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The Media, The Social Media and The Elections
Abstract
This chapter provides a snapshot of politicians and mainstream media’s engagement on social media platforms, particularly Twitter. The chapter, based on preliminary analysis, explores the extent to which some of the political parties relied on social media as a vehicle for their conversation with their followers, and the mainstream media’s opportunistic utilisation of this free-for-all information source to know what is happening on the ground. The chapter also points to a nexus between the politicians, mainstream media and social media during the 2014 General Election campaign in India.
... International Journal of Communication 11(2017) (Merelli, 2014). Then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and his BJP used a number of social media networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+ to engage with many of the 150 million first-time youth voters (Rodrigues, 2015). The head of BJP's IT cell, Arvind Gupta, is noted to have said that "with technology and social media, we have been able to create an alternative medium with which we can directly communicate with the citizens. ...
... Not only did the mainstream media closely monitor these social media conversations but also many journalists were quite active on Twitter, including NDTV's Barkha Dutt and CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai who had nearly 1.5 million followers each. Although approximately 100 million of the 800 million voters were active on social media during the 2014 Indian elections (Kemp, 2014), it is argued that mainstream media's use of social media as a news source-regularly reporting what was being said by politicians and others on social media sites-increased social media's influence on the election outcomes (Rodrigues, 2015). ...
... In the past, traditional mass media occupied a key position in the public communication process as a precondition for political agenda building (Denham, 2010). However, the Internet and social media technologies have offered an alternative avenue for civil society and political leaders to draw attention to their causes, as shown by the use of social media technologies by the civil society in the Arab Spring and anticorruption movement in India in 2011 (Howard et al., 2011;Rodrigues, 2015). Chadwick (2013) argues that the "technologies, genres, norms, behavior and organizational forms" (p. ...
The 2014 elections were dubbed the first “social media election” in India, when more than 56 million election-related tweets were posted during the campaign. Despite his landslide victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be in incessant political campaign mode on social media, launching the “Clean India” mission in late 2014 among other development-oriented initiatives. This research examines the effectiveness of social media as a platform for continuous dialogue with citizens in modern politics and its implications for the mainstream news media in India. The article uses the theoretical framework of agenda building in the digital age to outline the results of an empirical study that includes a social network analysis to profile Modi’s Twitter followers and the key influencers in the Clean India campaign. The study analyzes year-long Twitter data in relation to the Clean India mission to identify common terms and trends, relationships between supporters of this campaign on Twitter, crossover between social media and the Indian mainstream news media, and the news media’s response to the changed political landscape.
... International Journal of Communication 11(2017) (Merelli, 2014). Then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and his BJP used a number of social media networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+ to engage with many of the 150 million first-time youth voters (Rodrigues, 2015). The head of BJP's IT cell, Arvind Gupta, is noted to have said that "with technology and social media, we have been able to create an alternative medium with which we can directly communicate with the citizens. ...
... Not only did the mainstream media closely monitor these social media conversations but also many journalists were quite active on Twitter, including NDTV's Barkha Dutt and CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai who had nearly 1.5 million followers each. Although approximately 100 million of the 800 million voters were active on social media during the 2014 Indian elections (Kemp, 2014), it is argued that mainstream media's use of social media as a news source-regularly reporting what was being said by politicians and others on social media sites-increased social media's influence on the election outcomes (Rodrigues, 2015). ...
... In the past, traditional mass media occupied a key position in the public communication process as a precondition for political agenda building (Denham, 2010). However, the Internet and social media technologies have offered an alternative avenue for civil society and political leaders to draw attention to their causes, as shown by the use of social media technologies by the civil society in the Arab Spring and anticorruption movement in India in 2011 (Howard et al., 2011;Rodrigues, 2015). Chadwick (2013) argues that the "technologies, genres, norms, behavior and organizational forms" (p. ...
... During the 2014 election campaign, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used social media networking services and the Internet to engage with educated, middle-class, networked citizens, including 150 million first-time voters. Some of their strategies included three-dimensional (3D) hologram rallies, gamification to engage supporters, and YouTube and Google+ Hangouts with Modi (Rodrigues, 2015). During the election campaign, the interaction between social media conversations and the mainstream media's coverage of these conversations resulted in the 2014 national elections being dubbed India's first 'social media election'. ...
... As many as 56 million election-related tweets were posted during the 5 months of the election campaign. The head of BJP's information technology (IT) cell, Arvind Gupta, noted that 'with technology and social media, we have been able to create an alternative medium with which we can directly communicate with the citizens' (Rodrigues, 2015). At the time of his election, Modi's Twitter handle @narendramodi had about 4 million followers, whereas his opponent, Indian National Congress (INC) president Rahul Gandhi, had about 55,000 followers on his @rahulgandhi2020 account. ...
In recent times, researchers have examined the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of social media to directly connect with his followers, while largely shunning the mainstream media. This strategy of direct communication with their constituents has been adopted by other political parties too, with opposition party leaders hosting ‘Facebook Live’ sessions and tweeting their messages. A large proportion of Indian voters, who increasingly own mobile phones, are enjoying being part of the ‘like’ and ‘share’ online networks. What does this effective use of social media by Indian political parties mean for the public discourse in India? This article presents the view that this phenomenon is more than Modi’s ‘selfie nationalism’ or his attempt to marginalize the news media. The article argues that there is a structural shift in the Indian public sphere, which might prove to be the greatest challenge to Indian journalism.
... As many as 56 million election-related tweets were posted during the five months of the election campaign in early 2014 (Merelli and Quartz 2014). However, an analysis of the Twitter feed showed that the Twitter conversations were concentrated amongst the elite and men, including politicians, journalists, academics, prominent social activists and professionals (Rodrigues 2015). Political parties sought to gather supporters' phone numbers, to give them a call on a mobile, which in turn allowed them to add the number to their database and to their local WhatsApp group. ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed a landslide victory in the 2019 national election, with his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning 303 seats, comfortably beyond the 272-seat required for a majority in the Indian Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament). As has been the recent trend, the 2019 Indian election campaign was fought on social media apps and platforms. After the 2014 national election was named the ‘first social media election’ in India, it was predicted that WhatsApp, a messaging app owned by Facebook, would play a significant role in the 2019 election campaign (Rodrigues 2018). During the state elections in 2018–2019, WhatsApp was increasingly being used by BJP and various opposition parties to keep in touch with their constituents. In fact, a number of political parties set up data analytics departments to analyse voter data at district and booth levels to tailor their election campaigns, and almost all regional and national leaders were using FacebookLive to connect with voters. Although traditional factors such as caste- and religion-based candidate selection and voting patterns, and more contemporary issues of unemployment and farmers’ unrest were significant issues in the 2019 election campaign, it was the use of social media platforms as a communication tool for political campaigning that gained further ground for parties in India.
... As many as 56 million election-related tweets were posted during the five months of the election campaign in early 2014 (Merelli and Quartz 2014). However, an analysis of the Twitter feed showed that the Twitter conversations were concentrated amongst the elite and men, including politicians, journalists, academics, prominent social activists and professionals (Rodrigues 2015). Political parties sought to gather supporters' phone numbers, to give them a call on a mobile, which in turn allowed them to add the number to their database and to their local WhatsApp group. ...
Electoral violence has become synonymous with Kenya's elections. This acquired deadly proportions during the 2007 elections. However, it was also during this time that social media and digital technology were first used for political reasons, including for campaigning and polling. Social media and digital technology had mixed uses where they were not only used to propagate hate speech and mobilise for violence, but also to identify and map out violence hotspots. Since then, they have increasingly become an indispensable tool in Kenya's politics and governance, used by political leaders to spread information, campaign and mobilise. However, the widespread reach of social media has also been a major challenge to security, peace and peacebuilding since it has been used to incite hatred and violence. This paper identifies the specific threats that social media and digital technology pose and opportunities they present for violence prevention. Ultimately, the paper seeks to present the opportunities that exist for partnerships between state and non-state actors to effectively prevent political and electoral violence.
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