Social Media and Elections

Nick Carr wrote an article about how every new communication medium forces political candidates to adapt and often changes the very nature of campaigning. In the 20th century, it first happened with the advent of radio:
“Politicians, used to bellowing at fairgrounds and train depots, found themselves talking to families in their homes.”
Next came TV:
“TV placed a stress on sound bites, good teeth and an easy manner. Image became everything, as the line between politician and celebrity blurred.”

And now, he laments, comes social media. With that, “political discourse is shrinking to fit our smartphone screens” via the apps of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Further, the very nature of the political candidate is changing, he says:
“If traditional print and broadcast media required candidates to be nouns—stable, coherent figures—social media pushes them to be verbs, engines of activity. Authority and respect don’t accumulate on social media; they have to be earned anew at each moment. You’re only as relevant as your last tweet.”

Carr then says that older candidates struggle to handle such transitions. But then he contradicts himself by referring to Donald Trump, a candidate “adept at issuing inflammatory bulletins at opportune moments” and almost “optimized for the Google News algorithm”.

And if Trump is the one who grabs the attention on social media, what choice does “regular” news media have but to play along? Even if it invites comments from people like Jeff Jarvis who say, “American news media: You are Donald Trump’s bitch”. The news media is just giving the people what they want as indicated by their Like’s and Follow’s and retweet’s on social media. It’s a cycle.

India’s own Narendra Modi proved that age is no bar to adapting to new forms of media: while “young” Rahul Gandhi never learnt to use social media, Modi used it spectacularly well in the 2014 elections. Thus Modi’s campaign launched sites like India272.com and namonumber.com and hugely popular Facebook pages like “I support Narendra Modi”. His Twitter account has more followers than every Indian except Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Modi also internalized the fact that “digital media is a two way communication” and so he replies to comments posted by users. Even after getting elected. For a man with a dictatorial image:
“(Despite) being targeted heavily by opponents he did not block a single person for opposing him on social media.”
And the man sure is flexible. Like on Facebook:
“Generally he speaks Hindi but however to hook up youth (he) use(s) English.”
On YouTube, he has his own channel and it is constantly uploaded with videos of all his events.

As they say, age is just a number. And one is never too old to learn.

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