Indians have been more social in comparison to other societies of the
world. They like to be in touch with their relatives & friends. The
Marriage ceremony or any small function attracts a huge gathering. The person
who is more social is treated with respect in Indian society.
Indians are so social that in small town / village a person can be
recognized by his name or his father / grandfather’s name.
Since 1990, the trend started when lots of youth started migrating to
Metros for Job or better opportunity and thus in new city they lost their
identity and even their social life. This created an individual, who was
neither in touch nor concerned about the problems of his home town. Being away
from home town, this generation became inactive in socio – political issues.
This new class which emerged had a hidden desire of being social but lacked time
& avenues.
Social networking sites gave a platform to these youngsters, where they
were able to find their old friends and relatives spread over the globe. This
was one of the reasons for drastic growth in number of users in India. Orkut as
a social networking site gather momentum, and finally took over by Facebook
& Twitter. At present according to Internet
& Mobile Association of India, there are 6.80 Crore, Facebook users &
1.8 Crore Twitter account in India. This figure in future will go up as there
are 13.70 Crore Internet users in India, which is approx 11% of India total
populations.
The first phase of Social networking sites was over and the user were settled,
the group started discussing general issues, about the society and our country.
The New Channel were pouring news 24X7 in every house in 1990 decades, and thus
making people more informative on every issue. Those people, who were busy in earning through
job or self employment, were settled in life and now they started raising their
concern about the situation of the country. These people who were working in
Private organization were getting better salary, thus making their life easier.
They started comparing the service level of private sector with government
organization which leads to dissatisfaction towards government.
Being in Metro and working in private organization they started feeling
helpless on the situation of country and ineffective governance. The social
networking sites become the platform where they started discussing the issue
and raise their concerns. This gave the opportunity to outlet their frustration
and somewhere mental satisfaction.
The internet boom also gave direct access to information to the people,
who were earlier only relying on News Paper and then to the news channels. This
another direct source of Information led to a more conscious citizen, who
started evaluating the News shown on News Channels or News paper and wherever they felt wrong, the group
started targeting News Channel too. This lead to birth of a group called
“Social Media” and it’s started acting like a watch dog for Media. The
journalist who always challenged, system and leaders were now been questioned
by this Social Media group, which was uncomfortable to the journalist, many
negative reaction by senior journalist can be seen. The rise of Fifth Pillar of democracy was
obvious not welcome by other Four Pillars, but can’t be ignored too.
Being a democratic country, the
Freedom of Speech which was only on streets, can be avoided by Section 144, enters
into the gallery of Parliaments. Unwittingly it rang the bells of the highest temple
of democracy, and the power was alert, tried to tame down the flow through
Section 66A.
The “Social Media” now become tool, a tool to challenge, a tool to
propagate. It becomes a platform where a thought of people can come together
and implement their thought or protest on issue. The case can be seen in ANNA
Andolan & then after Protest against Rape incident of NIRBHAYA. The group
was same, who felt that they can contribute to a change, by devoting their
weekends. They got a place to protest and a group to strength. There was no
binding within the group, except a common cause. Social Media act as a glue to
these people who are concern about the society & the country and
participation in the democracy, which was only ONCE in five years, changed its
cycle. The participation by common
people in democracy is no more time bound but now issue based. An issue which
even ignored by Media can become an issue of “WE THE PEOPLE” thus completing
the Cycle of democracy.
An infant is born, but it will take time to grow up, it still have to
walk on its leg, which will help him to reach to the polling booth. The views,
the protest, the courage has to be converted into votes else it will be another
“Virtual Tiger”. The recent example of
Parvez Musharraf who was having approx 9 Lakhs Likes on his Facebook page &
22 Thousand followers on twitter, which compelled him to return to Pakistan
didn’t turn up on ground. They didn’t come out from the virtual world and
reality changed. Mr. Musharraf is house arrest, and not a single protest.
Considering the population of
India, the social media has a long way to go, remember Mahatma Gandhi ji
statement "The true India is to be found not in its few
cities, but in its seven hundred thousand villages”
