Tuesday, April 14, 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN SUCCESS : INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION






Social media played a major role in India’s fight against corruption. In fact from the early days of  movement of India against corruption, Medias were not so eager to cover the incident. But the social media compelled the traditional media to come forward to having the desired coverage. In this burning issue the role of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blog become a powerful tools to the people. Social media had supported for anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare in India. This was the biggest social media movement in India ever. Messages related to the movement dominated Twitter conversations throughout the fasting period. People consistently talked about Anna Hazare, Jan Lokpal, Ramlila Maidan. Not just the masses, even Anna's team seemed to be active on Twitter via IAC's official account (Twitter. com/Janlokpal; @Janlokpal) throughout the movement. They posted more than 2,100 messages (approximately 1,500 in the 13 days on @Janlokpal) in August, compared to 1,150 in April. Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal on the micro-blogging site. More than 1.7 lakh tweets mentioned 'Anna Hazare', 1.5 lakh tweets mentioned 'Jan Lokpal' and 32,000 tweets referred 'Ramlila Maidan' during August 16- 12 . Famous celebrities and influential figures had also actively tweeted their support for this movement.

YouTube became the cyber eye of this movement. This movement was broadcasted live from Ramlila Maidan, Delhi via YouTube. Before Anna's arrest on 16th august morning, Anna had recorded a message in the CD which was uploaded on YouTube. On 18th of august Anna Hazare sent a video message which was recorded by Kiran Bedi in Tihar Jail has also uploaded in YouTube.  Similarly an online worldwide campaign site Avaaz (www.avaaz.org) also entered the scene. In just 36 hours, an unprecedented 500,000 Indians joined Avaaz's campaign to support 13 Hazare's call for sweeping reform. 
  
This showed how a democracy is getting its new shape in the age of cyber world. In this world every citizen has a tool to express themselves globally with a local flavor. Social media have become a vital platform for mobilizing people globally as well locally. It has become an important weapon of the people where media is chained and also where traditional media has its own limitations. Thus we live in the 'age of communication' and effective and timely communication can do wonders.

No doubt social media has brought a revolutionary change in the nature of media itself. It is an important step towards democratization of media. So this is the age of social media; where Internet is a free space for citizens to express their opinion and fulfill their democratic aspirations in bringing about freedom of speech and political freedom. From revolutions to natural disasters, social media is playing a massive role. From creating initial awareness of such events, to the raising funds for a noble cause social media is fulfilling its responsibility. It is also reconnecting loved ones not only during happy times but also during hardship when they need each other more. Twitter and Facebook is a lifeline to many around the world. So the social media will continue to play an important role and shape the world of information.


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