Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is being compared with Barack Obama, as Modi now comes second on the list of most popular politicians on Facebook. Obama stands on number one on the list. Modi has about 18.9 million “likes” on his Facebook profile. Nowadays, more and more politicians are increasingly using social media platforms as a political strategy. They use social media platforms like Facebook to come closer to the voters. It is believed that these platforms are a transparent way that brings politicians and voters closer and voters get a better chance to know the politicians. Modi uses social media platforms, especially Facebook, almost every day to share his thoughts and views with the public.
Facebook has contributed a lot to Modi’s success in Lok Sabha elections. Starting from the day when elections were announced to the day when polling ended, more than 29 million people in India interacted and posted comments regarding elections on Facebook. Modi used to update his followers daily on his Facebook profile with all his plans and promises that he has vowed to give people while he is in power.
In return, Modi used to get innumerable likes and comments, and all this eventually made him the second most popular politician on Facebook, only after Barack Obama.
Sheryl Sandberg is a social media major’s chief operating officer who is keeping a close eye on the politicians who are using social media platforms to put their life openly in front of voters.
Sheryl personally got so much impressed by Modi’s post that he had put up on his wall some time back, wherein he had asked for his mother’s blessings. Modi encourages fellow politicians also to use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with voters, especially at the time of devising policies the voter’s expectations and viewpoints can be taken into consideration via social media.
Sheryl is visiting India as a part of a promotional trip. Presently India has more than 100 million Facebook user base and it intends to increase this number by another billion in some time.
A round table conference was organized, where Sheryl addressed various business and media representatives. She revealed that Facebook eyes India as a very important market to invest in. Now as the Prime Minister of India has become the second popular personality on Facebook, it has become even more profitable for the company to invest in the country.