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Twitter, YouTube and Selfies Decoding Modi
SI Team
Friday, August 7, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arguably been the only PM India has witnessed who has gathered a tech-healthy attention. According to a study by Professor Joyojeet Pal of University of Michigan, With 12.3 million followers on Twitter, Modi is the second most followed politician globally after Obama. His timely flamboyant tweets range from a mix of 'feel good' messages to celebrity shout-outs, and 'powerful' selfies with politicians like Obama and Li Keqiang, the Chinese Premier.
But before all these it was the complete sweep he achieved during last year's elections, because of his continuous tweets - appealing to the most widely followed celebrity film stars, cricketers and spiritual figures, urging them to get young voters to register that led to his present self. His extensive use of social media almost assured him of the image of a 'PM for development', before he actually was. Modi represents industrial India and his lean toward using technology, was demonstrated when he immediately put to use the video feature on Twitter almost as soon as it was available, grabbing the attention of the tech savvy generation.
According to Pal, Modi uses Twitter as a personal signal than for issues. For instance, the translation from a 'karyakarta' to a 'mai baap style' (worker to a benign ruler), as against Obama's agenda-based tweeting. Modi's Facebook page with 28 million likes, 'Chai pe Charcha,' or "discussion over tea," that involves discussions over national issues with citizens via online video are examples of a PM whose inclination towards technology is well upright.

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