Hillary Clinton In India – The Social Media Phenomenon
Hillary Clinton is now in India. Anyone opening the front-page of any newspaper should be well aware of the fact by now. The wife of former President Bill Clinton who was closely tipped to be the first female President is now the US Secretary of State in the Obama administration. This was her first official visit to India. From commenting on Inclusive Education to India and Pakistan to saying that she considers India to be a Global Power, Hillary Clinton sure knows how to draw the media attention.
Hillary and Aamir talk about Education at St. Xaviers College, Mumbai
What is interesting is the attention given to the event on the Internet. We’d commented earlier about Politicians using Social Media, and this was possibly the first US and Indian election to receive so much publicity on social media platforms. Hillary Clinton’s visit to India can be kept tab on Twitter, and on Facebook. The account @Americagov on Twitter is the official mouthpiece following the visit. Alternatively, the facebook page eJournalUSA (maitained by United States Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs) witnesses a lot of activity encouraging Indians to comment on the impact of the US Secretary’s visit to India. Like all good social media coverage, the campaign on the social platform is cross-promoted via Flickr. The hashtag used on Twitter is #HillaryIndia.
Hillary Clinton speaking to members of SEWA - Hillary Ben strikes
Hillary Clinton is no stranger to Social Media. In the recent election, both she and fellow Democrat Barack Obama ran social media campaigns. Hillary Clinton was obviously no match for Barack Obama (who is the 7th most prolific Twitter celebrity). An analysis of both their campaigns is here.
The fact that Social Media is giving attention to the event is understandable and expected. What is important is to observe how much attention Social Media itself is receiving nowadays. I was watching television yesterday and was mildly surprised to hear “You can also follow the latest stories by Twitter on @<something>” (I forget which channel it was, possibly CNN-IBN). Newspapers are also catching on to the Social Media trend. Almost every newspaper has a twitter account (@DNA is probably the one with the most followers – with a good practice of following as many). The Hindustan Times (along with Livemint), however is one of the only newspapers to put their website so boldy on the front version of the print version – showing that the newspaper in India is yet to catch on to the importance of the web. The epaper has however become quite common in India (though the Hindu still has terms and conditions on their paper – with them retaining the right to charge) for almost every newspaper. Social Bookmarking is also present on most of the sites run by Indian Newspapers. What’s next – a RT (Retweet) option for every story?
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Hi Sid,
Very well said, this visit should have meant a lot to Indian politicians in the International scenario and specially in context with Indo-China and Indo-Pak bilateral relationships. Not even a year had gone for 26/11 and as per an article I have read by an EX- Army chief recently where he stated that China would attack India by 2012.
Rick
I agree with the importance of this visit to India. Also, Hillary Clinton has been engaging in a lot of media-centric activities as opposed to core politics. And statements like India being a global power are good stunts to improve India-USA relations. The Obama administration has also decided to improve terms in re the Nuclear Deal. But the article was more on Social Media and the hype on it. How social media in India is both news and news provider simultaneously. On a tangent, I don’t think China will attack India. The only thing they could gain is international condemnation and a waste of economic resources. Also, war is useful only if you conquer the nation, something China cannot do to India.