Over the past few years, digital communication is fundamentally changing how elected officials and candidates who are running for elections interact with citizens. With a phone or a webcam, people around the globe are now engaging with candidates and their elected officials in face-to-face video chats for free. This, indeed, is taking democratic engagement to a new era. The average citizen can now talk face-to-face in real time with the heads of the states and can get real time response. Take, for instance, Google+Hangouts?the free group video chat.
Sandeep Menon, director, marketing, Google India, says that it is heartening to see how India?s leaders are embracing the Google+ platform to drive citizen engagement programmes in their respective fields. ?It opens the window for the politicians to not only communicate more effectively to a larger audience but it also creates a real time two-way communication where both the parties can address their challenges/issues face-to-face,? he adds. He also shares that, last year, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was the first Indian public figure to use Google+ Hangouts and his one-hour hangout attracted over four million viewers and over 20,000 questions were asked. ?About 1,66,000 clicks were generated on Modi?s website on the day of the hangout and over 70,000 tweets poured in from all over.?
Alok Anand, marketing head, India & SAARC, Polycom, who recently wrote an engaging article for this paper (?Paving the way to a digital India?, http://goo.gl/6KcqEf), says that the prolific rise and use of Web 2.0 with its offerings?such as blogs and more personalised social media accounts?provides greater opportunities for conversation and collaboration. ?Governments, having observed this in recent years, are now turning to the same digital platforms in order to directly engage with their citizens,? Anand says.
No doubt, the most influential politicians in India and the world today are directly engaging with the masses through social and digital media platforms. But does this mean the demise of huge political rallies? Anand does quite feel the same. ?Indian politicians planning communications and events are utilising the web, social media and video-conferencing for activities such as election rallies and addressing audiences across the country, strengthening the election rallies and campaigns,? he says. He also feels that the Indian political class is setting the right example by using social and digital communication to gain the trust of its voters. ?The Indian judiciary, too, is beginning to understand the value of video-conferencing set-ups in jails, and high profile hearings are being conducted through video-conferencing to eliminate the threat of security breaches. Issues concerning the common people are being heard more than ever before and, more importantly, communication channels have become two-way,? Anand adds. Indeed, the collaborative government of tomorrow, that fully uses the opportunities of social and visual collaboration, sees citizens as customers and businesses as partners?all part of an active democracy which is rapidly going digital.
Menon says, ?In this time and age of always being connected and engaged through social media platforms, reaching out to voters online is not only important, it?s essential. Social media is playing an increasingly important role in the way campaigns are run. The number of individuals using social media has increased over time, and growing with it is the amount of people who use such platforms to publicise their political views. From tweets and Facebook updates to YouTube videos, Google+ Hangouts and petitions, social media has become a power tool not only for official campaign teams but also for supporters.? But he adds that while social media has changed the face of political campaigns, it has not replaced other traditional forms of communication.
But then how effective is a digital platform as far as launching new political careers is concerned? Menon gives the example of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and says, ?Arvind Kejriwal of AAP made a strategic use of Google+to reach out to Indians across the globe and raised funds for his party.?
Anand adds, ?The idea of democracy is not limited to electing representatives of the people by the people but extends further to a smooth, two-way flow of information. Social media platforms and digital tools are fast becoming the pillars of such an idea. Lifting the communication barrier between the government and people has introduced a vital component of direct feedback.?
It has also been found out by various surveys that most young Indians who primarily use digital communication don?t actually go out and vote. In such a scenario, does a politician?s success in the digital world reflect into his electoral success also? Anand says, ?If Narendra Modi?s video-conferencing addresses and social media engagement are often news highlights of the day, so are tweets from @PMOIndia. These examples highlight two key takeaways: that distance is no longer a barrier to collaborate with the people and that communication is not one-way any more. The impact on electoral success of any individual or political party will reflect through the amalgamation of all communication channels necessary.?
Menon feels that more and more young Indians are getting on to the social media bandwagon and it will just increase with time. ?It might be the case that many of the social media users are under the eligible age for voting; however, what is important is that they are getting aware of what each party has to offer and they want them to make the country a better place to live in. At the end of the day, digital communication is about engaging people and getting them to amplify the campaign?s message,? Menon says.
The digital platform, indeed, is revolutionising the way politicians have started communicating with the citizens. Now, this may or may not reflect into electoral success, but it does bridge the gap between the elector and the elected, a gap which has for long existed.
