Social Media and Electoral Campaigns: A Study of 2013 General Elections in Punjab

Abstract

Social Media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, IMO, Twitter and Viber have become famous social interaction forums among all age groups in Pakistan. Social media websites remained the most common platform for the exchange of political ideas and political awareness, consequently influencing political mobilization and bringing change in the political setup of Punjab. This study evaluates the impact of social media on molding the behaviors of voters during the general elections in 2013.The aim was to quantify how social media websites affected political mobilization and altered the Pakistani political setup. The findings are based on a survey conducted amongst the population of Punjab belonging to different age groups, gender, profession, qualification, and localities. Significant correlations were found among different variables i.e. gender, age, profession and locality of the participants. This paper suggests that social media has affected the young population most in Pakistan and helped alter the politicalbehavior of voters.