‘BJP’s organised band of tweeters dominates social media’

Shashi Tharoor speaks to on how Twitter helped influence the electorate in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Excerpts from the interview: 4G sims make access to the internet more universal, that story could change and Twitter could become more reflective of genuine public sentiment. In that case it may become possible to predict poll results from social media trends. But not yet. retweeters and trolls have dominated social media and outstrip other parties in sheer numbers and persistence. They mount campaigns against those they disagree with and do so quite effectively. publicity tool as mainstream media derives news from tweets and so your messages, opinions and photos on Twitter can make their way to a wider audience. Second, it consolidates your image among the 10% or so of your voters (higher perhaps in some metros but about 10% in Trivandrum) who follow you on Twitter. Where Twitter does not help is in influencing the majority of the electorate directly because in most Indian constituencies Twitter simply does not reach the majority.In 2014, I would not even say that it influenced the influencers because we still come from a country where influencers emerge from more traditional backgrounds, including classic power-brokers, veteran political managers and religious and community leaders. I believe Twitter and social media generally will grow in importance, and so it is important to get in on the ground floor and establish one’s base. But I do not think Twitter helped me much in my 2014 election. If I last long enough, the answer may be different in 2024.