Impact Of Social Media On Politics In India

Abstract

Social media have become an integral part of political communications during election campaigns. Since the Internet age began, communication has evolved from social media to chat rooms and instant messaging. Social media are the most recent and rapidly growing phenomenon in the context of Internet Communication. During the 2014 parliamentary general election in India all political parties and candidates have extensively utilized social media in order to mobilize voters. The recent explosive growth and popularity in use of social media drew a great deal of attention from political communication researchers. Of particular interest is to explore the political impact of social media as a new mean that helps people obtain political information as well as interact with other people on the Web. In the social media which is multi-dimensionally connected with abundant hyperlinks, users have become able to receive process and circulate news and information in a new way. The structure of a social media very much different form classical media, it allow people to communicate news and information in very different way. Social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are now considered as politically transformative communication technologies as classical media such as newspaper, radio and television. There are prediction that social media will transform democracy allowing citizens and politician to communicate, connect and interact in ways never before. Increasingly, politician and elected officials are realizing the power of social media for communicating political information and interacting with citizens.