Samajwadis learn to exploit social media

LUCKNOW: From ‘beta stage’ presence on the social media to live tweets, the Samajwadi Party government has travelled a long distance and crossed many a digital divides in the past three years.
Gone are the days of bulky handouts ferried from newspaper to newspaper by an information department man. Now every notable news and announcements of the government and the party are seeded on the social media so that the information reaches lakhs of followers, fans, and of course the media, directly.
While different political parties established their social profiles during this period, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav emerged as one of the most prominent UP politicians on the social media. “The social media is a strong and effective medium to interact with people. The latest techniques should be adopted to benefit the masses,” he said at a workshop on social media for UP ministers some times back.
Akhilesh’s official social profiles got noticeable makeover while candid photographs were often uploaded. The pictures generated ripple effects as netizens took to Facebook to appreciate the initiatives, asking questions and the changing scenario and also found a platform to criticize the functioning of the state government.
“We wanted to reach most part of the internet generation. We now have the infrastructure to try and reach as many people as possible through live tweets and live streaming. This is the internet era and we don’t want to lag behind -- although only the urban population uses the internet extensively till now,” said one of the office bearers of the party who was directly overseeing the IT experience during the party’s national executive meet which was live streamed last October.
At present, the government has verified Twitter handles -- @CMOfficeUP and @UPGovt – with more than 30,000 followers. In Facebook, the profiles of the chief minister and the party are also verified accounts. Other handles like @SamajwadiSocial are popular for live tweets and views.