Social media is the bandwagon among different age groups. Well, the most obsessed with social media is none other than the youth or the teens. This is the fastest way to communicate or stay connected to this demography. After realizing, these political parties also have started to steer their agenda on social media to reach out to the large mass of youth.
Indian politics also have joined the cause to set the political vibe in young minds, and harps on social media use in political campaigns. Some prominent people who have been using social media on and off today include Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora from Indian National Congress, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from BJP. Since these people falls under the same age group, so it has become easy for them to connect with the youth and express their views online along with other platforms available.
In the book “Teens and Social Media: The Use of Social Media Gains a Greater Foothold in Teen Life as they Embrace the Conversational Nature of Interactive Online Media” by Lenhart, Madden, Macgill, Smith says clearly about the impact of social media on politics and especially on the teens. The book states that teens use social media platforms over voice communication, as it is simple. Social media is the tool to express in a written format with the help of pages, status or blogs. Social media is also a great hub for the teens to express their vision through art, photo and video sharing sites. This opportunity is able to produce and share their inner thoughts.
Well, the impact of social media on politics in a country like India is huge. It is the medium where daily a number of teens and youth stay aware of their political surrounding and get a fair chance to react to them. Therefore, the political parties have started to recognize the importance and use of social media among teens and make them participate. This year the election and overturn of the age old Congress and the winning over BJP is also credited to social media awakening among the youth.
Some prominent people who are using social media to attract youth includes Mr. L. K. Advani, who has his blog and Rahul Gandhi, who uses Facebook to talk to people and prominent people as well ordinary man. Shashi Tharoor, who is famous for his tweets to Narendra Modi and from lesser-known politicians like captain Gopinath to Meera Sanyal, all uses social media.
Thus, we observe social media is contributing to the growth of rapid interaction. People do not need to take prior appointment or wait in queue to talk to their ministers, just with a click of button the communication initiates. Therefore, it is hard to deny the existence of social media in politics.