The Netizen art of political campaigning

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The Netizen art of political campaigning

While, the US President elect Barack Obama’s successful use of the possibilities of Internet hot topic of discussion, the Indian politicians are also planning to use the ‘cyber path’ to woo young educated voters and masses, L.K.Advani being the latest

Pankaj Maru

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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MUMBAI, INDIA: Ever since Barack Obama won the nomination to become the Democratic candidate in the US presidential election the entire world media was after his tactical use of new-age communication platforms.

Yes, Obama is not just the first non-White to adore the Oval Office but he is also the most tech-savvy president-elect in America, as is evident from his tactical use of technological platforms such as SMS, emails, social networking sites and personal portal, my.barackobama.com, for electoral campaign.

And here in India too political leaders and political parties have started using the possibilities of Internet to reach out, the latest being the political portal of BJP leader L.K.Advani (www.lkadvani.in), on his 81st birthday, recently in New Delhi.

The launch of this site assumes special significance, as it has happened when the country is all set for a general election and the veteran is being projected as the NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate.

Head quartered in New Delhi, Tetra Information Services Private Limited has designed and developed the former Home Minister's portal.

"We are into Open Source business, the site is built on open source platform. In terms of interactivity, the site has forums, feedback forms, videos, pictures, voice messages, along with SMS and email alerts," says Deepa Mahajan, Tetra's director.

So can Indian politics bank on such tech based political strategy to get electoral mileage?

"India and US are completely versatile nations in terms of population, language, education, Internet penetration and technological exposure," says Delhi based Rajesh Lalwani, the founder of Blogworks – a strategic social media solutions provider firm.

Further Lalwani considers that with five per cent Internet penetration it's a new phenomenon in India. He suggests that the combination of SMS and websites can recreate the Obama magic for Indian political leaders.

"With over 300 million mobile users the mix of SMS alerts, voice alerts, picture messages, blogs and websites can work well in campaigns," he opines.

"However, it will work slightly different here as it will allow the politicians' voice to reach large mass such as the media and people, where they can give direct quotes and messages to influence the influencers (media)," Lalwani says.

According to Kiruba Shankar, CEO of Chennai-based Business Blogging and founder of F5ive Technologies, "It's a human tendency to follow a successful path of others. Definitely, it's a growing trend and best for political parties and leaders."

He points that website offers three major benefits to the politicians - projecting a tech savvy image, promoting and propagating ones' views and fund raising.

While, English remains a common communication language for most in US, the multiple languages in India can test the penetration of such websites among people of different age groups.

"Language is certainly a challenge here, but it's not new for political parties. All publications and media portals are well geared with various languages. And, again politics remains a subject of interest," Lalwani opines.

However, he reckons that most of IT related works for the political websites would be outsourced.

"We have a set of young politicians who are more tech savvy and so lots will be happening ahead in terms of using IT," Lalwani adds. Interestingly, Shankar suggests that the website can tap a certain number of population that includes affluent class with predominant English education, employed staffs with Internet access and young students exposed to Internet.

About technology, Shankar considers that Open Source as an ideal technological platform for such interactive portals and says, "One shouldn't go for new technology but should use the existing platform which has higher scalability." In spite of increasing websites of politicians and their parties, Shankar concludes that these portals will take about 8 -10 years time from now to have a major influence on masses.

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