting the politicians’ word gave them their own new-earned freedom to

comment and argue and find answers. Instead of the hypnotic effect of a rally where the basic

media gets to do the asking, the new media brought forward the chance of direct involvement to

The people. This ‘Internet Democratization’ was totally of the people, for the people, and by the

People!

The intensity of the influence this medium puts on people from all sections of our society is

highlighted via a few statistical figures:

IAMAI released a report showing that increasing spending on social media campaigns can swing

3%–4% of votes in 24 states where Internet usage is sizeable. Social media marketing can play a

decisive role as a swing over 1% can change the outcome of elections, it claimed.

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The opinions below portray the social media to be a bit more doubtful:

Many of those who actively debates on social forums are late teens who are either minor (under 18 years of age) or do not have their Voter ID card yet.

The semi-urban and rural masses, whose votes matter, do not yet have the access to new media.

It would be safe to assume that most middle class Indians experience political activity on Twitter or face book as well as through news reports on TV.

There is still a significant amount of people that don’t use the internet, or are not “advanced” internet users.

It doesn’t and cannot guarantee transforming the same into turnout on polling day;

it used to be the same case with election rallies.

Actor and activist, Gul Panag sounded a word of caution at Social Media Week, saying it is

Important that politicians not be judged for not being present on social media. “It is not the only

Line of communication. Specially, in a country like India where less than 20% of population use

The new media platforms.”

However the government of today cannot afford to overlook the citizen activism and their

overdrive to voice sentiments, protest, and influence key decisions. Thereby, as the government

moves slowly and gradually to fulfil the promise of c-governance or citizen led governance, the

next logical step in the e-governance would be to make all government information shareable via

the new media platforms like Face book.

Impact & Scope of New Media in Indian Political Scenario

 The three social media giants, Face book, Twitter and Google, have emerged as major players in the ongoing general elections in India, with political parties and candidates competing with each other in breaking the news, spreading their message through these outlets in addition to those via

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the traditional media.

Face book has now 100 million users in India, its largest outside the US, while that of Twitter has more than doubled since January this year. After the 7th round of polling, there were 49 million Indian elections-related conversations on Twitter, more than double the 20 million Indian elections-related conversations on Twitter for all of 2013.

In 2009, Shashi Tharoor was the only Indian politician to have a Twitter account and had 6,000 followers. Five years later there is hardly any major political leader who does not have an account on Twitter. Tharoor is now the second most popular politician on Twitter with 2.16 million followers, after Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate with 3.89 million followers. Modi now also has nearly 14 million fans of Face book. Barack Obama is the only other politician to have more Face book fans than Modi.

With political parties, leaders and candidates putting their advertisement on social media to reach out to their voters, all the three major players are reported to have made substantial addition to their revenue.

Though none of the companies are willing to discuss the advertisement revenue this election cycle, all of them have put in several months of tireless efforts and diverted substantial amount of their resources in the elections, many of them working thousands of miles away from India.

Face book started working on the Indian elections towards the end of last year, says Katie Harbath, manager for policy at Face book, adding that the company started doing a series of things beginning March this year when the elections were announced.

This includes launch of election tracker so that people can see in real time. Candidates are now using Face book and Twitter for breaking news.

"We are really seeing the entire country discuss the issues (related to elections), Harbarth said in a recent interview.

"Face book is really the key place of the conversation that is happening," she said.

Adam Sharp, Head of Government and Nonprofits at Twitter, who has been involved in participating in elections in various countries of the world, said Twitter is a powerful way to return to retail politics. He conceded that elections have helped Twitter expand in India.

While the majority of the users of social media are concentrated in urban areas, the elections have also helped them expand their reach to the rural areas too.

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Before the elections, the use of social media was generally restricted to the national political parties, but as the general elections gained momentum, even regional parties joined the social media bandwagon.

In a recent interview, Raheel Khursheed, head of news, Politics and Government, Twitter India, said the electoral landscape of social media has changed forever in India.

Google also created a Google Elections Hub for elections-related news and information created to help 800 million Indian voters stay informed and updated about the elections. The site also includes features such as elections related News Videos, Search Trends, G+ Hangout Series, and an interactive Pledge to Vote campaign.

However, the Internet and Mobile Association of India estimates that a well-executed social media campaign can swing 3 -4 per cent of votes. In 2009, the popular vote of the BJP was 78 million and that of the Congress was 119 million. In 2014, the total numbers of Indians on these social media outlets are matching these figures.

This chapter shows how the three major Indian Political Parties, namely AAP, BJP, INC have used the new media as a tool for campaigning. This chapter also focuses on the scope that is there for Politicians & Parties to exploit with the available technology in hand.

The 2014 Lok Sabha Elections in India as dubbed by CNN can truly be categorized as “India’s first Social Media Elections”. The Political parties as well as candidates in the fray exploited theResources of new media, specially the social media in the process of their election

campaigning. There are 815 million people eligible to vote in the general elections; of that

figure an estimate over 100 million are registered first time voters and fall under the age of 25,

categorized as youth.

From the Congress, Law Minister Kapil Sibal seems to be leading the way when it comes to

social media presence. Besides his own website, he has accounts in Twitter, Face book,

GooglePlus, YouTube and Instagram. Congress leader and former Union Minister Ajay

Maken is among the candidates who have an account on WhatsApp, besides his presence on

Face book. His opponent and BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi has Face book and

Twitter accounts. Ghaziabad candidate Shazia Ilmi from the Aam Aadmi Party, the members of

this party have been very much active on social media, she has Twitter, Face book as well as

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YouTube accounts. BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Modi and AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal

are among the high profile contestants who mostly express their views through the social

media, primarily Twitter. Both of them, pitted against each other at Varanasi.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Aam Aadmi Party’s presence on the social media has been quite commendable and they have

Tried many strategies to attract the Indian voters to click the button for them. The party has

been successful in utilizing IT & Social Media platform to engage and communicate with their

audience through the integration of platforms like Face book, Google Hangouts, Mobile Apps,

Twitter, YouTube, and Whatsapp.

The face book page of the Aam Aadmi Party recorded almost 2 million likes, and also has been

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hugely popular on YouTube with over 4 million views and 40,000 plus subscribers to its

channel. It also enjoys a dominant presence over twitter with almost 600,000 followers and a

well managed network of twitter handles. The tone and theme of communication on Twitter is

similar to that of face book. (Data Retrieved on 15th April 2014)

Their communication on these new media platforms are about upcoming rallies, events, list of

candidates, speeches of their candidates, graphics & videos, and persuasive appeals to contribute

& donate for vision of an advanced India.

The Aam Aadmi Party has been quite successful in delivering content that captivates the viewers

and supporters of the party. The videos uploaded on YouTube are focussed mainly on bringing

issues related to corruption and scams into light, speeches from Arvind Kejriwal & other

prominent leaders, Hangouts and Questions & Answer sessions with leaders as well as coverage

of events & rallies and calls for donations. The AAP has well realized the importance of the

medium in these elections to attract the voters. Adopting the new trends AAP has been using live

streaming and launched the Jansabha campaign on youtube using Google Hangouts.

Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal came into the public view as an energetic volunteer of Team Anna (Anna

Hazare) in 2011 in the India against Corruption campaign. Pushing for the Jan Lokpal Bill, he

soon began to view the political arena of India with an ardent sight. He is definitely being sighted

as a strong contender in the political arena this elections.

A Google search for Arvind Kejriwal results in his current activities and events surrounding this

common man. Followed by his Face book page, Wikipedia page and Twitter account. Other

than the Aam Aadmi Party’s official website, Arvind Kejriwal shares most of his thoughts

and party related information through his Twitter and Face book accounts.

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Face book

The few things that one would realize the moment they open this page is the cover photo saying

Gandhi’s Talisman and the name of the page “AapKaArvind”. Now it is quite possible to

Speculate what he means by the name whether

It is “Aap” as in “Aam Aadmi Party’s” Arvind

or “Aap” meaning “Yours” Arvind. If the latter

is to be believed then it is quite smart of him and his

team to portray the image of a man who can be

reached to. Arvind Kejriwal has about total of 5

million fans on Face book. His display picture is

simple without frills. The ‘About’ paragraph on

the page reads thus, “This is

Arvind Kejriwal’s official page to talk about issues related to corruption, ineffective

governance and solution to these problems in form of AAP.”

His page has tabs for Events, Donation and Invite. Some of the posts are dedicated to declaring

the donations made to AAP, in keeping with the party ideology of honesty and transparency.

Arvind Kejriwal is one of three politicians in the 2014 General Elections to have a donate

button on his Face book page; the others being Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley of the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Arvind Kejriwal shares posts to

share the amount of work that has

been done by his party during his

short stint as CM of Delhi. There are

numerous posts similar to the one

seen above that have listed multiple

things that the party has managed to

achieve. Although he has 5 million

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likes on face book but still he lacks

way behind that of Narendra Modi

whose page has over 13 million

likes.

Twitter

He doesn’t respond to tweets often but makes sure that his presence is felt. The man is a

frequent tweeter and talks about nearly the same things as his Face book page. He also tweets

outbursts directed at what he finds disturbing in his immediate environment. But never is the

context any other than him and his political exploits, if I may call them so. The language on

Twitter is obviously Indian English and he freely uses short-forms and messaging lingo on

Twitter to take optimal advantage of the character limit of the platform.

He makes sure to announce politically

correct updates like declaring received

donations from fans, followers, voters

and well-wishers. Arvind Kejriwal

receives a variable number of mentions

On Twitter Arvind Kejriwal’s fame on

Twitter stands in stark contrast to the

belief that one must tweet more to be

Tweeted about more.

Google+

Arvind Kejriwal might not have an account or page on Google+ but he sure seems to be famous

on the platform. It is also quite possible that by not being on the Google +, a lot of potential

supporters are being ignored on the platform.

Arvind Kejriwal and his party members have in the past used Google Hangouts to interact

expand their reach to the audiences from distant corners. But not having a page or profile here 41

could prove damaging as a lot of pages and communities on Google + carry the name of Arvind

Kejriwal on them. Arvind Kejriwal recently spoke with Rajdeep Sardesai on Hangouts about the

aim of the Aam Aadmi Party of defeating both Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)

BJP has become one of the pioneers of tapping the new age media to the best of its possible

potential. The party has a highly interactive website, a dedicated dashboard for volunteers,

mobile apps, Google Hangouts, Face book, Twitter, Youtube page, Whatsapp account.

Their communication on these new media platforms are about upcoming rallies, events, list of

candidates, speeches of their candidates, graphics & videos, and persuasive appeals to contribute &

donate for vision of an advanced India, greetings and testimonials for visionaries and martyrs.

Their tagline reads “Ab ki Baar Modi Sarkaar”, the mobile application 272+ are also

among other interesting tools.

BJP is approaching the 4 million fans mark on facebook, and has recorded over 7 million views

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on YouTube and more than 45,000 subscribers. The party has a very strong presence on twitter

with over 400,000 followers. It uses twitter in a significant manner by using hash tags which are

in sync with running campaigns like #AbkiBaarModiSarkaar, #ModiForPMFund,

#ChaiPeCharcha, the party also trends on user generated hash tags like #WhyPMModi,

#BJPAnthem.

The mobile application of the BJP, India 272+ provides an Online Platform where Volunteers

can Collaborate, Contribute & Campaign. It also facilitates one-to-one communication with the

candidates. The NaMo number is a technique under the India 272+ application which permits to

keep a check on the role that an individual has played in order to achieve victory for the Modi

led BJP. All one has to do is send an SMS writing the voter ID number and send it to the number

provided (7820078200) and if a friend has recommended, add the mobile number of the friend at

the bottom.

Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi is one of the rare politicians who have a presence on Pinterest, Tumblr, Flicker

and Stumble Upon. And this is apart from having a huge community around himself on Face

book, Twitter, YouTube & Google +! He also has a blog and not to forget a website too.

Twitter

Narendra Modi has generated the maximum amount of buzz on twitter. Surrounded by more than

3.5 million followers, his voice gets amplified as most of his tweets receive hundreds of retweets

in no–time.

Most of his tweets are about sharing his stories for his campaign trails. He shares the sentiments

of the people he met, the state of that particular city/region and the response of the people

towards his party. The only draw-back is that Modi does not respond to or re-tweet his followers.

People on Twitter

are determined and

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engaging in

discussion and such

discussions will

only propel his

agenda. It is also

possible that his

Portrayal would be of a leader who would listen to the masses. He even gets a flood of

mentions by users on Twitter on a daily basis.

Face book

It is absolutely needless to say, that he has the largest community of likes on face book in context of

Indian Politicians. Worldwide Modi is ranked at number two as most liked politicians only behind

Barack Obama on facebook.

The content shared by Modi on face book is pretty much similar to the content that he shares on

face book, although with less pot-shot on Rahul and more from his election rallies. However

there is hardly any interaction between Modi and his supporters on the page, another strange

thing is to that a lot of replies in the form of comments to Modi happen to be in Hindi, while the

number of posts by Narendra Modi in Hindi is just a handful.

Pinterest

He has about 2600 followers on Pinterest who keep track of his pins and shares. He also made

good use of boards and keeps sharing content about his campaign activities and his ideas for the

growth of India.

Google +

Modi enjoys a Google + followers list of over 1.2 Million. The content is noticeably similar to

Face book and sees a decent engagement. In August 2012, Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra

Modi, was the first Indian public figure to use Hangout, Google's video chat platform. Modi's

one-hour Hangout attracted over four million viewers, including online and television, as it was 44

beamed on many channels, and over 20,000 questions were asked. About 166,000 clicks were

generated on Modi's website on the day of the Hangout and over 70,000 tweets poured in from

all over while the Hangout was in progress. Viewing the chat were people from 116 countries.

"For political leaders, YouTube and Hangouts have been a great way to reach out to the masses,"

says Anandan.

Youtube

Every single rally of Modi is captured and uploaded on his YouTube channel for his fans to

watch. These videos are also shared on his blog, face book as well as twitter and other social

networking sites. The channel is making good use of playlists and is also sharing videos with

subtitles for people of different regions to view and understand them, which is a really smart

move from the Gujrat CM!

Apart from all these platforms, he is also present on Flicker, Tumbler and Stumble Upon but is not

as active like he is on the applications mentioned above; a particular reason for not being 1so active

on those platforms could be that the Indian population at large do not use these platforms.

5 ways NaMo used Technology to change election campaigning in India

1. Multiplicity in 3D: On Tuesday, Modi addressed people in 52 different places in Gujarat and

launched into his anti – Congress tirade. This is the first time any politician has used 3D

technology for a political campaign in India. True that Modi spent a lot of money on the

campaign, but the novelty of the campaign was such that even housewives left their tele

serials to watch 3D for the first time.

2. Modi hangs out: In yet another first for an Indian politician, Modi hung out on Google + and

answered questions from followers. The 2 hour video broadcast in September on Google+ was

watched by 82,000 people live on Youtube from 116 countries. Modi has more than 3 lakh

people in his G+ circles. In a week from the hangout, the video got nearly 555,000 views. Modi

followers claim that this is more the 712,000 views US President Barack Obama’s hangout

witnessed in 9 months.

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3. Twit for tat: In October, Narendra Modi crossed 1 million followers on Twitter. He got more

than 100,000 followers in barely a month. Even if nearly half of them are fake, it’s still a big

number. Modi baits his opponents on Twitter quite frequently, shares videos and posts instances

from his campaign trail. He also has an unofficial twit army which readily lynches anyone

trying to bring their leader down.

4. Live streaming online: Modi streams his speech and other important events on his website

live. Modi lovers get to see hear him in his true avatar without the Television anchors trying to

comment on everything he does. He puts up his campaign schedule online for everyone to see.

5. Face booking on the campaign trail: Modi has over 1 million fans on his Face

book page and engages with his audience quite frequently. Here, he posts videos, pictures and

excerpts from his speeches. His Face book cover is neatly designed with links to his YouTube,

Twitter, Blog and Updates. It’s all neatly organized.

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Indian National Congress (INC)

After months of ignorance, the Congress woke up to the fact that there are people who interact

with politics through the social media. While the opposition BJP and AAP have banked upon the

importance and relevance of social media for connecting with the masses, the Congress

continues to follow a very simple and straight forward strategy on social media.

The Congress had a late start to their social media campaign after they realized that in order to

win the citizens of India, Modi led BJP and Kejriwal led AAP have gained a lot of momentum

already.

Following the assumption that ‘it’s never too late’ party joined the social media bandwagon

getting more active on their face book page & twitter handle, reworked their website,

YouTube channel , volunteers platform Khidkee , Whatsapp and Line extensions.

The congress enjoys over 2 million supporters on face book, but it still lags way behind that

of the Narendra Modi led BJP. The party is having a tough time when it comes to twitter, theDiscussions mainly involve Modi & Kejriwal. And why wouldn’t it be so, Rahul Gandhi nor any

Other member of the Gandhi family uses twitter or face book, and more so have entered the

battle a bit too late. The Rahul Gandhi interview with Arnab Goswami a few months back put the

Congress in further trouble. Although the leaders from the Congress party are pretty much active

on twitter and face book but have not been able to compete with Modi or Kejriwal. The YouTube

channel of the Congress recently received a facelift, since then the frequency of video posts and

shares have been on the rise. Most of the videos are about its achievements speeches of leaders

and the videos of their television advertisements.

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Scope of New Media

In the Lok Sabha Election of 2014, we saw all the political parties rise and exploit the new media

resources for their own political gains and improving their public figure, which in turn has

benefitted them and also won them public trust. This election as categorized by many punditsAnd social media strategists as the “social media election”, but I feel that it is still too early to call

It so. Because only a mere 12% citizens are using these new media resource out of a possible

815 million who are legible to vote.

Although the political parties exploited every bit of the new media but even then they lacked in

their campaigns. A major lacking is that the content they spread across all media was almost

identical. If a party uploaded a video on YouTube it was the same video that they would share on

face book, twitter and elsewhere, the same goes for a post or a picture. Basically the political

parties and candidates used the same campaign across all media without exploiting much of the

benefits which that medium was capable of providing. Some political parties like the congress

exploited the twitter function of promotion through which they could use to garner more

followers, which helped them get to their voters in a much quicker time-frame. The congress was

one of the few parties which exploited the mobile phone messengers like the BBM, Line & while

whatsapp was used by both the Congress and the BJP.

The political parties and their social media strategists need to work together on creating

campaigns for every individual platform rather than a single campaign which is accommodated

to all the major platforms. While all these platforms can be used for the sharing of videos and

photographs, instagram and YouTube are most likely to be most beneficial in this context.

While applications like the Google plus were used, but there is no certainty as to whether or

not it will continue to be used in the same way that it has been used in the build-up of the

elections.

A separate campaign for each of the new media platform is the future of such campaigning and if

that can be achieved the results of the campaign is likely to grow many folds in the near future

with the development of youth as being more social media friendly and tech-savvy. The areas of

physical campaigning might not just yet come to an end as the Indian politics relates to more of

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local and regional issues on which the politicians will have to prove themselves to get the votes

of the people who are not in the urban areas which account to a vast section of the people.

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Conclusion

AAP VS BJP VS INC

Face book:

Likes

AAP BJP INC

11/3/14 to 17/3/14 39,017 236,431 72,233

18/3/14 to 24/3/14 59,833 293,192 121,047

25/3/14 to 31/3/14 63,260 263,260 253,795

1/4/14 to 7/4/14 49,544 286,645 242,213

8/4/14 to 14/4/14 67,105 214,137 196,874

3, 00,000

2, 50,000

2, 00,000

1, 50,000

1, 00,000

50,000

0March 11- March 18- March 25- April 1-7, April 8-14,

17, 2014 24, 2014 31, 2014 2014 2014

AAP BJP INC

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Buzz created

AAP BJP INC

11/3/14 to 17/3/14 237,600 461,995 307,760

18/3/14 to 24/3/14 287,736 604,425 311,817

25/3/14 to 31/3/14 444,009 671,323 488,584

1/4/14 to 7/4/14 346,300 346,300 549,339

8/4/14 to 14/4/14 650,662 733,472 671,685

8, 00,000

7, 00,000

6, 00,000

5, 00,000

4, 00,000

3, 00,000

2, 00,000

1, 00,000

0March 11- March 18- March 25- April 1-7, April 8-14,

17, 2014 24, 2014 31, 2014 2014 2014

AAP BJP INC

The discussions carried out on the face book pages and the number of likes on these pages

clearly indicates that the wind is blowing towards the BJP. But one fact that cannot be denied is

that the despite the delayed entry of the congress in the social media sphere, it still managed to

compete over its rivals quite well. Both the graphs show an upward lift for Congress over the

entire month of the research. While the BJP has succeeded in luring the highest number of likes

throughout the period and also maintained a standard and did not fluctuate much. The Aam

Aadmi Party more or less maintained its likes and buzz although could not compete too well

against its rivals in this period. One common factor for all three parties were that the youth

between the ages 18-24 were the most active on these pages as well as the most active city for

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the three parties was New Delhi.

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Across the Internet over the past three months Arvind Kejriwal & Narendra Modi was the

leaders who created the highest buzz.

Image source: simplify360

While it was Kejriwal who led the pack amongst leaders, it was the BJP who led when it came to

the parties as a whole.

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Image source: simplify360

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The election battle on the new media got fierce as the polling dates came closer, the popularity of

the politicians increased many folds this election campaign on the new media. The late entrant

Congress made good use of the new media as much it could, although it somewhat lagged behind

on Twitter it gained a good momentum through face book & Google+.

However, the issue of whether discussions flowing from the grassroots affect power and the

state of democracy remains unexplored. Ideally, social media tools could increase transparency

in politics and enhance citizens’ participation through enabling people to follow decision-

making processes and hold discussions about issues of common concern.

If one has to give the verdict as to what will be the outcome of these Elections played majorly on

the new media, it is very difficult to say, because the population on the new media is just a mere

12% out of the total 815 million people eligible to vote this term. So, predicting a result on the

basis of this data is only something a fool would do. But, on the other hand, if the battle was just

about how each of the parties fared in the new media through their campaigning, it can be rightly

said that the Bhartiya Janata Party could emerge as a clear victor due to its excessive

campaigning on the online media and the fact that it begun campaigning on the new media

before the other two parties did. Another important factor is that the BJP hardly missed any

platform on which they did not encompass in their campaign, you name the platform and BJP

has some campaign going on in there.

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