New Media’s role in 2009 Indian Elections
New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century.
This is the time for Online Yatra for Indian Political Leaders and Parties on the lines of Barack Obama’s www.barackobama.com.
Old and new, all are on the new bandwagon, LK Advani, VK Malhotra, MK Stalin , Murli Deora, Narendra Modi, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Priya Dutt have started websites (with some of them even blogging ), youngsters like Milind Deora and Sachin Pilot have profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and MySpace rallying supporters.
On Facebook alone there are 100’s of Indian Political Groups with BJP and Congress both trying to get as many voters to their lists. Both the political parties also have a similar group JoinBJP and JoinCongress which has more then 100 friends on their lists. On Congress’s friends list the famous names are Congress politician Sanjay Nirupam, UK Political figure Atma Singh. Film and TV personalities like John Abraham, Joy Augustine, Prete R Bhutani, Dolly Bindra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Karan Kapur, Manmeet Singh, Kiran Rathore and many more.
Both the communities have their own social networking sites www.JoinCongress.com and www.JoinBJP.com getting better hits than the official websites.
People crave for such initiatives; it gives them an opportunity to connect with their leaders. Online media reflects actual feelings rather than the flared-up drama during rallies. But they will succeed only if they have two-way communication. Many regulars on political websites and blogs raise doubts on the sustainability of the initiative because of low levels of engagement from politicians. It was reported in a national daily that during Karnataka Elections Facebook played a crucial role, wherein members of the community have planned the campaign strategy and went to villages to understand rural problems.
Will the 2009 general elections go the Obama way? While leaders have begun to take the lead, let’s wait and watch.
This is the time for Online Yatra for Indian Political Leaders and Parties on the lines of Barack Obama’s www.barackobama.com.
Old and new, all are on the new bandwagon, LK Advani, VK Malhotra, MK Stalin , Murli Deora, Narendra Modi, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Priya Dutt have started websites (with some of them even blogging ), youngsters like Milind Deora and Sachin Pilot have profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and MySpace rallying supporters.
On Facebook alone there are 100’s of Indian Political Groups with BJP and Congress both trying to get as many voters to their lists. Both the political parties also have a similar group JoinBJP and JoinCongress which has more then 100 friends on their lists. On Congress’s friends list the famous names are Congress politician Sanjay Nirupam, UK Political figure Atma Singh. Film and TV personalities like John Abraham, Joy Augustine, Prete R Bhutani, Dolly Bindra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Karan Kapur, Manmeet Singh, Kiran Rathore and many more.
Both the communities have their own social networking sites www.JoinCongress.com and www.JoinBJP.com getting better hits than the official websites.
People crave for such initiatives; it gives them an opportunity to connect with their leaders. Online media reflects actual feelings rather than the flared-up drama during rallies. But they will succeed only if they have two-way communication. Many regulars on political websites and blogs raise doubts on the sustainability of the initiative because of low levels of engagement from politicians. It was reported in a national daily that during Karnataka Elections Facebook played a crucial role, wherein members of the community have planned the campaign strategy and went to villages to understand rural problems.
Will the 2009 general elections go the Obama way? While leaders have begun to take the lead, let’s wait and watch.
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