Influence of social media on electorates’ behaviour

The usage of social media in Indian polity has seen tremendous growth with most of the political parties and politicians adopting it. Earlier researches in India have deliberated and documented social media activity of the political parties and also the politicians. But this study has been done to study the usage of social media from the perspective of the electorate. As social media is a multi-player and multi-directional media, its ability to influence political opinion is significant. Social media enables people to share opinion, ideas and knowledge. Unlike other media, social media is participatory and a possible tool for the electorate also to influence their followers. The objective of this study is to decipher if Indian electorates are willing participants in a political debate on any social media platform and if Indian social media users are trying to politically influence their online followers. The sample included over 500 Indian citizens across geographical boundaries of both the genders; of varied educational background and professions. The questionnaire was distributed through various social media platforms and also personally. The questions were close ended with multiple options. The study concludes that there are factors which inhibits posting of political messages on social media sites by its users and most of the users don't intend to influence others’ political opinion through their posts.