Why Facebook 'likes' matter to politicians?

Social media seems to be have caught up the imagination of political leaders in India, and, like everything else in Indian politics, it has sparked a new controversy. 

Indian media reports say that Indian politicians are ‘faking’ it online. A news report on NDTV- an English national news channel- says that number of ‘likes’ on the Facebook page of the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has suddenly doubled in just a month (216049 likes). Interestingly, the report says the most number of ‘likes’ have been clicked not in his home state, or in India, but in Istanbul! India’s opposition party the BJP has accused the Congress chief minster of buying the ‘likes’.  

The use of social media by political parties and governments are increasingly becoming popular across the world. The Chilean government was one of the first to broadcast press releases on Twitter. The US State Department, for example, actively engages with its audience by organizing a series on events on its Facebook page. It allows the audience to directly interact with key figures in the US political circle.

Following Mr. Kerry’s visit to India, the US Department of State organized a Facebook event titled “India and America: A Defining Partnership of the 21^st Century”, where Ambassador Robert O Blake directly took questions from the audience all over the world. It was an example of reaching out and directly engaging with the most important stakeholder “the people”.  This is probably one of the major advantages of using social media: to be able to interact directly with the audience.

In India, the Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi has been on the forefront of integrating various digital media tools. His dynamic website www.narendamodi.in is rich in content, and his social engagements and agendas are actively posted on Facebook and Twitter. His public speeches are instantly put on YouTube.

Social media tools are a great way of communicating with the public. It obviates the traditional modes of communication, and the public, in turn, can directly interact with their leader.

If a person’s query is responded to on social media platform, it can help create a favorable image for the party and of  the politician.  The follower feels acknowledged and derives satisfaction.

Managing digital reputation

Imagine a situation where a, voter is undecided whom to vote for. He might simply Google the name of the leader to make up his mind based on the content the search result generates. It can simply influence his decision. However, in absolute terms more Facebook 'like' doesn't mean more votes! 

Can the search result be managed, manipulated or controlled? Yes, to a certain degree by putting a massive content on the website, blog and on other social media platforms.  Google is more likely to toss up information on the top of a page if the ‘subject’ or the ‘topic’ is invariably linked to social media sites.

The manner in which Google optimization works, it is likely that the content on Facebook, Twitter, blog or website will show up on the top of a page. In public relations, the strategy adopted for maintaining such an outcome is called digital reputation management.

Many politicians and corporates hire PR firms both in India and abroad to manage their digital reputation.  Flooding the internet with positive information on a topic or a person and then maximizing it with  ‘hits’ can push existing negative reports on the back pages of a Google search.

 For example, if you type ‘Narendra Modi’, you are likely to notice that his website will appear above a popular news website that carries his name on that day.  His Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube will also be ranked amongst the top ten pages.  A general search on Modi will not show anything that is negative about him. It is precisely for this reason the politicians like to have more followers on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Sometimes, smart PR companies dispatch hundreds of not very relevant press releases to smaller targeted news organizations. Once these smaller organizations publish the release online, it can be used as a reference to make a Wikipedia entry- another website that Google loves. (In Wikipedia every sentence requires reference.)

In India, the use of the Internet and smart phones are growing phenomenally. Creative digital videos and smart management of social media tools will soon become an important tool for campaigning.  If done wisely, it will have a decisive say in the over outcome of elections results in the years to come. Let the cyber war begin!

     

David Cameron and Britain's public diplomacy

David Cameron showed great dynamism by speaking directly to BBC's global audience.

David Cameron

It was great to see the British prime minister, David Cameron walk into the BBC studio in London and take questions from the audience all over the world in its popular global show: The world have your say.

Mr. Cameron’s ease and humility on answering questions on a range of topics like Syria, the role G8 in Afghanistan, aid and poverty reduction was simply amazing,

It's difficult to get a prime minister of a major country to be rallying questions even at a press conference, let alone a TV show. This also came at a time when Mr. Cameron couldn’t be busier: he will be meeting the Russian president, Vladmir Putin on Sunday, and hosting the G8 summit in Ireland on Monday.

Divya Arya, from the BBC’s Hindi language service, later said that it is just impossible to get of hold political leaders here in India for such a talk. (India’s PM rarely addresses the media and the much touted future PM Rahul Gandhi is infamous for not speaking out even in the parliament).

Lesson for other leaders?

In the era of social media, it is important for nations and its leaders to assert their views and personality by adopting smart public relation strategies. Mr. Cameron’s willingness to interact with the world through BBC shows that Downing Street clearly understands how to use modern communication tools to further Britain’s international image.

It was evident that the BBC used the full force of social media tools to get questions across to Mr. Cameron.  BBC’s audience from all over the world were encouraged to ask questions via Twitter, Facebook, Skype, e-mails and even phone calls.

Modern day communication is all about speaking directly to your core audience.  People, on the other hand, are more interested in listening to what the top leader has to say.  It is a strategy that is widely used by businesses: the reasons CEOs blog or the Fortune companies tweet on an average 25 times a week.

Mr. Cameron’s questions came from all over the world, which shows that people are curious about Britain’s voice in international affairs. The power of that voice rests greatly on the ability to do some smart pubic diplomacy aimed at winning peoples’ trust and hearts.

Mr. Cameron has impressed the world with his frankness. To a question about how it feels working from office which is also his home, he said in the mornings he works in pyjamas! 

It is about time that leaders from other nations take a cue from Mr. Cameron’s dynamism. Obviously, an Indian, for example, would want to know from its leaders directly what it is doing about poverty and climate change than from Mr. Cameron. Also, the world at large would want to know from the leaders of emerging economies about their views about pressing issues for the world.

    

India’s ethnic tension – a kind of cyber -war

India needs to urgently brace up for the new set of internal challenges. The best solution to avoid them will be to ensure corruption free governance.

What’s happening in India is deeply unfortunate: people of north- east (mostly oriental looking) fleeing cities in southern and western India simply because of building rumour mills of ethnic violence spawned by MMS and social media tools.

Social media's potential to incite violence is not new. Last year, during the London riots, organized groups and individuals used Blackberry mobile phones and other social media tools to spread insidious messages. Elsewhere, in the Middle East during the Arab revolution, social media has been a boon to circumvent the authorities’ regulation of the media.

 But the Indian case is different in the sense that a ethnic violence along the religious lines - that should have been easily controlled by the authorities - in a remote part of the country has suddenly erupted into a nationwide crisis. The Indian Government has blamed elements in Pakistan and gone on to ban up to 250 websites suspected of adding grist to the rumours. This is possibly the first case of a new type cyber- war with an international dimension.

 But the recent events in India are alarming for a number of reasons.  It has shown that the threat of cyber –war can go beyond the wires, and can be easily used to disrupt social harmony in a country like India, where a large number of mobile phone consumers( the real targets of MMS generated rumours) may not be educated.

The radical mob that took part in vandalism in Mumbai to protest against the violence on Muslims in Assam were nothing but a group of possibly unemployed youth whose religious sentiments were fanned presumably by some extremist elements.

Likewise, most people who are fleeing the southern states are mostly migrant economic workers who have moved to the bigger cities post –globalization in search of better jobs.  People of some sections  of  north-east India have always felt alienated from the main stream because of socio-economic and political reasons. But years of insurgency and economic deprivation on the face of India’s economic growth has made them look for better opportunities in other parts of the country.

Whilst many migrated, and contributed to the of economy of the host state, what this incident has highlighted is that there is a great degree of mistrust between the people of the north –east and  the rest of country because of  a number of sometimes shallow idelogical reasons; and more importantly, the absolute apathy of the intelligentsia and the government to address these  vexed issues. It is not surprising when a foreign journalist recently said that Kabul looks like a luxury when compared with Imphal.

There are broadly few lessons for the policy makers from this incident: 

•  Race and ethnic tensions in India are volatile. Unless there is a careful distribution of wealth including management of water and other natural resources, this could be the beginning of a new trend of ethnic violence waiting to happen.
   
• Indian government needs to do more to check illegal migration especially from Bangladesh and protect the rights of the small tribal groups. Religious leaders should be encouraged play a more active role to preserve religious harmony.
• There is a need for Indian state to do a bit of image management aimed at strengthening the secular credentials of the country. People of the north-east must be assured in all possible manner that they enjoy all the rights like any other citizen from other parts of the country.
• The threat of cyber war on national security is real. Information and communication
  technology(ICT) should be used to counter the negative effects of social media. There is a need to launch a campaign to educate people about the ill effects of social media.
• The real forces and motives of this crisis are at best open to speculation. It is really up to liberal and secular citizens to come forward and urge the people of the country to remain united against the forces that are increasingly trying to fuel religious and ethnic tensions.

India is going through a great economic and cultural revolution of unprecedented scale. It is an unequal society trying to re-orient itself with the dynamics of cultural changes sweeping the country.  At the very core, what India needs is good corruption free governance if it wishes to see itself as a force to reckon with in the 21st century.

Let's welcome 2012 with a 'spring of hope'

Looking back at the events of 2011, the following lines by Charles Dickens spring to mind:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the   epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,....”-  A Tale of Two Cities.

Dickens wrote these words in1859, but personally, I feel that they hold a great relevance in our present times. The year 2011 wasn’t a great year for most of us: there was hardly any good news, and we all suffered in one way or the other either because of the ongoing recession, or a revolution or a natural calamity. Sadly, there was nothing really to cheer about this year.

Clearly, from the perspective of the era that we live in, “it was a best of times.” Globalisation, new technology, social media, freedom of speech, democracy all made it look like a world full of possibilities – sky seemed to be the limit. But, in reality we are in the ‘worst of times'. Graduates are increasingly finding it  difficult to get jobs, unemployment figures have been worst in a generation, economies around the world have become stagnant, the promises of a ‘flat world’ are vanishing, ambitions of young people are being thwarted- in short there is a prevalent mood of frustration and anger. This was a fact in 2011.

The unsurpassed ‘age of wisdom’ is failing to live up to the expectations. We have benefited enormously from the internet and never in the history of mankind the exchange of ideas and access to information and knowledge have been so profound; yet on the other hand, big international summits like G20 or a conference on climate change end in nothing but a deadlock. What did we see at G20 in Cannes – surely a Greek play? Where is the wisdom to create an age of consensus? Isn’t the Euro zone crisis a shame? This was another reality of 2011.

In many ways, we are living in an ‘age of foolishness’ refusing to learn from history or are too complacent. We love mass movements directed at state but not willing to do our bit to change the world (look at the mass protests in India against corruption). We are as individuals more corrupt, irresponsible towards our loved ones, unsocial and more selfish. The London riots this year was shocking – ringing the alarm bells of a society and a system drastically gone wrong.  It had a lesson for the affluent in the emerging economies as much as it did for ‘broken Britain’.

The revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa was the ‘epoch of belief and incredulity’ – no doubt about it. It was great to see  youth wielding the power of technology and education for freedom and change, but I hope the sweeping changes we saw in the region is long sustained and is not replaced by regimes that are intolerant to progressive ideas, religious freedom and human rights.

Politically, there was a ‘season of light’ in Myanmar with junta showing some signs of political reform, but in the rest of world  stretching from Afghanistan to the US, from Norway to Japan it was all gloomy and bloody.

However, 2012, will hopefully bring lots of promises paving the way for the ‘winter of despair' to the ‘spring of hope’ Four major nations of the world: China, US,  France and Russia are going to choose new leaders. The London Olympics will usher new optimism and hope.We hope the Arab spring will enjoy a fruitful summer, and the BRIC economies along with Columbia and Venezuela (another country to go to poll) will continue to show some economic miracles. We also hope the rich and developed nations will continue to inspire more dynamism and less protectionism and a solution to the Euro crisis will soon be found.

After the three years of economic depression, it is the time to collectively rebuilt and bring prosperity, peace and hope to the citizens of the world. It is the time for us, the youth in particular to come forward and do utmost in our individual sphere. Together we can create a secure world full of promises based on the universal values of freedom, love and dialogue. Let’s march to 2012 with a spirit of hope, let’s not make it an era where “we had everything before us, but we had nothing before us”

Let me end with this quote by a renowned Buddhist scholar and philosopher Daisaku Ikeda:

“Youth means to cherish hope ; it is a time of development. Youth means to challenge oneself; it is a time of construction. Youth means to fight for justice; it is a time of action”

 

Events and media pitch

It is imperative for an event venue to have a good relationship with the press. Such relations are necessary to let people know about the upcoming events, internal management changes and to disclose other newsworthy stories that might be relevant to some sections of the media.

In recent years, the avenues for putting a story in the media has widened due to the emergence of social media. While traditional media is still the preferred choice for many stories, it has to be complemented with strategic use of social media.

Social media ensures a strong online presence. It allows instant engagement with the people who are present in the digital circle. However, for the event industry, the use of social media is a two step process. At one level, it is used for the promotion and broadcasting of interesting bits and pieces of news on a daily basis. At another level, it is used for following up news once it has been released in the main stream media. In fact, the use the word “social” in social media revolves around people, objective, strategies and technology. We need to understand the type of audience we are targeting. Do we want to use social media for wider engagement or marketing or both?  What strategies we want to adopt: do we want customers to help carry messages to others in the market or do you want them to be more engaged with the company?   Finally what technology we are going to use: it is a blog, tweet or any other relevant social media tool..

For the main stream media, the first step involves identifying the appropriate media outlet.  It is also very important to understand what event and trade journalists are looking for.

When pitching a story, it is important to consider the relevance and the timing of the story. A good journalist looks for stories that are unique and forward thinking so we must be clever. Most journalists rely on good relations to get the best stories. More often than not a journalist is likely to include a story from sources they personally know. For a journalist a known source is much more reliable as it helps them to get the information they need without having to wait. It is therefore imperative to have an excellent rapport with the journalists to be able to get your stories in the right place.