MARGAO: The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were known as the #TwitterElections on social media, and the winner of that election, BJP’s Narendra Modi, at the time of being sworn in as Prime Minister, was the second most followed politician on Facebook and the sixth most followed world leader on Twitter.
Later, in the 2015 Delhi elections, digital marketing agencies were hired by political parties to analyse trends on social media platforms, and it proved to be more accurate than opinion polls, which are known to be rigged.
While it takes time for trends in New Delhi and strategies used by national parties to be used in smaller states like Goa, the trickledown effect has already started. The social media is already being used as a tool to build the party base and membership, and spread awareness about ground activities, by political parties.
And while it is argued that a large chunk of the population, especially those in remote areas and the older generation, does not use social media, politicians and political parties in Goa have already geared up to tackle the force of social media and to try and use it to their advantage. For instance, a tweet by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, BJP’s Narendra Modi and leaders of political parties will be ‘shared’, ‘retweeted’, and ‘forwarded’ instantly.
Another social media strategy employed by political parties and independents is to create ‘echo chambers’ to either promote its own party’s propaganda or to shame an opponent by sharing or commenting on a controversy or defend itself from ‘online attacks’.
This could be seen in the recent movement against the coconut tree declassification. Politicians have gone to the extent of recording messages that can be sent instantly on a smartphone or sending photos with a catchy tagline via WhatsApp.
“The youth of the country have embraced social media as their first tool of communication when they started using the internet, and we made sure our presence was there,” said BJP South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, while talking about BJP’s social media strategy.
He added, “For the very first time, news is getting predominance over the medium used to convey it, the message has become more important than
the messenger.”
He continued, “Social media helped to break down information barriers between politicians and voters, allowing the latter to better understand the candidates and the issues they were promoting. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram seem to have emerged and are being accepted as the fifth pillar of media, after print, TV, digital and radio.”
Congress national general secretary Girish Chodankar observed that social media is the medium of choice for people to engage in and consume political content.
“Many times, social media sets the agenda for print and electronic media. Goa being a highly literate state with a good standard of living and with changing dynamics of Goan politics, no political party can afford to lose on this new campaign platform and tool of communication, on which young Goans are spending quality time,” said Chodankar.
However, he added, “Every ‘like’ or ‘retweet’ may not fetch votes, but one can definitely engage citizens with the party’s ideology and agenda, and build the perception they desire.”
He further said, “Goans have a strong presence on Facebook and WhatsApp, and their presence is slowly growing on Twitter. On blogs, the presence of Goan politicians is negligible. Many politicians and parties in Goa have already started making their presence felt, and many of them have also formed a social media cell. Although the Congress is a late starter in Goa, the party is definitely growing slowly. Politicians have also realised that social media can effectively counter the bias of media at times and can counter false propaganda. Surely the future belongs to the social media, which will dominate politics. No politician will survive without a social media team and strategies.”
Political analyst Cleofato Almeida Coutinho felt that social media is now an integral part of image building and that Goa is a State where image matters. He added that it will matter most in cases of ‘new conquests’.
“Tech-savvy politicians are considered intelligent, though that may not be correct. They will employ tech savvy, young personnel. Even young MLAs have done that. If young MLAs do not resort to social media, they will be considered backward,” said Coutinho.
It is no surprise that senior politicians, like former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, have become active on social medial platforms, while PWD minister Sudin Dhavalikar has a Facebook page.
While many younger MLAs across party lines are active on social media, a true assessment of how social media is being looked at by politicians in Goa will be the example of Vishwajit Rane, who was one of the first to take up social media, while his father Pratapsingh Rane is yet to get on board on the ‘must have’ strategic bandwagon.
