NEW DELHI: In an era of digital technology, can social media or influencers used as the medium to promote electoral literacy? The answer seems to be affirmative.
Several election officials told this newspaper that Delhi-based influencers are famous for their content on fashion, food, travel, and technology, among other topics, and with over 1,00,000 followers, they are being roped in to promote voting and related issues.
However, they said adequate caution was taken before engaging them in the election activity. “We looked through the profiles and selected those who are neutral and do not post objectionable content,” a senior officer said.
The influencers are being urged to create content about voter awareness and design fun and creative challenges related to voting which can go viral and encourage more people to get involved in the voting process.
According to officials, the educational content crafted to inform voters about the proper exercise of their voting rights spans a wide array of topics, including—the importance of elections, the electoral process, understanding the ballot, voting rights and voter suppression, voter registration, evaluating candidates and campaigns, NOTA among others.
Kinny Singh, District Magistrate (West) and returning officer of the West constituency said there is an urban apathy towards voting in the city. The campaign is expected to generate awareness and translate into footfalls at polling booths.
“We have noted a massive change in the media landscape and content consumption habits since last elections. The social and digital media
revolution has changed the media mix and the components of outreach campaigns. There was a need to leverage social media tools for better engagement of citizens particularly the youth to motivate them for electoral participation. For this, we have roped in 15 influencers so far on pro-bono basis. An orientation program was organized to engage with all selected creators enlisting them as voter icons,” she said.
“A hashtag has been created (#ShowUpToVote) which the influencers are using with their reels and videos on various platforms including YouTube and Instagram and educating the public about importance of participating in the electoral process,” said Kinny Singh.