An article by Sumaiya Rizvi in the Daily Mirror looks at the use of web media and social networking by the contenders in Sri Lanka’s recently held Presidential Election. Titled Presidential Campaigns grooving to New Media, Sumaiya notes,
Regardless of the extent of its appeal to the larger Sri Lankan population the campaign planners have realized its effects on the audience that can make a decisive vote. New media or these sites associated with new media are likely to have a larger impact on the youth population of this country that include the first time voters or swing voters that are always an integral concern of the campaign planners is a point to take note of… New media epitomizes a candidate’s ability to speak to an audience directly and is thus obvious that no candidate is taking their race lightly. New media websites and applications encourage greater social networking where supporters or campaign planners can initiate support groups favourable for their candidate and create an online fan base, it can also go against them since anyone and everyone has free hand in creating an account or hate group.
Read this article as a PDF here.
For a related article on the use of web media for dissent and activism, read Smriti Daniel’s article in the Sunday Times, published last year, here.
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[...] Sumaiya Rizvi in the Daily Mirror also covered the use of social media during the campaign. What on page 13 of the report getting only passing reference – the unsolicited SMS’s from the President received during January – is covered in more detail on Groundviews in The Shocking Behaviour of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. [...]