COIMBATORE: District administration officials sought help from social media influencers to boost interest in voting among youngsters through their content. Also, the police have planned to start a dedicated cell to assist social media influencers verify the veracity of election-related news.
Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati in a meeting with social media influencers at the police commissioner on Friday said that the medium through which people get information these days is changing rapidly and the change in source of information from traditional to social media is a positive move. However, there is a dearth of resources to cross-check it.
When one gets any public-interest news, it is always good to verify if the news is true or not before sharing.
He added, “The voting percentage among youngsters is very low in Coimbatore. In urban places it stands up to 60 per cent and in rural areas it goes around 70-75 per cent. However, though the district is urbanised, it has an overall poor voting percentage. Now, with the support of social media influencers, we can reach out to their followers and make them cast their votes in the upcoming elections. Influencers can come up with the contents and the district administration can share basic information on elections.”
He further said that they have a plan to start a specific cell with the police to assist social media influencers to verify their queries and content related to the election processes they come across as it will help people create content without any false or misleading information. Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan asked the influencers to have a foolproof system for their content.