Quora/Instagram/LinkedIn Turn New Platform For Parties To Campaign

Bhubaneswar: The immense power that social media holds during elections has not gone unnoticed by political parties to mobilise voters. If BJP was earlier in this game, other parties were not late either in exploring this medium, giving a new identity altogether to electioneering and campaigning.

And if reports are to be believed now, the ruling dispensation at the Centre is expanding its social media envelope to include Quora Instagram, Snapchat and Telegram in the Lok Sabha polls next year, given these apps huge user-base in India.

According to a news report in DNA today, BJP is planning to increase the use of LinkedIn to reach out to the intelligentsia and professionals.

The aim is to win over the first time voters, the job hunters and prospective entrepreneurs who repose immense faith on Narendra Modi, said a party insider.

“The coming elections will be fought on digital platform as much as in the villages and towns. Political parties are strategising their campaigning programme and use of social media is clearly a key element in their scheme of things, an executive of an advertisement agency, associated with with the campaigning of a political party during the last Lok Sabha polls, told Odisha Bytes.

While parties across the spectrum have realised the the efficacy of the likes of Twitter and Facebook, still it is not enough if the target is to catch people of all generations. Hence we are now seeing new tools being added into the campaigning basket apart from twitter and facebook, he said.

According to the DNA report, the party will circulate quick videos, photographs, infographics and cartoons through these tools.

The party will also expand its footprints in the question and answer platform Quora as well. About 500 to 1000 karyakartas with good under understanding of economic policy and party’s ideology will answer to people’s query on Modi government’s policy initiatives.

Digital and media experts reckon that spending on digital platform could shoot up by 20 per cent in the coming elections. An Assocham report had pegged the overall spending on digital platforms in the last general election at Rs 400-Rs 500 crore.

Gopa Kumar, executive vice-president at Isobar India, and Zafar Rais, CEO at Mindshift Interactive had told Economic Times in an interview earlier that spending is likely to rise around 20 per cent next year given the much wider reach of Facebook compared with competitors and increased internet penetration.

Regional satraps such as TDP and TRS have used social media for maximum capital. And now there is a strong buzz that BJD is going the whole hog to effectively use the social media tools for the ensuing polls.

The party had organised a workshop late last year to familiarise its party workers and MLAs about the use of social media. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who is using the social media extensively to connect with the people, has over five lakh twitter followers and good number of followers in Facebook and Instagram. The party is encouraging more and more MPs and MLAs to connect with the masses through social media.