future of social media and politics - in total darkness!!

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat and putative prime ministerial candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), became the most-followed Indian politician on Twitter, with more than 1.8 million followers. When he got elected as the candidate for Prime Minister Position, the occasion was celebrated by BJP supporters across the social media, and had a growing impact on Indian politics.

Firstly when this social media was founded many politicians went against it. And now the scenario has been changed. But the pace at which the political world is embracing social media has accelerated dramatically in the last year. Aside from the BJP’s wholesale adoption of Twitter – Modi’s allies on the network include the party’s parliamentary leader, Sushma Swaraj, and a coterie of organized supporters – prominent Indian politicians from all parties have leapt in.

India’s president, Pranab Mukherjee announced that he would open a Facebook account to receive and respond to the public’s questions. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee runs a popular and widely read Web site that traditional media outlets mine daily. Similarly, Omar Abdullah, the youthful Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, regularly interacts on Twitter, and his much older Rajasthan and Kerala counterparts, Ashok Gehlot and Oommen Chandy, respectively, have opened Facebook accounts as well. This change was not at all expected.

More than half of the members from politics are now online, and most government offices are establishing a social-media presence. Indian political issues are being raised and debated regularly – across social media. The finance minister spoke to the public about the budget, not on TV, but in a Google Hangout. The main question which arises now is that the people who are not connected via social media will how come to know about what’s going on in the world. The extent of Internet penetration today – makes the country the world’s third-largest online market, and also the fastest growing for its size.

Nonetheless, scepticism about the reach and political impact of social media in India is in order. As one of India’s first politicians to embrace social media, my view is that this conclusion is premature. I do not believe, given the numbers, that any Indian election can be won or lost on social media alone.

Only a small minority of India’s voters use social media; with electoral districts of some two million people each, Twitter is of little help in political mobilization. Unlike, Twitter would be useless for organizing a mass rally or even convening a large public meeting.

But, while social media cannot be a substitute for conventional campaigning, they can help to set the agenda of public debate, because traditional media – newspapers and television, which do reach most voters – tap into social networks for information about and from politicians. This indirect impact makes social media an indispensable communications tool for politicians.

In any case, no democratic politician should resist a new communications medium, particularly an interactive one – even if some seem to regard it mainly as a public-relations tool. Such social media is not at all suitable medium for a serious politician. But Google and Yahoo! were once silly names; both are now household words. I am convinced that a majority of politicians in 21^st century democracies – including India – will be tweeting.

But social media is surely not the future of India.