The social networking sites in internet have been playing a major role in election. The aspirants of various office bearers’ posts in the Odisha Police Officer’s Association have been adopting the social media like facebook to gather support in their favour in an election which is going to be held on May next.
“Though the ballot paper will come by post and the men in khaki would cast their votes in the ballot paper and would return it by post, but the social media network would definitely play an important role for campaigning,” said an aspirant of the president post in the police body. “As we are police officials, so it is hard to contact with the officials who are officiating in outside districts. The only source of communicating with the officials is through telephones or cell phones. But then, one has to encounter the inevitable network problems. Therefore, the best way to communicate with the friends and colleagues is through internet and solicit their support,” said Amitav Mohapatra, a police officer of Pattamundai police station. Campaigns use social media because it reaches a large audience, spreads fast and encourages users to learn more about the candidates. The more is the online action, the better is the interaction, stated another police officer.
Social media is now a strong ‘weapon’ in the society. Social networks profoundly influence human behaviour and affect real-world voting. It has the potential to affect people, considering its growing popularity, sources added.