The three American social media giants – Facebook, Twitter and Google
– have emerged as a major player 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 the traditional media.
While the impact of these social media on the elections could be
known only after May 16 when the results are declared or could be a
matter of another academic research, all the three major players have
seen substantial increase in their India traffic and usage.
IE SPECIALS: SOCIAL TRENDS |
ELECTION DASHBOARD
For instance Facebook 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, Sashi 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 the
micro-blogging site.
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 Facebook. Barack Obama is
the only other politician to have more Facebook 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.
Facebook started working on the Indian elections towards the end of
last year, says Katie Harbath, manager for Policy at Facebook, 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 Facebook and Twitter for breaking
news
We are really seeing the entire country discuss the issues (related to elections),” Harbarth told PTI in a recent
interview.
“Facebook 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
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.
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.
“Twitter has now become an integral part of Indian elections,” Khursheed told PTI.
The sheer size is a major challenge for them, concedes Harbarth.
“It is just exciting to see, how much social media is being used in the election,” she said.
In addition to the volume and size, Twitter officials said the nine-phased elections are another major challenge.
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.
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.
“Twitter has now become an integral part of Indian elections,” Khursheed told PTI.
The sheer size is a major challenge for them, concedes Harbarth.
“It is just exciting to see, how much social media is being used in the election,” she said.
In addition to the volume and size, Twitter officials said the nine-phased elections are another major challenge.
Washington: Internet search giant Google is reportedly testing a newly redesigned Gmail interface for Web.
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel is facing demands worth Rs 5,816.9 crore from
Department of Telecom including a one time spectrum charge of Rs 5,201.3
crore and penalty worth Rs 350 crore for 3G intra-circle roaming (ICR)
pacts as on March 31, 2014.
Mumbai: Software and mobile handset major Microsoft is ready with 4G band devices, said a senior executive Monday.
Based on the "cognitive shuffle" technique, the app works by prompting
users to imagine various objects or scenes in rapid succession.
This section will feature the quirkiest gadgets in town. Here are the first two.
The latest recalculation of damages Samsung owes to Apple for patent
infringement pales in comparison to the $1 billion a jury awarded in
2012 in a verdict that was considered a major victory for Cupertino.
After slashing that amount, Judge Lucy Koh ordered a new trial to
reconsider damages. The proceedings ended this week with the jury
deciding Samsung is liable for a paltry $119.5 million.