Page 1 of 12
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 1
Social Media: Engaging Youth in Politics
Anupma Verma (Media Scholar)
anupmaverma27@gmail.com
Abstract
The election of Barack Obama as President of
the United States in 2008, revocation of the
results of the fraudulent elections in Moldavia in
2009, the so-called “Arab Spring” in the Middle
East in early 2011, and the electoral campaign
of Narendra Modi in India’s general election
2014 !What do they have in common?
They all used social media to engage youth to
mainstream politics. Social media helped them
organize and unite such protests and mobilize
their responsible agents. More than a party
coordinator they greatly exploited social media
to a great extent and established communication
as network objectives. The evolution of the
Internet is noteworthy and has brought the
world so close making the concept of 'Global
Village' a reality.
The initial of 21st century has experienced the
baby stage of social networking sites which has
now grown up and has become stronger weapon
for their savvies. The influence of the social sites
over US presidential election like twitters and
Facebook can’t be ignored. All thanks to the
Obama's campaign which made a proper use of
social tool.
The paper reviewed the potential of social sites
as an engaging tool that drew youth towards
politics. It states full support of scholar
observations and surveys that youth are using
new media to amplify their voices in the political
realm. They share their opinions and seek their
demands through social media. It also acts as a
best platform to spread awareness regarding
democratic rights and how they can be fulfilled.
In brief, the social media is presenting itself as a
true savvier of democracy as its message and
influence perceives well within the realm of the
participants or people.
KEY WORDS- Social media, Politics,
Obama's campaign, Modi's campaign, Social
Issues
INTRODUCTION
Man, by nature a social animal; an individual
who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is
either beneath our notice or more than human.
Society is something that precedes the
individual, Said Aristotle, the legendary Greek
philosopher.
Communication has craved interaction and
interface with other people. We live in society
and different form of media helps in social
interaction. Social work is concerned with
alleviation of problems of individuals in society.
Social work has a focus on helping individuals,
groups, or communities. It may also try to bring
change for wellbeing of society.
Today is the age of communication and it is
important to realize how young people,
especially youth, are using new media to
amplify their voices in the political realm. A
large numbers of youth take part in participatory
politics and online mode of communication
makes it more interactive and interacting.
Page 2 of 12
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 2
Participatory politics circulates opinion through
blog about an issue, forwarding political videos
to friends making it livelier. Like traditional
political acts, these address issues of public
concern through transformation making it more
participatory. It provides more interactive, peer- based platform and do not defer to elites or
formal institutions. They are also tied to digital
or new media platforms that facilitate and
amplify young people’s actions.
Social media has played important role in
involving young mind to create a better society.
Politics is just not participating in the annual
ritual called election. Politics means to engage
you in ongoing process and contribution from
each section of society for a healthy
administration and better opportunity. Social
media is a vital platform giving opportunity to
be vocal about what you feel debate on what
needs to be changed and engage in conversations
with like and not-so-like-minded people. One
can put his / her view point on any issue that
concern republic. Needless to say few
hyperactive politicians’ forces people to see the
society through the colored lens provided by
them and social media is playing active part to
turn them off.
Youth Politics via Social Media
Ayesha Siddiqa, renowned scholar from
Pakistan, in an interview says, “Our middle class
is increasingly becoming apolitical, on both
sides of the border. They may have an opinion
but that doesn’t make them political. They are
apolitical firstly. Secondly, they are into this
identity mantra which they don’t even
understand. The question is “where do I
belong?” So the identity in that way becomes
very political commodity. So that’s what social
media does, most of the time- manipulate.”
I feel Siddiqa is correct in her assertion but not
up to great extent. The social web and mobile
technologies have accelerated the rate at which
relationships develop, society gets updated and
informed. Needless to say few hyperactive
politicians and organization have hijacked our
social media platforms and their PR machinery
is so strong that they have a virtual presence all
over. They have involved young population of
the country and have forced society to see
through the colored they offer. But the reason is
not enough for blaming youth section of
becoming apolitical. Instead, I feel it is social
media which provide a platform for youth to
engage them in politics.
It's need of the hour to define ‘Politics’ to
engage with it. Politics is just not participating
in the annual ritual called election. It is an
ongoing process and requires effort from each
section for the betterment of the society. Social
media gives an opportunity to be vocal about
what one feels; debate on what one needs to be
changed and engage in conversations with like
and not-so-likeminded people. Certainly it helps
in the process of building a better ‘democracy’.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Many literatures are available on the social
networking sites and their impact on youth as far
as political consciousness is concerned.
According to a poll, 22% of teenagers log in
more than 10 times a day on to their favorite
social media site, and more than half percentage
of adolescents log more than once, a day (Steyer
James, 2009).
Social network sites are web-based services
allowing individuals to construct a semi-public
or public profile in a bounded system as well as
to articulate a list of others so as to share
Page 3 of 12
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 3
connections, views and thoughts. However the
type, classification and nature of these
connections may differ from site to site.
Uniqueness of social networking sites not only
allows individuals to meet strangers but enables
users to discuss and make visible their social
networks. This results into connections between
individuals which otherwise is not possible
through any other media already existing.
Maximum of the time social networking sites are
used to communicate with people who already
are friends or acquaintances in the social
network, sharing same mindset or same interests
and views. Discussions on debatable topics,
news articles are most common topics on these
SNNs.
The 21st century is witnessing an explosion of
Internet-based messages transmitted through
these social media. They have become a major
factor in influencing various aspects of youth
behavior including awareness, information
acquisition, opinions, attitudes and evaluation.
Social media is magnifying the relation between
the youth and politics. As illustrated in Table 1,
social media outlets are numerous and varied.
Table1. Examples of social media
• Social networking sites (MySpace,
Facebook, and Face party)
• Creativity works sharing sites
1. Video sharing sites (YouTube)
2. Photo sharing sites (Flickr)
3. Music sharing sites (Jamendo.com)
4. Content sharing combined with
assistance (Piczo.com)
5. General intellectual property sharing
sites (Creative Commons)
• User-sponsored blogs (The Unofficial,
Cnet.com)
• Company-sponsored websites/blogs
(Apple.com)
• Company-sponsored cause/help sites
(Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty,
click2quit.com)
• Invitation-only social networks
(ASmallWorld.net)
• Business networking sites (LinkedIn)
• Collaborative websites (Wikipedia)
• Virtual worlds (Second Life)
• Commerce communities (eBay,
Amazon.com, Craig’s List, threadless.com)
• Podcasts (‘‘For Immediate Release: The
Hobson and Holtz Report’’)
• News delivery sites (Current TV)
• Educational materials sharing
(MERLOT)
• Open Source Software communities
(Mozilla’s spreadfirefox.com, Linux.org)
Leading social networks worldwide- January
2015
This statistic provides information on the most
popular networks worldwide as of January 2015,
ranked by number of active accounts. Market
leader Facebook was the first social network to
surpass 1 billion registered accounts. Tenth- ranked micro blogging network Twitter had over
284 million monthly active accounts.
Meanwhile, blogging service Tumblr had more
than 230 million active blog users on their site.
