BackHow Narendra Modi, ministers leveraged Facebook, Twitter
According to Facebook data for 26 May 2014 to 23 May 2016, Modi's top post, which received 1.6 million likes, was a recent one about his mother
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As the Narendra Modi government completes two years in power at the center, there is no doubt that Modi is a social media superstar, one who has leveraged the power of Twitter and Facebook to engage with the public and espouse the causes of the government. On Twitter, Modi is the most popular politician after US president Barack Obama, with 20.2 million followers. On Facebook, he is the second most liked world leader after Obama and his Facebook page has more than 34.04 million likes.
Not just Modi, even his ministerial colleagues are using Facebook via its various tools like Q&A, Live, Instant Articles and Notes to reach out to the public. So, how have they done?
According to Facebook data for 26 May 2014 to 23 May 2016, Modi’s top post, which received 1.6 million likes, was a recent one about his mother: “My mother returns to Gujarat. Spent quality time with her after a long time & that too on her 1st visit to RCR."
Other top posts included the PM changing his display picture in support of the efforts towards a Digital India and Modi paying homage to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
In Modi’s government, 47 of 50 cabinet ministers and state ministers with independent charge have a verified Facebook presence. Facebook has collated data on the top 10 performing (in terms of social media engagement) ministers from 26 May 2015 to 23 May 2016 based on total likes, shares and comments (see table 1). Leading the pack is Modi himself, followed by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and HRD minister Smriti Irani.
The government’s minsters have also successfully used Facebook Q&A and Facebook Live to talk directly to their audience. The top Q&A include:
1. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi: See here
2. Piyush Goyal: See here
3. Rajyavardhan Rathore: See here
The top Facebook Live sessions:
1. Rajyavardhan Rathore: See here
2. Anurag Thakur: See here
3. Smriti Irani: See here
Modi’s personal website—https://www.narendramodi.in—has gone live on Facebook’s Instant Articles (IA). The website routinely publishes posts that details daily engagements of the Prime Minister and the various government schemes he rolls out. Now, through the instant articles feature, users on Facebook can view feature-rich content within the app itself at a faster speed. The feature is marked by a lightning bolt sign on the top right hand corner of the post.
The government’s top 3 government initiatives on Facebook based on interactions and daily posts are Make in India, Skill India and Digital India (see table 2).
Prime Minister Modi and his government have also extensively used Twitter over the last two years as a tool to communicate and connect with people, according to Twitter’s head of news, government, and politics partnerships Raheel Khursheed.
In the last two years, PM Modi’s following on Twitter has grown by 400% from 4 million to 20 million followers, a milestone he crossed last week making him the most-followed political leader in India and second in the world after Barack Obama (@barackobama).
PM Modi’s most retweeted tweet is the one following his victory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Modi has used Twitter actively over the past two years, like Facebook, to promote and discuss his flagship programs using hashtags such as #MakeInIndia, #MannKiBaat, #SwachhBharat and #TransformingIndia among others.
According to Twitter data, it is for the first time in the history of India that 95% of the ministers in the government are active on Twitter with 22 of Modi’s cabinet ministers and 42 of his 50 ministries actively using the microblogging site to engage with citizens, updating them on government policies and connecting with them through live conversations.
Additionally, some of the NDA ministers are very active on Twitter and have a huge following. For instance, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) uses the medium to help stranded Indians abroad and has been providing instant support in times of need. Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) is one of the most interactive ministers in the NDA government while the government’s #MakeInIndia initiative became the first non-US brand to get a Twitter emoji and was launched in the presence of Sitharaman at the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco.
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