1

Social Media and its Importance

in Political Campaign

Submitted by

Saurav Kishor Reg.no.112529036

In the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication

(2011-2014)

Manipal University Bangalore Campus

Media & Entertainment Block, Survey No 36, Chokkanahalli,

Thanisandra Main Road, Jakkur Post,

Bangalore 560 06

2

DECLARATION

I, Saurav Kishor hereby declare that this project titled – “Social Media and its Importance in

Political Campaign” is prepared by me based on an original study and research conducted under

the guidance of Prof. Prashanth G Malur, Assistant Professor & Research Scholar, Department

of Animation, Manipal University Bangalore Campus.

I further declare that this research has not been submitted to any other University or Institution

for the award of any other degree or diploma.

Saurav kishor

Reg No. 112529036

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction and ecstasy that escort the successful completion of any task would be

incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible, whose constant guidance

and encouragement crowned our efforts with success.

I take this opportunity to thank Prof. Prashanth G Malur, Assistant Professor & Research

Scholar, Department of Animation, Manipal University Bangalore Campus for his guidance and

help all throughout my project. His teaching has enabled me to understand various aspects of

research

I wish to place on record my grateful thanks to Dr. Nandini Lakshmikantha, Associate

Professor & Head- Department of Journalism and Communication for providing the support and

encouragement throughout my study & degree course.

I express my special thanks to my friends and my fellow mates at Manipal University Bangalore

Campus for their support.

I take privilege to thank Manipal University for providing me an opportunity to raise my

ambition.

I thank my family for all their support and motivation being beside my all endeavors.

Saurav Kishor

112529036

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Bachelor‘s Dissertation entitled “Social Media and its Importance in

Political Campaign” Is a bonafied work carried out by Saurav Kishor bearing registration No.

112529036 for the award of degree of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Communication

from the Manipal University, Manipal during the academic year 2011-2014.

The Bachelors Dissertation has been approved by the undersigned as it satisfies the academic

requirements of the subject.

Signature of the Guide Signature of HOD

Prof. Prashanth G Malur, Dr. Nandini Lakshmikantha

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Table of Contents

SL No. Topics Page No.

A. Title Page 1

B. Declaration 2

C. Acknowledgement 3

D. Certificate 4

1. Abstract 6-7

2. Introduction 8-10

3. Review of Literature 11-23

4. Methodology 24-29

5. Findings and Analysis 31-37

6. Suggestions 37-38

7. Scope 39-40

8. Conclusion 41-43

9. Annexure 44-47

10. Bibliography 48-49

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CHAPTER -1

ABSTRACT

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Study on Social Media and its Importance in Political Campaign

Abstract:

The 1990‘s technologies revolution called the internet has truly transformed the world thorough

networking people across borders and boundaries. People these days spend more time on their

Laptops, smart phones and computers, whether to read newspapers online, to book travel ticket,

listening to music, watching videos and so. on For increasing numbers of social sites such as

Facebook, Twitter, Blog and LinkedIn are becoming crucial platforms for communicating with

friends, family and work colleagues. Just as the mass-market introduction of phones, radio and

the telegram changed patterns of emotional, social and political interaction across society, so too

late are internet-based technologies and applications now. Social Media‘s quick development

into an important way to influence society is part of the advancement of information and

communication technologies.

The use of social Media is becoming a feature of political and civic engagement for many

Indians. According to ComScore report India has bypassed Japan to become the world‘s third

largest Internet user after China and United States, and its users are significantly younger than

those of other emerging economies, global digital measurement and analytics firm. Use of Social

media in politics is evolving to become significantly more complex now days. The increased use

of social media in a political context presents several challenges, the opportunities for sharing,

collaboration, and engagement provided by the medium of social media are crucial to

understanding how and why these tools can and should be used in politics.

Objectives

This paper aims to study which political parties in India are using Social Media to

promote their political image and message.

It also aims to understand the level of participation of supporters in social networks.

It aims to identify similarities between the hypothetical percentages of supporters of

political parties in Social Media,

- namely – BJP ,Congress and AAP

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CHAPTER- 2

INTRODUCTION

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Introduction

The 1990's technological revolution called the internet has truly transformed the world and its

connectivity. From few millions now we are a thousand billion digitally connected in the world

of networking people across borders and boundaries. People these days spend more time on their

Laptops, smart phones and computers, whether to read newspapers online, to book travel ticket,

listening to music, watching videos , for entertainment, to search information, buy any product

through online shopping or engaging in public forums and discussions, reading e-books, e-

journals, sharing pictures and videos and interacting with friends, family, business or

government organizations via popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace,

YouTube, LinkedIn, Blog etc. All they need an internet connection and a computer. With the

advent of Information and communications technology and the growing broadband penetration

in urban, semi urban as well as rural areas has connected the masses like never before with a

mere ―click‖ of the mouse.

Social media is the new medium through which individuals, businesses, organizations,

government as well as civil society engages and interacts in this information age. Social

networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc can topple government regimes, boost

political campaigns and contribute to presidential wins, bring about public protests, organize

social demonstrations, mobilize social campaigns, and enable communications and discussions

on public forum, spread awareness, provide instant news and information.

As the communications landscape gets denser, more complex, and more participatory, the

networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in

public speech, and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action.

Social media have become a fact of life for civil society worldwide, involving many actors --

regular citizens, activists, non-governmental organizations, telecommunications firms, software

providers, governments. As social media increasingly becomes part of everyday life, more

government agencies are carving out a social media presence online. Facebook, Twitter and

YouTube not surprisingly, are perhaps the most common outlets for government social media

efforts. Initially the governments worldwide were not that supportive of using social media for

improving governance but slowly and steadily governments‘ world over are embracing this

platform.

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In the 21st century, the government needs to more open and transparent about its working and

these social networking sites can help in evolving a more participatory, innovative and inclusive

governing model where the government not only spread awareness of its policies and plans but

also engages in a two-way communication where they can get instant citizen feedback as well as

incorporate suggestions made by common people for proper delivery of public services.

What is Social Media?

―Social Media is the biggest shift since the industrial revolution‖ Eric Qualman, Socialnomics.

The revolution called social media has actually taken the world by storm and its growth has been

exponential where Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, TV took 14 years to achieve

the same target, and the internet got there in 4 years, iPod took 3 years for the same whereas

Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months. Social networking has almost become

the top most activity on the web. Every global brand has a social media presence; it is new

marketing tool at their disposal and the hitherto not very supportive governments have also

started using social media platform. Social media includes web-based and mobile based

technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue between

organizations, communities, and individuals. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define

social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated

content." Social media is ubiquitously accessible, and enabled by scalable communication

techniques.

Government 2.0 is sometimes used to describe how social media is changing the relationship

between government institutions and citizens. Citizens and service users are increasingly

expecting more open government and a greater say in how things happen in the place where they

live and are probably already discussing your local issues online. Government 2.0 refers to

government policies that aim to harness collaborative technologies to create an open-source

computing platform in which government, citizens, and innovative companies can improve

transparency and efficiency. In simple, Government 2.0 refers to open data to make government

more transparent and accountable and the uses of social media tools to engage in those

conversations, shape policy, support local democracy and improve services.

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CHAPTER 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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Review of Literature

In 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook as a way to connect with fellow

students. Initially adopted by high school and college students, the social network, according to

its 2012 initial public offering filing, has grown to 845 million active users worldwide, with

approximately 161 million active monthly users in the US, making it the premiere social media

service in the world. If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest behind China and

India. Launched in July 2006, Twitter is an online social networking and micro blogging service

that has grown to over 300 million users as of 2011, according to account tracker two charts. It

allows users to exchange photos, videos, and messages of 140 characters or less. Founded in

2005 by Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, YouTube provides a forum for the distribution of video

content – everything from cute kittens sleeping to first-run television programs to eyewitness

videos of political protests. The two created the site based on their own frustration when trying to

share video files.

Part of the attraction of these ―big three‖ social media services and independent blogging is that

the average person, with little or no advanced computer skills, can have good success using

them; content can be created and accessed with as little as a smartphone; and it can be easily

interlinked. Links to videos posted on YouTube can embed to blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. A

Twitter post can appear on a Facebook page. In other words, large numbers of people can be

easily and inexpensively contacted via a variety of services.

USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY THE GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Politicians and government‘s agencies in the United States of America are extensively using the

social media to interact and inform its citizenry. In America Social media use on the one side

boosted President Barack Obama‘s grassroots presidential campaign (Facebook

page http://www.facebook.com/barackobama and Twitter handle @BarackObama)

To visit the White House Facebook page, go to facebook.com/WhiteHouse. Social networks like

Twitter and Facebook have also been used in presidential debates and forums. The White House

has even set up several verified Twitter accounts for state entities.

Several government agencies are taking advantage of these Web 2.0 tools for recruiting and

talent management, as well as improving job performance.

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The Environmental Protection Agency created a Facebook network for employees to achieve

better talent management — as a way to share knowledge, build collaboration and improve

employee engagement. https://www.facebook.com/EPA

UNITED KINGDOM

In United Kingdom (UK), in October 2008 the Labour government set out their community,

empowerment agenda, proposing the use of social media by local government to engage

communities.(Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008)

In the last few years UK Councils have started to use blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to

engage local communities. The UK government issued several guidelines for using social media.

Social media guidance – How to use Social Media

CANADA

Most politicians in Canada are actively present on social media; some governmental departments

are even taking steps to integrate social media into actually government operations.

gov.politwitter.ca is a companion tool to Politwitter that tracks social media activity by Canadian

governments institutions & organizations. Canadian Government Social Media

The world leaders of nations like, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, United Arab Emirates

and several others are exercising their influence on different social media platforms. Introducing

the Most Popular World Leaders on Twitter.As part of the Russian government's drive towards

modernization and increased use of technology, government ministries and agencies have put

more effort into developing a presence online. In addition to official websites, many departments

have established accounts in social networks and blogging communities.

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The below table explains the strategy on social media campaigns by political

parties abroad

Sl. No. Country Political Party Campaign strategy

1. America Democratic Party Converted everyday people into engaged and

empowered volunteers, donors and advocates

through social networks, email advocacy, text

messaging and online video .

2. Australia The Labor Party Twitter feeds, Facebook, Instagram, blogs,

fellow‘s blogs and fund raising spam have

created an instant live newsfeed that has

forced the news cycle into a 24/7

3. Lithuania Lithuania Political Party Innovative and interactive information and

communication tools on internet—for

instance visual quizzes, games, videos and

funny ads on Facebook and the goals and

work have been presented visually in the form

of colorful pictures and cartoons.

4. France UMP Party Mainly focused on Facebook, Twitter and

Blog

5. South

Africa

African National Congress Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for party

related news and events, making use of media

and content that the younger and older

audiences can relate to and They also use

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to highlight

participation of ANC leader visits and their

updated information.

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The Impact of social Media on the world

5.1 BASICS OF THE OPERATING MODEL

There are four components in this model about the impact of social media on the world:

A. Learning from others and recognizing the practices

B. Planning and starting an operation according to the POST-model

C. Mapping and maintaining content

D. Continuous evaluation and improvement

5.2 LEARNING FROM OTHERS AND RECOGNISING BEST PRACTICES

When entering the world of social media for the first time, a good way to start planning is to

learn from others. What have others done? What operating models have they used? How have

they committed users to join? How have they organized and funded the operation? What results

have they achieved? Learning from others doesn‘t mean removing the personal touch: the

objective is not to copy or reproduce the actions of others, but to learn from their work, wisdom

and experience, and use that knowledge in new work.

Case: Blogs and the electoral success of the True Finns party

In the Finnish parliamentary election of 2011, there were clear indications that the True Finns

were the first party in Finland to succeed in using social media to mobilize their supporters.

5.3 PLANNING AND STARTING AN OPERATION ACCORDING TO THE

POST MODEL

Most planners develop a strategy and set basic objectives, then choose their technologies,

establish more precise objectives, and finally specify how to actually it. Charlene Li and Josh

Bernoff call this the STOP model (Strategy, Technologies, Objectives and People) and in the

world of social media, it has produced only ordinary results. Social media is people interacting

with other people. They designed instead the POST model (People, Objectives, Strategy,

Technologies) to focus first on people, their preparedness, and their willingness to adopt new

solutions and technologies, and only then should planners work on their objectives, strategies,

and choice of technology. When thinking about making use of social media, it must be asked:

What do people want? What expectations do they have? What changes are they prepared for?

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5.4 MAPPING AND MAINTAINING CONTENT

Creating a blog or a Facebook account is not starting a social media operation but merely

preparing for it: social media lives off its content. Activity in social media is fast-paced and

requires a continuous commitment from its users. That‘s why it is important to have a clear

vision and schedule of operations. The advantage (and occasional disadvantage) of web-based

applications is that the information provided earlier is always visible. Once published on the

Internet, material can almost always be found, even if the writer deletes it from his or her blog.

5.5 CONTINUOUS EVALUATION AND IMPROVEMENT

A high-quality operation includes continuous assessment. Set objectives are evaluated, and

planners can establish whether operational and economic objectives have been met.

With evaluation, it is possible to plan for improvements. Should some badly-made applications

and operations be made better or abandoned? Should popular operational models be expanded?

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INDIAN GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The broadband penetration in India has increased and the number of mobile phone subscribers

has also increased. India has the world's second-largest mobile phone user base with over 919

million users as of March 2012. It has the world's third-largest Internet users with over 121

million as of December 2011. In recent times India has become the world's most competitive and

one of the fastest growing telecom markets.

Social media in India reaches out to 60 per cent of the online Indian audience. Facebook and

Orkut, together cater to about 90 per cent of the users in the social media space. Facebook is the

only social network in India that has witnessed a tremendous growth, almost doubling its users in

the last 6 months. Social networking is what Indians spend most time on while online these days.

According to the latest figures released by marketing research company ComScore, 84 percent of

India's Internet audience visit social networking sites. This makes India the world's seventh

largest market for social networking after U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and

the U.K. The Government of India might be a slow adopter of the social medium but is certainly

making up for it now. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on social networking site Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/dr.manmohansingh that is frequently updated with political and

personal updates. It has around 382,223 likes which shows the citizens are actually interested in

engaging in political and policy discourses. The PMO maintains it and all information regarding

important bills, legislations, PM statements, press releases, official visits, and photographs are

regularly uploaded. PMO India has a twitter handle too http://twitter.com/#!/pmoindia

BJP‘s online presence consists of an official website (www.bjp.org) and a sister website

(www.yuva4india.tv) which is their internet TV portal. It is well represented on Facebook (917k

likes), Twitter (34k followers) and YouTube.

The presence of high profile politicians such as Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Vijay Goel,

Rajnath Singh on Twitter futher amplifies BJP‘s reach on social media.

The Facebook page of BJP has a good mix of content ranging from photos, videos, links to news

articles and posts that are conversational and engaging in nature and relate to current issues. The

posts also contain links to their other online properties and accounts. The Twitter account though

just reflects the content on the Facebook page along with retweets from the sister account Yuva

TV. The frequency of tweets is about 2 tweets per day.

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This is in stark contrast to the Indian National Congress (FB page Link

https://www.facebook.com/Indiannationalcongrss ) which is almost non-existent on social media

apart from the politicians who have active accounts on Twitter. These include S.M Krishna,

Milind Deora, Ajay Maken, Digvijaya Singh etc. What is noticeable is that fact that regardless of

their non-presence on social media officially, Congress was still being talked about in contexts of

governance, policies and a range of other current issues but despite them being the ruling party,

their share of voice was lesser than the BJP.

Aam Aadmi Party or AAP is a newly formed political party in India founded in 2013.their

dramatic rise in popularity has taken everyone for a surprise including the two major rival

parties- Congress and BJP. AAP is very active in social media channels. Link

https://www.facebook.com/AamAadmiParty .

Social media and political parties in India

India‘s 16th

National general Elections to be held in nine phases over April and May, 2014 is

probably one of the most awaited elections in the recent times with the changing Politics

of India. According to some observers saying social media will play a vital play role in deciding

which party wins the most seats. According to a report published in April 2013 by the Internet

and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Mumbai-based Iris Knowledge Foundation,

Facebook users will be ‗‘wield a tremendous influence‘‘ over the results of the polls in 160 of

India‘s 543 constituencies.

The reason for the success of social Media is because, most of the youth of India, are studying in

colleges, workings in ad agencies, research houses, IT companies, BPO‘s and in other spheres of

the service or manufacturing sector do not get a chance to watch television or have rather

distanced themselves from the television sets but have booked everyday some time on the virtual

world through their laptops, workstations and smartphones.

It is a long leap from the times when politicians relied mainly on posters, Paperboards, cutouts,

fliers, graffiti and house-to-house canvassing to win over voters. All of these are still in vogue

But increasingly in urban India, political parties are becoming tech savvy, realizing social media

is the only way to reach out to the articulate young. As per the International Labour organization,

India has the largest youth population in the world with 66% or nearly 808 million of its

population is below the age of 35 years old.

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During the last general election in 2009, social media usage in India was little. Today, however,

Facebook has 93 million users and Twitter has an estimated 33 million accounts in the country.

According to the LAMAI report 2013, every political party has set an election budget around 2-

5% for spending on social media. India‘s Leading national parties Congress and BJP has

estimated their budget respectively Rs.500 crore and Rs.400 crore.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the biggest presence in social media. The BJP started using

the social medium even before the 2009 general election - which it lost. But in recent years, it

has dug deeper. BJP and especially its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had a head

start and their popularity as well as reach through social media is far more than that of any other

parties. Narendra Modi has the highest followership in twitter and Facebook (See Chart no.2 )

Aam Aadmi Party or AAP is a newly formed political party in India founded in 2013. Their

popularity has taken everyone for a surprise including the two major rival parties – Congress and

BJP .AAP is very active on social media channels.

As BJP & AAP fight it out against each other on Social Media, the Congress which is India's

grand old party realized the importance of the social medium much later. Narendra Modi and

Arvind Kejriwal are more in the news headlines than Rahul Gandhi and this is clearly not

helping India‘s oldest party. Among the major parties,

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Social Media Strategy to win elections 2014 of Political Party mainly BJP,

Congress and AAP

Party

Strategy BJP

CONGRESS AAP

Facebook

Pages

Ek hi Viklap Modi

-vote for change

-I Support Narendra

Modi

-Narendra Modi for PM

-Mission 272+

Congress party

- Indian youth congress

-Indian National congress

-Congress India

-Youth for Congress

-NSUI

- AAM Aadmi Party

-AAP for Hope

-India against corruption

-Arvind Kejriwal for Hope

-IITian AAP

Twitter #abkibaarmodisarkar

#mission272+

#Imodi

#BJP2014

#Bharatiyajantaparty

#votefornamo

-#voteforRG

#VoteforRahulGandhi

#voteforcongress

#indiancongressparty

#congress2014

#congressagainstcorruption

#Vote for AAP

#Arvindkejriwal4change

#AAPpopularity

#Thunderclap

#Aapforhope

#Indiaagainstcorruption

Blogging bjporg.blogspot.com www.aiccblogspot.com www.aamaadmiparty.org/blog

Google

3D

Yes No No

Google

Hangout

Yes Yes Yes

Door to

Door

Yes Yes Yes

YouTube www.youtube.com user

BJP4India

www.youtube.com user congre

sspartyindia

www.youtube.com/AAP

ebsites www.bjp,org

www.bjpdelhi,org

www.narendramodi,in

www.inc.in

allindiacongress.com

www.aamaadmiparty.org

arvindkejriwal.co.in

Others Pamphlets , fliers,

Billboards ,paper ads, TV

ads, Chai pe Charcha,

Road show, Missed Call

Pamphlets, fliers, paper ads,

TV ads, Billboards or

Hoardings ad, Road show

Pamphlets, Fliers, Road Show,

Give a missed call and join

AAP,

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Popular Hash-tags by the Political Parties on Twitter

Name Positive Negative

BJP #Namo

#imodi

#CyberHindus

#Mission272+

#abkibaarmodisarkar

#Feku

#FekuExpress

#CongBJPquitIndia

#Secularism

#BJP4riots

CONGRESS #voteforRG

#VoteforRahulGandhi

#voteforcongress

#congressforyouth

#Pappu

#CongBJPquitIndia

#Amulpappu

#indiaagainstcongress

AAP #VoteforAAP

#AAPSwipingDelhi

#AAPpopularity

#Thunderclap

#voteforAamAadmiparty

#Newhopeforcountry

#BhagoraAAP

#QuitAAP

#AapDrama

#MadCM

#Aap420

#Nautankibaaz

Indian politicians from the three national parties, namely the Congress, BJP and AAP have

followed the footsteps of Obama, who extensively used social media as a strategy to win in his

2012 elections in America. With social media providing boundless and unregulated scope to

make or break things, some of these channels are going overboard to promote Positive and

misleading hashtags on platforms like Twitter, in an evident bid to exaggerate a subject they are

reporting or debating on the purpose of a hashtag should be to help people know a story

unfolding rather than to assert a point of view.

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Facts of political parties in social media to woo voters

Social Media

Followers

BJP Party Congress Party Aam Aadmi

Party

Facebook likes 3,400,000 1,800,000 2,500,000

Twitter followers 417,000 1,063,00 5,1700,000

YouTube

subscribers

4450 0 5117 40845

Google+ 7,398+ 3,125+ 1,41,366+

Ahead of the general elections, political party Leaders to woo voters on social

media

Many political parties have beefed up their online presence as a result. The BJP's prime

ministerial candidate, Mr. Narendra Modi, was among the first Indian politicians to set up his

personal website, and has created accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google+ and most

of the other social media channels.

The Congress party's undeclared candidate for PM, Mr. Rahul Gandhi is not too much

active on social media.

Anti-corruption campaigner-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal is active on Facebook,

Twitter and Google+ and YouTube.

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Facts of Political Leaders followers on Social Media

Social Media

Followers

Narendra Modi Rahul Gandhi Arvind Kejriwal

Facebook Likes 12,399,400 3,51000 5,005,786

Twitter Followers 3,690,000 N/A 1,60,000

YouTube

Subscribers

1,32,803 2,221 N/A

Google+ 12,68,320+ 2,118+ 579+

Last Year month of September 2013, Gujarat CM Mr. Narendra Modi has appointed for as Prime

ministerial post from BJP party .Modi has got more followers in every top most social media

sites. Modi is closing in on million followers on Facebook, Twitters, YouTube, and Google+

while Rahul Gandhi is nowhere but Arvind Kejriwal has been giving strong fight with

Narendra Modi on social media. Rahul Gandhi has no account on Twitter while Arvind

Kejriwal has no personal YouTube channel.

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CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

25

METHODLOGY

The Social status of an individual is revealed on social networks. Sociologist Erving Goffman (

2002) refers to the ―Interaction Order‖ which he claims is the ―part of the social life where face-

to-face and spoken interactions occur‖. He believes that the way people represent themselves

provides other users information about them they want others to believe. The research method

used to achieve the objectives is represented by the quantitative analysis of the documents and

the instrument used is the analysis of the traffic and of the degree of participation in the social

networks. It is used to determine, discover, interpret, and formulate facts. The main sources of

information that used in this Research were issued from researcher‘s articles, political pundit‘s

views, Internet articles and online blogs on social media campaigning of political party mainly;

AAP, BJP and Congress. The study entitled ‗‟Social Media and its Importance in Political

Campaign‟‟. The purpose is to read up-to-dated information with a new and trendy topic in

politics.

Locale of the Study

Sample for the study

Research Design

Variables considered in the study

Measurement of variable

Hypothesis for Statistical analysis

Locale of the Study

For the study purpose nearby areas of Manipal University Bangalore Campus and KNS-IT

Engineering College locations were selected because these areas are the prestigious Educational

hub in Bangalore situated in the outskirts of the city. The people and College boards students from

different parts of India and the world. They are not only from different places but also from

different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds that considered appropriate place to conduct

the study.

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Samples for the Study

If each and every people had to be contacted for collection data, it would require much time,

money and manpower. Besides every one may not be available personally for contact and because

of population size, an in-depth and intensive study would not be physically possible. Sampling

enquiry gives significantly correct results with much less time, money and material. Therefore

random sampling technique was followed in selecting the respondents. A set of 20 questions were

created to probe the amount of influence different online media had on an individual‘s voting

decision for 2014 general elections. The respondents belonged to the age group of 18 years to 35

years and the total number of the sample was 100.

Research Design

In the present investigation the ex-post-facto research design was used. This design was

considered appropriate because of the phenomenon had already occurred.

Variables considered for the study

Based on the review of literature and discussions with people mainly in youth‘s and objectives set

for the study the variables selected is categorized into two groups namely; dependent and

independent variables. A list of such selected variables is as follows:

Dependent variable

1. Important of social networking sites

2. Social media is the best place for political party to attract first time voters and

win elections

Independent Variables

1. Age (in years)

2. Gender

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Measurement of variables

Dependent Variables

1. Important of social networking sites:

Social networking has become one of the most important parts of our daily life as it enables us to

communicate with a lot of people. Social networking sites are created to assist in online

networking. These sites are generally communities created to support a common theme. Today‘s

every political party is actively involved in social networking sites to seek out for upcoming new

voters with little to no cost, and this is a great way to generate mass support. It is also an important

way for political party to make closer relationships with their supporters.

2. Social media is the best place for political party to attract first time voters

and win elections:

Even as social media facilitate direct communication between a sender and receiver, it has been

used less for the purpose and more for showing maximum number of followers: fake or genuine.

And it is true that social media plays important role in political campaigns, Politicians are taking

part in Google+ Hangouts, televised interviews organized by Facebook and using the Facebook-

owned smart phone messaging app WhatsApp to connect and etc. with millions of tech-savvy

urban voters.

Independent Variables

1. Age (in years)

The age of the respondents was recorded as mentioned by them at the time of investigation in

number of completed years. The respondents are belonging to the age group of 18-35 years

2. Gender

It refers to the gender of the respondents. They were categorized as male and

female with their Educational Qualification

28

Credibility of measures

Credibility means the confidence reposed by the study subjects in ‗‘social media and its

importance in political campaign‘‘ To assess the credibility factors of each element of study, the

ratings of the respondents were obtained on a different point scale as according to the question.

Duration of Study

The study was undertaken during the months of February to mid May 2014 at Manipal

University Bangalore campus. The time taken for data collection was average, because the

number of respondents was 100.

Data collection

The data were collected from the respondents with the help of a structured pre tested

questionnaire.

Questionnaire:

The questionnaire had three sections i.e. A, B and C

Section A had questions regarding the personal characteristics of the respondents. Section B was

related to the involvement in social networking sites and aware of political campaigning and

Section C was related to Political party and his leaders mainly; BJP, AAP and Congress who is

more active in social media? And are you following any Party or Leaders in social media? The

questionnaire mainly contained multiple choices/ closed ended questions with the provision for a

few open ended questions. The questionnaire was distributed personally to the respondents at

random by the investigator with a good amount of persuasion and explanations about the

contents of the questionnaire. The fields in questionnaire were collected personally from the

respondents at the same time at the same day. The doubts of the respondents while filling the

questionnaire were clarified by the investigator on the spot.

29

Hypothesis Statistical Analysis

Simple percentages were worked to represent the proportion of the respondents to the total

sample considered in the study. This was calculated as frequency of a particular group

multiplied by 100 and divided by the total number of respondents.

30

CHAPTER-5

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

31

Overview of the Results

A Survey in the form of an offline questionnaire was circulated and 100 responses were obtained

and finally I am going to analyses them in this chapter to get answer of my research question.

The survey period lasted about 1 week. There was almost an even split among genders as 68 %

respondents were men and 32 % women. Majority of the respondents were graduate

Intern/students and post graduate students (70 %) while the rest 20 % were full time employees

with organizations and 10 % were entrepreneurs. The age of the respondents is between 18 and

35 years old and all of them are living in Bangalore urban areas only. My interview questions

focus on „‟Social Media and its Importance in Political Campaign‟‟ respondents

(participants) in general the responses and their opinion about the political campaigning aspects.

The respondents gave us very different answers, so the choice of the content analysis showed up

as the most optimal way to get data analyzed.

Table reveals that out of the 100 respondents selected for the study 68 percent of the respondents

were male and 32 percent of the respondents were female. The respondents were divided into

three different age categories. Amongst the male respondents 64 percent fall in the age group of

18-25, 32 percent are in 25-30 and 4 percent are in the age group of 30-35. This table proves that

male respondents appear more active in social networking than the female respondents.

Gender Respondent Percentage

Male 68 68%

Female 32 32%

Age Group Male Female

18-25 64% 74%

25-30 32% 20%

30-35 4% 6%

32

Reveal 1.

The respondents were given multiple choices to choose the social networking sites in which they

were the members. Out of 100 participants, 68 percent of male respondents 78 percent are active

members in Facebook and rest 22 percent are members of other social networking sites including

YouTube, Blog and Twitter. The results provide a clear indication that Facebook is more popular

among the respondents because more number of respondents has active in Facebook.

Reveal 2.

Out of 32 percent female respondents 86 percent are active members in Facebook and 14 percent

are members of other social networking sites including Twitter, YouTube and Blog. In this table

the respondents were given multiple choices to choose the social networking sites in which they

were the member. so the results provide a clear indication that Facebook is more popular among

other social networking sites.

Reveal 3.

What is the time spending every day on social media? Time 0-2 h 2-5 h 5-8 h 8+ hours

Male 45% 33% 28% 4%

Female 65% 21% 11% 3%

Reveal 4.

What do you primary use on social media for political campaign? Social media Facebook Twitter Blog Others

Male 74% 13% 5% 8%

Female 81% 7% 3% 9%

Reveal 5.

Are you aware of political campaign on social media? Aware Yes No

Male 77.12% 22.88%

Female 44.22% 55.78%

33

Part-C

Reveal 6.

What do you primarily use social media, including social media for? Sl. No Purpose Rank

1. Entertainment 1

2. Networking 4

3. News and analysis 2

4. Exchange of views 3

5. Follow Political developments 5

6. Interact with political leaders 6

Reveal 7.

What social media do you use to keep track of political developments in

India? Sl. No Factor Rank

1. Facebook 1

2. Blog 3

3. Twitter 4

4. Online news content 2

5. Emails 5

6. Other 6

Reveal 8.

Are you following social campaigns of political parties? Sl. No Response %

1. Yes, regularly 24.9

2. Sometimes 69.6

3. Not at all 5.5

Reveal 9.

What you like „political parties‟ social media strategy to focus on? Sl. No. Response %

1. National issues 35.6

2. Local Issues 41.3

3. Candidates quality 23.1

Reveal 10.

Which party, according to you, is most visible socially? Sl. No. Response %

1. BJP 64.2

2. Congress 4.2

3. AAP 28.9

4. Others 2.7

34

Reveal 11.

Which party do you find more socially interactive? (Multiple Response

possible) Sl. No. Response %

1. BJP 89.6

2. Congress 21.6

3. AAP 74.2

4. Others 9.7

Reveal 12.

Which social media platform do you find the easiest for political

communication? Sl. No. Response %

1. Facebook 66.5

2. Twitter 19.4

3. Blog 4.6

4. SMS 3.5

5. Email 4.2

6. Recorded phone calls 1.5

Reveal 13.

Have you ever posted a question or a comment to a political leader on Facebook or twitter

or any other social media platform?

Sl. No. Response %

1. Yes 21.8

2. No 77.2

Reveal 14.

If yes, did you get a response?

Sl. No. Response %

1. Yes 2

2. No 98

Reveal 15.

Are you following political leaders on social media?

Sl. No. Response %

1. Yes 44.2

2. No 55.8

Reveal 16.

Which political leader are you following on social media?

Sl. No. Political leader %

1. Narendra modi 78.88

2. Arvind Kejriwal 13.05

3. Rahul Gandhi 5.02

35

Analysis

Out of 100 respondents 98 % had account on social media and rest 2% has any type of account in

social media. It seems like that almost a person has an account in social media. According to my

survey - the Indian parliamentary elections just weeks away and the Indian public, by a margin

of more than three-to-one, would prefer the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to lead the

next Indian government rather than the Indian National Congress (INC), which heads the current

left of center governing coalition By a margin of better than two-to-one, the public says the BJP

would do a better job on each of a half dozen challenges facing the nation – from combating

corruption to fighting terrorism. And the BJP candidate for Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the

chief minister of the state of Gujarat, is more popular than putative Congress party prime

ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi, grandson and son of former Indian prime ministers and

newly social Activist turn politician Mr. Arvind Kejriwal.

I have done this survey via Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 100 people randomly

selected adults at their place of residence and near college .The margin of error is 3.8%. The

2014 Indian election will select 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of then National

parliament. The new Lok Sabha will elect the prime minister, No single party has won a

parliamentary majority since 1989 and so recent governments have involved coalitions of smaller

regional parties led by either the BJP or Congress. I don‘t directly ask about vote choice or the

likelihood that a respondent will vote and it cannot gauge the level of support for either the BJP

or Congress or AAP or others in particular constituencies. But it reveals a widespread desire

among people for a change in leadership. Just 34% people are strongly agreed who follows

political campaign in social media, 26% with agree, 21% neither agree nor disagree, 11%

Disagree and 8% strongly Disagree. It‘s indicated that people are going very close with politics.

33% people are strongly agreed with political campaign on social media have great impact than

any of the others media. 19% with agree, 32.33% neither agree or disagree, 6.77% Disagree and

8.9% strongly disagree with their opinion, so here its shows that people doesn‘t have think about

social media has been playing great impact game for political campaign.

47% people are strongly agreed that I rarely follow a political campaign on social media, 33%

agreed, 11% neither disagree or nor agree, 7% disagreed and 2% people are strongly disagreed

with the decisions. So the overall data shows that people are following political leader on social

36

media but not very closely. They mostly follow rarely. Between male group 18-25 age people are

more active to follow political leader but in the same age Female are not more an active to follow

any particular leader.

11% people are strongly agreed that they follow political campaign on social media due to peer

pressure, 9% are agreed, 55.9% people are never agreed or disagreed, 9.1% people are disagreed

and 15% people are strongly disagreed with the statement. In this opinion mostly college going

students has given some unique information with their statement. 18-25 year old both female and

male are following political campaign for Modiji and Arvind Kejriwal but there is no place for

Rahul Gandhi. More than six-in-ten Indians (63%) prefer the BJP to lead the next Indian

national government. Just two-in-ten (19%) pick the Indian National Congress. And other parties

have the support of 12% of the public. BJP backing is consistent across age groups.

Statistical Significance Any major factors that could cause sampling errors have been controlled through appropriate

selection process. The respondents were randomly chosen. This is an adaptation of queuing

theory where randomization is built into the system. Above all, total sample size achieved was

1010 and this number is sufficiently high to ensure that over all sampling error is low. In view of

above, the confidence level is 95% with ± 3.08% error of margin.

37

CHAPTER-6

SUGGESTIONS

38

Suggestions

Social media is also a leveller – it can be the cheapest marketing tool around. Some hope it could

help India move away from the current situation, where money means success in political

campaigning. Since the study targeted only the Lok sabha campaign, the target population of this

study was urban youth only. This cannot be used to draw inferences on the entire voter

population in Bangalore (India).

The message of the campaign contains the ideas that the candidate wants to share with the voters.

It is to get those who agree with their ideas to support them when running for a political position.

The message often consists of several talking points about policy issues. The points summarize

the main ideas of the campaign and are repeated frequently in order to create a lasting impression

with the voters. In many elections, the opposition party will try to get the candidate "off

message" by bringing up policy or personal questions that are not related to the talking points.

Most campaigns prefer to keep the message broad in order to attract the most potential voters. A

message that is too narrow can separate voters or slow the candidate down with explaining

details. For example, in the 2008 American presidential election John McCain originally used a

message that focused on his patriotism and political experience: "Country First"; later the

message was changed to shift attention to his role as "The Original Maverick" within the

political establishment. Barack Obama ran on a consistent, simple message of "change"

throughout his campaign.

39

CHAPTER-7

SCOPE

40

Scope

Social Media are playing an important new role in Indian democracy. We are in the era of new

media with many social networking sites inexistence having millions of members from all over

the World. People are now spending a good amount of their time on social networking sites in

their "online social life". The global connectivity has increased to a great degree today. Just a

decade ago there were only a handful number of social networking sites whereas that number has

grown now considerably. The best way to define social networking sites is to say that they give

an opportunity to interact with people through texts, pictures and videos. All this by just a click

on your electronic device be it personal computers, laptops, tablets or mobiles. Some of the best

known Social Networking websites are Facebook, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, Hi5, Flickr,

Twitter, Academia.edu, MySpace, Vkontakte, Tumbler and Orkut etc.

The scope of social media in political campaign is not only important but it is the opportunity to

be in touch with large numbers of voters quickly, constantly and at a low cost. With the speed of

communications and the numbers of people involved, the impact has to be significant because

politically active people are subscribing to the candidates on social media sites like Facebook,

Twitter, and Blog and although less politically savvy people aren‘t doing that, they‘re still seeing

those messages when their politically active friends comment and ―like‖ them.

-

41

CHAPTER-8

CONCLUSION

42

Conclusion

From the above research, it can be concluded that social media has played and will continue to

play a significant role in political campaigns The research a study on ―Social Media and its

importance in Political Campaign‘‘ was intended to find out the popularity about social media

in political campaigning for woos newly voters. In my project work i tried to find out the

political parties mainly AAP, BJP and Congress, How these parties are active in social media

and how they are campaigning on the social network sites for attract more voters.

The study found that an individual‘s social media activities had no significant correlation with

their likelihood to vote. Coupled with the fact that Television, Newspapers and Magazines were

chosen as the media that most impacted the decision to vote i can conclude that the traditional

forms of media still play an undeniably important role in shaping the political opinion of the

public. Despite being outranked by traditional forms of media, it is clear that content on social

media does impact voting decisions in some way or the other. It was also observed that any kind

of advertising (online of offline) has no influence on an individual‘s political opinion. Online

chatter by the general public on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Forums has an influence

on an individual‘s political opinion more than content shared by official accounts of political

parties and politicians.

The use of social media tools – text messaging, e-mail, photo-sharing, social network, and the

like – does not have a single preordained outcome. Therefore attempts to outline their effects on

political action are too often reduced to dueling anecdotes‖ (Shirky). Factors that seem to impact

its successful use include the size, ethnic diversity, and education levels of the population. It

seems that social media has continued to be increasingly used in political campaigns since the

flagship social media used in the 2008 American president‘s election campaign and now there

have been many changes in social media and the research suggests that many politicians have

adapted to those changes by creating new social media strategies.

As far as the future use of social media, it can be concluded that though traditional means of

communication like e-mail and fundraisers will continue to be utilized in political campaigns,

social media will play an ever increasing role in campaigns. Through platforms like Facebook,

Twitter, and YouTube, political candidates will continue to interact with supporters and receive

Support in the form of donations and volunteers. There are many opinions from social media

Experts about the way social media should be used in the future. Some say it should be used to

43

target specific groups for advertising, while others believe it should be used to deeply connect

with contributors. No matter how politicians use social media in their campaigns, it will continue

to be an important part of the campaign process because social media is constantly changing, this

research can provide a basic framework social media‗s use in political campaigns.

44

CHAPTER-9

ANNEXURE

45

Annexure

Part- A

P. Gender

A. Male ( ) B. Female ( )

Q. Age Groups

A. 18-25 ( ) B. 25-30 ( ) C. 30- 35 ( )

R. Education Level

A. High School ( ) B. Under Graduate ( ) C. Graduate ( ) D. Post Graduate ( )

S. Occupation

A. Student /Intern ( ) B. Working ( ) C. Entrepreneur ( ) D. None of above ( )

T. Locality:

A. Urban ( ) B. Rural ( ) C. Semi Urban ( )

Part B

1. Do you have an account in any of these social media?

A. Facebook ( ) B. Twitter ( ) C. Blog ( ) D. others ( )

2. Which of the social media, you are more active in?

A. Facebook ( ) B. Twitter ( ) C. Blog ( ) D. others ( )

3. What is the time spending every day on social media?

A. 0-2 hrs.( ) B. 2-5 hrs. ( ) C. 5-8 hrs.( ) D. 8+ hrs. ( )

4. What do you primary use on social media for political campaign?

A. Facebook ( ) B. Twitter ( ) C. Blog ( ) D. others ( )

46

5. Are you aware of political campaign on social media?

A. Yes ( ) B. No ( )

Part – C

6. What do you primarily use social media, including social media, for?

(Rankings)

A. Entertainment ( ) B. News and Analysis ( ) C. Exchange of views ( ) D. Follow political

developments ( ) E. Interact with political leaders ( )

7. What social media do you use to keep track of political developments in

India?

A. Facebook ( ) B. Blog ( ) C. Twitter ( ) D. Online News Content ( ) E. Emails F.

Others ( )

8. Are you following social campaigns of political parties?

A. Yes, regularly ( ) B. Sometimes ( ) C, Not at all ( )

9. What would you like political parties‟ social media strategy to focus on?

A. National Issues ( ) B. Local Issues ( ) C. Candidates quality ( )

10. Which party, according to you, is most visible socially?

A. BJP ( ) B. Congress ( ) C. AAP ( ) D. Others ( )

11. Which social media platform do you find the easiest for political

communication?

A. Facebook ( ) B. Twitter ( ) C. Blogs ( ) D. SMS ( ) E. Email ( ) F. Recorded

phone calls ( )

47

12. Have you ever posted a question or a comment to a political leader on

Facebook or twitter or any other social media platforms?

A. Yes ( ) B. No ( )

13. If yes, did you get a response?

A. Yes ( ) B. No ( )

14. Are you following political leaders on social media?

A. Yes ( ) B. No ( )

15. Which Political leader are you following on social media?

A. Narendra Modi( ) B. Rahul Gandhi ( ) C. Arvind Kejriwal D. Others ( )

48

CHAPTER-10

REFERENCES

49

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2014

http://carnegieendowment.org/specialprojects/IndiaDecides2014/

http://www.thehinducentre.com/verdict/commentary/article5843621.ece

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26762391

http://www.bgr.in/news/india-election-2014-social-media-abuzz-with-awareness-campaigns/

http://www.slideshare.net/Webfluenzintelsys/campaign-analysis-of-social-media-strategy-bjp-vs-

aap-vs-congress

http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/03/social-media-strategy-review-aam-aadmi-party/

http://www.academia.edu/5317555/THE_ROLE_OF_SOCIAL_MEDIA_IN_THE_2013_PRESI

DENTIAL_ELECTION_CAMPAIGNS_IN_KENYA

http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/03/social-media-strategy-review-bharatiya-janta-party/

http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-political-campaigns/

http://phys.org/news/2013-08-social-media-double-edged-sword-politicians.html

http://nottspolitics.org/2013/09/20/forget-social-media-and-the-voting-age-its-political-parties-

that-matter-most-for-engaging-young-people/

http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/politics-online/#ListContinue

http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/india/

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media

www.researchgate.net/...Social_Media...Political...Social_Media.../79e41.

http://simplify360.com/blog/mind-blowing-social-media-strategies-for-political-campaigns/