The Big Connect

Book excerpt: Are digital means of communication better than traditional bhaashans and processions? Will a social media revolution coerce armchair opinion makers to head to poll booths? Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are changing the way the denizens of the world, and more specifically youth of this country, communicate and connect. In The Big Connect, Shaili Chopra traces the advent of social media in India and how politics and lobbying has now shifted to the virtual floor. She argues that though a post, a pin, or a tweet may not translate into a vote, it can definitely influence it. With comparisons to the Obama campaign of 2008 and 2012 and analysis of the social media campaigns of political bigwigs like Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, and Arvind Kejriwal—the book discusses the role of a digital community in Indian politics.