Narendra Modi and the effective use of social media for political promotion

Narendra Modi is the current prime minister of India. Apart from being the political leader of one of the world’s largest countries, he is also an example of some of the most successful use of social media for political promotion. His official Facebook page counts almost 22 million fans and he comes second behind U.S. President Barack Obama among politicians on the social network. His Twitter account boasts more than 6 million followers.

Modi’s success on social networks could be attributed to India’s population of almost 1.3 billion and certainly most of his Facebook fans and Twitter followers are from India. However, being successful on social media does imply a considerable amount of strategy to neglect traditional campaign tools and seek supporters directly.

Modi has certainly understood how to sustain his social media following by not only attracting followers but also communicating with them. This has been ongoing even after the end of the voting period for 2014’s elections, which shows his commitment to his social media initiative. Mr. Modi has used Twitter to engage some social media diplomacy right after the elections by tweeting out to British Prime Minister, David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Modi’s recent address to the crowd at Madison Square Garden is a sign of the appeal that he stirs whether it is online or offline. His visit to the USA has also been attributed its own hashtag, #ModiInAmerica.