HYDERABAD: If elections were an Instagram poll, which party would win? As the state heads for elections in a week, the heat on social media platform Instagram, to which most millennials are hooked, is not as vibrant as one would expect, not in the least when compared to other social media sites. The only party making some noise seems to be the TRS which is going strong with 16.4k followers.
The Congress is a distant second with 6.1k followers and the BJP has little presence. This despite the fact that over 6 lakh people are first-time voters who would be on the platform which is known to be fast beating Facebook and Twitter in terms of number of users. The TRS despite having the strongest presence, has gone with a basic approach by only posting the various developmental works undertaken by the government in pictures and graphics.
Going by the handle’s name, ‘trspartyonline’, they ensure to keep the pink party’s presence felt. “On Instagram, we prefer keeping it very basic and encourage only positive coverage. There is no satire or attack from this handle and we try and avoid interaction,” noted an official from the PR team of the TRS.
The Congress, which goes by the name ‘inctelangana’, on the other hand, has been engaging its audience through posts that mostly end up criticising the TRS-led government. They have been going big on the hashtag ‘KCRfailedTelangana’. The handle has also seen a spurt in activity since the election season began, with more focus on candidates from different constituencies in the State.
Surprisingly, the BJP seems to be on the back foot, despite having done an impressive job in making its presence felt on social media in the 2014 polls. So are political parties failing to milk the ‘influencer’ abilities of the social media platform? “We have an account but have consciously decided to not use it. The main reason being there is no reach. The appeal for it is only in urban areas. Our focus instead has been on Twitter, WhatsApp groups and YouTube channels,” noted Venkata Ramana, state convenor for IT Cell and Social Media for BJP.