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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