Social Media: Political Mobilizer to Evaluator

The present era is denoted as the social media era, due to its ever increasing popularity. Its role and influence have been felt in several spheres of human life. Politics is no exception. For a long time, political parties have tried to use social media for political communication and mobilization. This paper unfolds how the political parties use this online platform for mobilizing the common people. But it comes here with a twist. The paper has shifted its attention from viewing social media just as a political mobilizer to a political evaluator. The paper seeks to analyse the ‘Mobiluator’ (Mobilizer + Evaluator) role of social media – how it redefines politics and, in the process, how it modifies itself. The role of the social media is thus evaluated in the background of Indian politics in general with special emphasis on Indian political parties and their leaders.