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Will Social Media Decide India’s 2024 Election?
Will Social Media Decide India’s 2024 Election?
Sputnik India
In the run-up to the crucial general election, India's major political parties are actively engaging with influencers to amplify their party's message and showcase their dynamic leaders. But can influencers really win over voters?
2024-01-04T00:33+0530
2024-01-04T00:33+0530
2024-01-09T19:33+0530
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India’s most prominent parties —Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) - had a series of meetings internally with the social media team to bring influencers on board, especially for smaller cities' audiences.In December, BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit organized around 1900 influencers in the state who will drive the poll campaign through social media. Not only that, but parties are also conducting workshops in rural places for social media volunteers.In 2023, a series of non-political influencers interacted with Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. These influencers have thousands to millions of followers. However, politicians restrained themselves from speaking about their political ideologies but shared their general views.Influencers: A Booming Industry in IndiaIndia’s influencer and reel industries are booming. As the most populous country in the world, it is not surprising that it has a large market for social media. According to government statistics, India has more than 560 million social media users.As the number of social media users continues to grow, the influencer market is predicted to grow to more than $300 million by 2025.Micro-Influencers & Their 'Rural' PowerMicro-influencers may have fewer followers but are known in a particular region or speak in the local language. Last year in June, the Congress party-led Rajasthan government said it would pay influencers between $120 and $6,000 to promote its welfare schemes on social media.A Uttarakhand-based influencer who has 70,000 followers on Twitter and 190,000 on Instagram* and Facebook, told Sputnik India on the condition of anonymity that many parties had approached him for two-month-long activity, which will include roughly 10-12 posts, and for every post, he will earn about INR 10,000 ($120).Sputnik India spoke with a few social media and elections experts to understand whether influencers matter during elections and how much.Why is Indian Audience Glued to Social Media?Tiwari, who runs social media campaigns, said Indians, especially in small cities, are glued to YouTube or Facebook, especially those who do not have jobs.“One way to study social media’s effects on elections is to collect data and try to understand the social media phenomenon. The data is complex,” Tiwari said, adding "If you remove all the noise and focus on one factor — content. Yes, it does matter, and how it is presented, that is also the matter.”Tiwari said that today, with a brief understanding of how social media works, political parties just have to channel audience attention and create relevant content.“If an influencer can sway 20% of [their] followers, that is good enough for politics,” Tiwari stressed.Alternative Opinion: Influencers Only Strengthen Party’s Original VotersMeanwhile, known psephologist Sanjay Kumar told Sputnik India that influencers matter in a minimal way during elections.“YouTube channels and influencers are only reinforcing your preconceived notion about the political leader or party. In that respect, it is making party followers more committed towards their respective party. But, is it helping in convincing people to change their vote? That’s not happening,” Kumar argues.Speaking about the influencers who do not have political ideology, he said, "In those channels, the viewers are less political, and there is a possibility that they might influence voters…. They would certainly be making some impacts but not much in changing the electoral outcome.”*The activity of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is banned in Russia
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Will Social Media Decide India’s 2024 Election?
00:33 04.01.2024 (Updated: 19:33 09.01.2024) Deexa Khanduri
Sputnik correspondent
In the run-up to the crucial general election, India's major political parties are actively engaging with influencers to amplify their party's message and showcase their dynamic leaders. But can influencers really win over voters?
India’s most prominent parties —Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) - had a series of meetings internally with the social media team to bring influencers on board, especially for smaller cities' audiences.
In December, BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit organized around 1900 influencers in the state who will drive the poll campaign through social media. Not only that, but parties are also conducting workshops in rural places for social media volunteers.
In 2023, a series of non-political influencers interacted with Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. These influencers have thousands to millions of followers. However, politicians restrained themselves from speaking about their political ideologies but shared their general views.
Influencers: A Booming Industry in India
India’s influencer and reel industries are booming. As the most populous country in the world, it is not surprising that it has a large
market for social media. According to government statistics, India has more than 560 million social media users.
As the number of social media users continues to grow, the influencer market is predicted to grow to more than $300 million by 2025.
Micro-Influencers & Their 'Rural' Power
Micro-influencers may have fewer followers but are known in a particular region or speak in the local language.
“India and voters are surely not about these metropolitan cities. Winning rural voters is key to winning elections in India, and influencer culture has spread widely in remote regions. People with phones are on social media, they can be uneducated, but they do know how to scroll Facebook* or WhatsApp,” Kamal Kant Tiwari, the founder of TLK Info Solutions, a digital marketing agency, told Sputnik India.
Last year in June, the Congress party-led Rajasthan government said it would pay influencers between $120 and $6,000 to promote its welfare schemes on social media.
A Uttarakhand-based influencer who has 70,000 followers on Twitter and 190,000 on Instagram* and Facebook, told Sputnik India on the condition of anonymity that many parties had approached him for
two-month-long activity, which will include roughly 10-12 posts, and for every post, he will earn about INR 10,000 ($120).
“I don’t post advertisements. I create content in such a way that it doesn’t look like promotion… If I’ll promote politicians or a certain party directly, I’ll be trolled. I create lifestyle or interactive content and then talk about the politics,” he said.
Sputnik India spoke with a few social media and elections experts to understand whether influencers matter during elections and how much.
Why is Indian Audience Glued to Social Media?
Tiwari, who runs social media campaigns, said Indians, especially in small cities, are glued to YouTube or Facebook, especially those who do not have jobs.
“Now reels are 10–40 seconds long. They’re quick and funny. You can’t find people sitting idle these days. They’re mostly scrolling social media windows,” Tiwari said.
“One way to study social media’s effects on elections is to collect data and try to understand the social media phenomenon. The data is complex,” Tiwari said, adding "If you remove all the noise and focus on one factor — content. Yes, it does matter, and how it is presented, that is also the matter.”
Tiwari said that today, with a brief understanding of how social media works, political parties just have to channel audience attention and create relevant content.
“If an influencer can sway 20% of [their] followers, that is
good enough for politics,” Tiwari stressed.
Alternative Opinion: Influencers Only Strengthen Party’s Original Voters
Meanwhile, known psephologist Sanjay Kumar told Sputnik India that influencers matter in a minimal way during elections.
“Even social media channels are divided into two blocks. Very few of them are neutral. Social media came into existence when traditional media like TV channels and newspapers were seen as being biased. At that time, social media channels paved the way for themselves; however, what has emerged is that now these channels and influencers are biased. Now, a person with a particular ideology will watch only those channels which opine or spread their views,” Kumar said.
“YouTube channels and influencers are only reinforcing your preconceived notion about the political leader or party. In that respect, it is making party followers more committed towards their respective party. But, is it
helping in convincing people to change their vote? That’s not happening,” Kumar argues.
Speaking about the influencers who do not have political ideology, he said, "In those channels, the viewers are less political, and there is a possibility that they might influence voters…. They would certainly be making some impacts but not much in changing the electoral outcome.”
As India prepares for the 2024 national election, where Modi is gearing up for a third term and the opposition Congress is looking forward to a potential comeback, social media influencers have indeed become hot property, being able to communalize or, on the contrary, polarize voters. However, given the long history of India's democracy, experts believe voters are intelligent enough not to fall into this trap.
*The activity of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is banned in Russia
