Experiments in technology: India Election 2009

Online, mobile initiatives and innovations

Part 1: Technology as used by Parties/Candidates

Indian Elections came on the heels of the phenomenal success of the Obama win in the U.S.A.The tech-savvy and forward looking India wondered what political teams in India would learn from the really well put together Obama campaign. Online campaigns turned out to be backbone of the Obama campaign. Plus, being the largest democracy in the world, the world would be watching very closely.

Political leaders from India take pride in staying abreast of technology, especially in the communications sector. The open minded attitude toward technology as posted on Shri L.K. Advani’s blog, "In every single general election in India since the first one held in 1952, I have seen how the tools of communication have evolved. As far communication is concerned, I am technology-agnostic. My philosophy in this matter is simple: anything that works, deserves to be welcomed. In my own political life spanning six decades, I have enthusiastically embraced every new communication technology - from the early simple Casio digital diary to i-pod and i-phone."


Not to be left behind this time around, coming out looking like newbies in the communications tech-tools department, the political leaders listened to their advisors and said ‘Yes, let us do it’.

Let us take a step back and look at the ROI for the use of technology from the Political Party’s point of view:

a) Percentage of people with computer access in India is so small that does it even make sense to go beyond a basic profile on the Web. With about 6% of the Indian population having access to Internet on computers- numbers reaching around 15-20% in the metros, did it even make sense to pump money in to campaigns that would not reach a significant number?
b) Would it be too dangerous to not have a web presence and come out looking like clueless, un-tech-savvy (non-progressive) leaders especially for the candidates from the metros and the very tech savvy constituencies like Bangalore (Karnataka)?

c) There is a significant language barrier for most technology-based campaigns. Most tech-tools use English as a means for delivering messages while the number of people who can read, understand and feel comfortable with English, is rather low. The language barrier cut both ways- against the voters and, in the same way, against the political leaders who are not well versed in English.

d) With one fourth of the voters being under 25yrs of age and 70% being under the age of 40, using technology is one of the significant means for reaching these young voters and making a statement.

e) Another significant factor going in the favour of the online- direct ‘marketing’ was the fact that the leaders saw this as a way to bypass the Press/Media and get to the voters directly. Indian main stream media has been known to give pretty limited coverage of the candidates and the campaigns.

As Kiran Khalap, co-founder of brand consultancy Chlorophyll, said, "There are emotional and functional reasons for using technology: functionally, it is more cost-effective and more participative than say, a rally or an advertisement…. emotionally, they (politicians) want to be like the cool urban youth they want to connect with.” India leaders blog

It is important to note that during the campaign, when they decided to include online and technology based campaigns as part of their ongoing campaigns, most political leaders/parties were not really ready with the basic know-how of what to do with the tech tools available. They did not have even a basic profile on any social-network and had not really taken the time to understand how to use these powerful tools. Starting late in the game the parties had neither time nor resources (volunteers, workers) to put up good informative websites- some even seemed to have a good technical team. So it was start from zero.

After a decisive ‘Yes’- trying to meet the challenge head-on, the campaign teams looked at what worked for the Obama campaign and went through the check list. They did what was expected- copied parts of the campaign and tried to keep the Indian context in mind. Of course it turned out to be easier said than done.

We saw sites sprout overnight – some that were good and some that were not so good. Now everyone had a web presence- including on Facebook, Orkut, even on Twitter and YouTube channels.

A quick look at the tools used

Websites, mobile phones, social media and social networks- we had the following contenders, in the order of preference as observed as an outsider:

• Text or SMS messages: This was a clear winner. This tool is being used extensively to reach the masses. It is perhaps the one most capable of reaching a large number as India has over 380million cell phone users, though in reality the most passive. It was used well but again, if used for getting to masses was the main thing, then English as script was lost for those who could not read. Plus, after the few couple messages, these became a nuisance.

• Websites: Among the websites that cropped up, there was clearly very varied range in functionality, presentation and navigation. Most notable were: Rajeev Chandrashekar, Krishna Gowda, Bharatiya Janta Party, LK Advani, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia

• Facebook: Great global hype value- though very limited reach for Indian voters. The numbers ranged between a few hundred to a maximum of around 4,000.

• YouTube: Hype, entertainment, very limited audience in terms of Indian voters. Main reason being the lack of broadband connections and very slow data speeds (GPRS) on the phone. Numbers- did not cross over 100 views for direct campaigns.

• Orkut: Little hype – not a darling for global visibility but much better reach. Notable: BJP’s network of communities.

• Twitter: Great (currently greatest) global hype value. Very limited audiences for reaching Indian voters. Seemed to be a perfect blend of the mobile and the web on the face of it but mobile in India just did not work. Sample numbers: KrishnaGowda: 110 followers, updates 62. Rajeev Chandrashekar: 781 followers, updates 69

• Blogs: Medium hype value. Poor discoverability. Notable: RK Misra’s blog, Rajeev Chandrashekar’s blog, LK Advani’s blog

• Hi5: No hype value but some politicians wanted to cover them all.

• Mobile social networks: Still in its infancy. Observed a keen interest from the political parties and voters especially for data applications that used multimedia. The language barrier seemed to come down though data connections- cost and availability were the challenges. Some leaders went as far as pushing mobile applications for connecting supporters to leaders and to each other. (Notable: Ananth Kumar’s AKConnect powered by RockeTalk)

While it is great to see all these ongoing efforts, what was observed was that most leaders seemed to miss the point of using technology- giving the voters confidence that they could reach their leaders without running in to roadblocks. Gone are days when the leaders got away with talking ‘at’ the crowds. It is now becoming increasingly important to give the voters confidence that someone is listening to them and taking note of what the common person’s hopes, dreams and fears are.

Good technology means open communication- which in turn means allowing people to connect back, leave comments, giving them easy ways to reach their candidates- a point that most leaders missed totally.

Facebook, Twitter, Websites all done, no one seemed to have a clue as to what needed to be done next. Just having a web presence or a tech-tool isn’t enough to run a campaign. Making it known to the masses where they can reach the leaders easily is the key.

The mere fact that you are using the web/tech tools is useless if no one knows where to find you. My favourite analogy for this is winking at a hot beautiful girl in the dark- a total waste as you are the only one who knows what you did. Neither the girl nor the people around ever saw anything.

Running any kind of Web/technology campaign needs a dedicated effort, a team that keeps the content fresh and utilizes techniques to draw people in. And leaders who understand that they need to contribute their time and attention and interact frequently with the users!

That said, with very few broadband connections and unreliable and expensive data (GPRS) on the mobile phones mainstream tech-campaigns have a long way to go to really start making their mark. For those who are not familiar with the online trends, more people in India access the web from their mobile phones than on the computers. In fact, most students connect to the Internet through their mobile phones.

The defining moment for the web and mobile 2.0 will be the next election. The challenge will be to learn from the 2009 ‘experiments’ and keep the momentum going.

Note: Parts of this blog have been taken from an ongoing series. The series also has ongoing analysis of tools available, how they were used with updates coming soon on what needs to be done next to reap the benefits of the current efforts and to make these tools effective.

Coming soon- Part 2: Initiatives put together by volunteers, citizens.

Followed by Experiments in Technology Election 2009: Lessons Learnt