Will social media play spoil sport or it will remain just a buzz?

Having developed the habit of looking at the twitter and FB every once in a while and by virtue of having a large of number of friends or those whom I follow, there are always some interesting one liners  or sarcastic cartoons freshly available in the plate. With political atmosphere hotting up ever since Namo been projected as PM candidate, the social media is abuzz with political satires. Every second it is throwing up some thing or other. does it really reflect the mood of nation ? will it have the same impact what potentially it could have ? There were days when elections were fought on rallies, posters, slogans and freebies. And people responded to these traditional election tools used by politicians and the political parties. But in last few elections, it is being perceived that traditional method is getting obscure and modern technology is replacing this traditional mode to woo voters. Even the surrogate method of advertising onTV & radio is also appearing outdated. 

A report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IRIS Knowledge Foundation suggest that there would be nearly 160 constituencies which will be highly impacted by social media , 67 medium impacted, 60 low impacted and 256 with no impact . Without getting into the details of methodology, this impacting  figure seems quite big and perhaps reason why the politicians who even cannot login to twitter are opening the twitter and FB accounts and getting on with hangout.  The "likes" and "followers" are becoming the barometer of their popularity. Social media seems to facilitate direct communication between unknown voters and creating heroes and villains in a matter of seconds.

As per a estimate there are close to 80 L FB users in India. Even if large no of them could be fake or in genuine people or sleeping users, the number is significant and represents a larger middle class. most importantly even if they don't go to polling stations, they have the power to create an opinion as they form the critical mass of society. Initially, everyone thought though social media has role to play,

but it doesn’t and it cannot guarantee transforming the same into turnout on polling day; same what used to be the case with election rallies. 

The caste factor will continue, the religion are here to stay, the free meal and loan waivers will continue to attract voters but all those who have been born after 80s and happen to be some how or other connected to social media will have impact on 2014. And ,back of their mind political trending topics on social media will have impact like the ads on the TVs have on children. No matter how much one ignores or keeps himself away, the brand developed through media makes us compulsive buyers. The impact might be felt less in rural areas which still has lesser smart phone penetrations but urban and middle class cannot be away from the # pappy vs # Feku debate. Most importantly, they are the perception creators to those who resides in rural areas if they happen to be connected to the roots. The branding is a chain reaction and works on word of mouth.

If nothing, the trend on social media sites for controversial statements, court verdicts on famous cases, scams, corruption will have major impact on voting patterns. However, it's not the number of likes or followers but impact of communication will determine the end result. A lot of people prefer to read , keep quite and form their opinion and don't press like button immediately or start writing comments....they are hidden opinion makers.