Tweets, trends and hashtags define the ongoing polls, as millions of people connect on Twitter, television channels associate with it and political leaders use it to reach out to their constituents, unlike earlier elections, says Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director of Twitter
With India going to polls and a staggering 815 million people eligible to vote, it is no surprise that this is being touted as the world’s largest ever elections. The 2014 General Elections in India have already witnessed many firsts.
According to the 2011 Census, the first-time voter number is a staggering 149.36 million. That is more than the population of many European countries put together.
Technology has changed the dynamics of how political parties and leaders are reaching out to their constituencies during this election. Television and mobile phones have turned the age of deference on its head. For the first time, the Indian electorate has found ways to not just express its opinions but to engage in real time meaningful conversations around issues, leaders and parties during this election unlike the others that have preceded it. Most of these conversations are happening on Twitter.
Twitter is for everyone, everywhere. We are a mobile-first platform. Since Twitter was invented on SMS, it is most easily accessible by people on their mobile phone. With a 500 million+ penetration of mobile phones in India, Twitter is emerging as a powerful platform where public, real-time conversations happen as events unfold in the real world, especially some of iconic ones such as the elections or the IPL.
For this year’s Lok Sabha election, millions of people, politicians and parties are using Twitter like never before. Political leaders are using the platform to communicate with their constituents, break news, shape discourse and influence opinion. Twitter has enabled people to discover leaders, parties and issues that are most meaningful to them, connect with them and express their opinion, which was not the case in the earlier elections. This is truly a Twitter election.
From our user research, we also know that politics has one of the highest engagement scores on our platform. In the past one year, there has been a 600% increase in the volume of conversations on the 2014 elections on Twitter. Based on our research, mentions of political parties and candidates alone have shot up by more than 10 times since the start of the year. We have recently launched the #Election2014 Discover page on Twitter, which curates all key Twitter accounts of political leaders and parties along with their Twitter followers and timelines.
A wide range of news organizations have pioneered groundbreaking uses of the Twitter platform, growing and engaging their live, mobile audiences in the process, during the elections. Twitter is forging partnerships to involve the general public and youth in particular in the ongoing General Elections. The #RockTheVote campaign by MTV aims to encourage the youth to participate and vote even without Internet access or smartphones. This is based on the “follow the hashtag” technology to get Tweets sent to feature phones as SMS and increase conversations among youth on Twitter. Users can dial 011-30494949 to follow the discussions on #RockTheVote on Twitter. Key Tweets and interactions from @MTVIndia on #RockTheVote will be delivered to phones via SMS (enabled by ZipDial technology partner).
Timesofindia.com has introduced the ‘Tweet to remember’ campaign. This joint social initiative encourages users to exercise their core right to vote by simply reminding them to vote on the day their city goes to polls. Users have to tweet ‘@timesofindia (city name)’ and they will receive a calendar entry on their mobile phone which will be a reminder to vote.
Times Now has a live sentiment analysis of Twitter feeds – and participation of viewers in Times Now debates by inviting them to tweet video questions using Twitter’s Vine app. This will be done by using the hashtag #IHaveAQuestion. This gives viewers an unprecedented opportunity to be a part of the political debate and express their opinion. The entire election coverage will use the hashtag #WhoWillFormGovt. Times Now is also trying to make information more accessible through a novel initiative called ‘Tweet to SMS’. Through this, people will be able to follow the Times Now Twitter handle and more importantly, get election related updates via SMS, making it much easier to keep track of election news.
Headlines Today’s #YourVote2014 is a live Twitter debate. Viewers can participate in the debate via Twitter, share their views and ask questions to the show’s guests.
Twitter is where public, real-time conversations happen as events unfold in the real world. Be it key political or media influencers or the engaged, aware Internet user, Twitter has been adopted by millions of Indians for all things now and immediate as far as politics and any commentary related to politics and the upcoming elections is concerned.
As election fever mounts across the country and Twitter continues to be the go-to place for everything politics this season, there are a variety of ways to enjoy an immersive and interactive experience on Twitter.
Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com
