India’ First Social Media Election

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THE 2014 INDIAN ELECTION

• Polling started April 7th

• New government announced on May 16th

• For 16th Lok Sabha in India• 543 seats• 272 seats needed for majority

• Leaders in the race:• Rahul Gandhi of Indian National Congress• Narendra Modi of Bharatiya Janata Party

• Corruption

• Harsh working coditions

• Educational System

MAJOR ISSUES IN THE ELECTION

CANDIDATE’S OUTREACH THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

• Arvind Kejriwal- receiving the most social media and news attention

• Kejriwal’s anti-curroption platform and appeal to the young population

CANDIDATE’S OUTREACH THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOK ELECTION TRACKER

• Depicts trends of mentions of candidates on Facebook and how they are ranked according to that

• Trends analyzed through different time frames and on a linear graph

COMET SYSTEM

• COMET- Communication Plan for Election

• SMS alert system for election updates• Conduction of mock polls• Start of polling• Voting percentages every couple of hours• Number of voters

WILL SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH BE EFFECTIVE?• 200 million Internet users in India

• 12.6% of Indian population has presence on the internet

• People on social media include tech savvy, educated youth and interested residents from 34 to 60 years of age

SKEPTICISM

• Suhas Palshikar- political analyst and professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Pune• A waste of money

SOURCES CITEDAyres, Alyssa. "The Indian Elections: What The BJP Has To Say About Foreign Policy."

Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 7 Apr. 2014. Web. . <http://www.forbes.com/sites/alyssaayres/2014/04/07/the-indian-elections-what-the-bjp-has-to-say-about-foreign-policy/>.

Dutta, Medha . "'Election 2014 is all about social media' - The Times of India." The Times of

India. N.p., 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Election-2014-is-all-about-social-media/articleshow/33835014.cms>.

Khullar, Arshiya. "Politicians slug it out in India's first social media election." CNN. Cable News

Network, 10 April 2014. Web. . <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/world/asia/indias-first-social-media-election/>.

Lasseter, Tom. "Five Reasons India's Elections Are More Interesting Than Yours." Bloomberg

Business Week. Bloomberg, 14 Apr. 2014. Web. . <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-14/indias-elections-five-reasons-theyre-more-interesting-than-yours>.

Taylor, Adam. "What 100 days of social media can tell us about India’s election." Washington

Post. The Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. . <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/04/16/what-100-days-of-social-media-can-tell-us-about-indias-election/>