Director's Spotlight

Social Media: The Digital Pillar of Elections

Plastic flex boards are passé. Good old graffiti is in vogue again and we are seeing less of walls and more of posters. Evidently, electoral passion is running high! But amidst the election frenzy, what is worth noticing is how social media is gradually yet clandestinely emerging as the digital pillar of elections.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Twitter, are constantly moulding, shaping and re-shaping the passion and fashion of electoral campaigning. I am particularly mystified by the way they are transforming information delivery, news coverage and consumption, and the manner in which Indians process new political developments. I also believe that in social media, we have found the piece which was long missing- the piece that would generate electronic engagement, the piece that would bridge the gap between leaders and electors, and the piece that would become the mouth piece for local voters to report and communicate their grievance to the ever-so-elusive political leaders.

Social media now hold the reins of electoral campaigning of political parties helping them raise funds, identify supporters and build electoral coalitions, while reinvigorating democracy, encouraging grass root activism, empowering voters and transforming governance.

I see political leaders increasingly employing Facebook status updates, Facebook frames and comments to drive and extend conversations in order to reach a larger number of individuals, removing the feeling of alienation from voters. In turn, media houses are embedding social media commentary in their news coverage to make it more authentic and based on what people say.

Thanks to social media, politics is no longer an echo chamber wherein a politician harps on his political achievements and people listen as mute spectators. Social media is enriching national dialogues and allowing people to evaluate candidates and their policies based on the extremely diversified views they have now than in the past. More so when smart phones have sped up the news consumption cycle, allowing people to access information and social media on the go.

In a world of information over-flow, we often resort to our social networks to evaluate the credibility of the information. Therefore, future political influence will be network based since our social contacts are our new trust filters through which information must be validated to gain our confidence.

I have also observed another remarkable way in which social media is influencing elections- people are organising their own social media groups to drive civic discussions, forcing candidates to answer questions due to the fear of annoying a large number of electors that they may not wish to answer otherwise.

Another significant impact is being made by geo-location and behavioural advertising that are allowing candidates to improve targeting and offer relevant material to their respective constituencies efficiently and effectively in sharp contrast to the old practice of merely dumping information on people.

I believe that this April and May, India will have a truly democratised  electoral process led by the social media revolution and we, as marketers, will get a rare yet stupendous opportunity to witness the immense power that social media wields, not only in the virtual but also in the real world.

Best regards,

Sandipan Ray