Social Media and Political Communication in India An analysis of 2017 Legislative Assembly Elections in Himachal Pradesh

Politics and Mass Communication have been an unbreakable duo for many centuries. Public meetings, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Television are the major communication tools. With the advent of new media technologies, the political campaign has gained a new dimension. During the last elections Indian political parties used Websites, E mails, IVRS, SMSs, Internet, Banners, Online Advertising, Blogs, Mobile Phones, etc. This study has aimed to assess the effectiveness of new media political campaigns during the elections. Content analysis, Survey and In depth Interview methods were used in the study. The study has revealed surprising facts. Every large political party has tried to use all the available new media tools. Television, Mobile phone and Internet have played a great role. The utilization of new media communication tools and strategies gave a new facet that was highly beneficial to the Indian politics. The political parties have reached a large number of voters through the new media. It made their election campaign easy, fast and successful. This paper aims to examine the extent use of social media by the political parties to promote their image and political messages, among their supporters and peoples in social media. The paper intends to examine how people consume the political issues or political discussion on social media. It was studied on the basis of the responses received from a sample of 100 respondents in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh region. Results reveal interesting information on the types of social media used the ratings of the most used social media and their impact on society. Ashish Sharma "Social Media and Political Communication in India: An analysis of 2017 Legislative Assembly Elections in Himachal Pradesh" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-2 , February 2018, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd9478.pd