Communication Management in Digital Age

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There seems to be two different paradigms that contrast youth reasonably active and engaged or relatively passive and disengaged. The engaged youth give importance to peer groups and online communities over media, and have a higher sense of individual purpose. The disengaged youth has a greater sense of government obligations and participate in autonomous form of public expression. The rise of internet has helped engaged youth gain interest in the activities of government, and thereby showcase their views online.

The 2014 elections in India was very different from the previous ones as the political parties gave importance to digital campaigns to spread their words. This was also a strategy to engage youth and gain their vote. Youth inspired by such campaigns posted/shared content online and helped the campaign of political parties reach masses mainly due to network effect. BJP was quite active online and used platforms such as Facebook , Twitter , YouTube etc. to connect to the youth. The number of Likes and Followers on Prime Minister Modi’s Facebook and twitter account showcases how the power of social media was harnessed by BJP.

Social media was a good way to gain the attention of the youth , but it has also become the reason for them showing apathy towards the general idea of politics/ elections. Being online is the new lifestyle of the youth , they spend hours online just browsing through Facebook or twitter feeds. This is their prime medium to gain news and not the news channels or newspapers. There are various fake news or agendas floating through the internet and the youth is tricked to believe them as true based on the number of likes or retweets that these posts have. They have a lack of judgment of what’s right and what’s not. The comments on the Facebook posts have become their expert advices , and not the editorial of a well known journalist.

Social Media is a powerful tool to reach out to the youth , but due to the flow of wrong info and hate posts , youth have shown apathy towards election as a whole , seemingly because they see the dirty side of it. Upon being used properly it has the power to motivate youth and push them towards selecting the right candidate and building a better nation

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