[liberationtech] UC Berkeley iSchool: "Social Media & Political Right in India: An Analysis of Narendra Modi's Tweeting"

[Yosem Companys]

UC Berkeley iSchool Information Access Seminar

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE POLITICAL RIGHT IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF NARENDRA 
MODI'S TWEETING

Joyojeet Pal, School of Information, University of Michigan

Friday, December 19, 2014, 3:10 pm - 5:00 pm

107 South Hall, UC Berkeley

Abstract:

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has over 8.2 million followers on 
Twitter and over 25 million “likes” on Facebook, making him among the most 
followed politicians on social media. With a mix of ‘feel good’ messages, 
shout-outs to other celebrities, well-timed ritualized responses, as well 
as a careful strategy of ‘followbacks’ for a small selection of his most 
active followers, Modi has been able to grow his following dramatically 
since 2013. Twitter helps Modi circumvent the mainstream media and directly 
reach a significant constituency of listeners. At the same time, social 
media is also central to his broader campaign of public image shaping as a 
technology-savvy leader who represents pan-Indian aspirations of modernity, 
away from Modi’s own past image in the popular media as a central political 
figure in some of the worst communal riots in India.

Bio: 

Joyojeet Pal (MIMS ’04) is an assistant professor in the School of 
Information, University of Michigan. His research is on technology and 
development in the Global South. His recent work has focused on the use 
accessible technology by people with disabilities in low- and middle-income 
countries, and on the role of social media in political brand building in 
India.

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/newsandevents/events/ias/20141219joyojeetpal
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20141212/bf603ff1/attachment.html>