Gujarat Congress playing social media catch up to BJP

The role that social media plays in politics has gained much importance over past couple of years. It has managed to change the way politicians campaign for polls, or otherwise connect to the masses, especially the youth. Many politicians like Narendra Modi, Omar Abdullah and Sushma Swaraj are constantly active on Twitter. Young politicians like Milind Deora and Varun Gandhi, too, tweet to stay in touch with the masses. Even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had shied away from social networking for the longest time, joined Facebook and crossed one million like within a month of joining. But Modi is easily perhaps the most successful politician online. Not only did he cross a million followers on Twitter recently, he also has massive support online, and across social media networks. [caption id=“attachment_503825” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Many politicians use Twitter to share their ideas. Getty Images[/caption] Be it with blogs or social networking sites, the BJP’s took to cyberspace quite early. They saw the value of campaigning online in the early 2000’s and social media was a big part of its campaign in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. This makes the BJP the most social media savvy political party in India. And the impact of social media and their ability to convert eyeballs into votes, is not getting lost on the Congress party. He is perhaps a little late to the party, but the President of the Rajkot unit of the Congress Party, Indranil Rajyaguru, said he is inviting the youth to visit his page and read about his ideas before casting their votes for him, ANI reported . “Our party has connected with 25,000 people through these sites,” the president of the Rajkot unit of the BJP, Dhansukh Bhanderi is quoted in the ANI report. Not quite Modi’s million followers on Twitter, but at least its a step in the right direction.