Tamil Nadu parties take to cloud and social media to woo voters

CHENNAI: When the DMK decided to distribute a manual for effective functioning of district level functionaries, it was not surprising that handling of social media featured in it prominently . Over the past week, among other party-related issues, DMK treasurer MK Stalin has been talking to party representatives coming in from various districts in Tamil Nadu on the importance of using social media efficiently .

The tone for this was set months ago when Stalin hopped on to micro-blogging and social networking platforms to reach out instantly to cadres and supporters. “We are seeing the results of these efforts,“ says DMK organising secretary TKS Elangovan.

“In a recent survey (carried out by a private media house), the DMK has emerged as the most-popular party in the state, and we do believe the online campaigns have and an important part to play,'' Elangovan told ET. The party has been asking its district representatives to communicate effectively on sites like Facebook and more importantly to study the profiles of people who are approaching DMK representatives through the internet.

Arch rival and ruling AIADMK is however attempting to make use of information technology to a different level. While communicating with party representatives and the common man through social networking is already happening, the AIADMK now wants to introduce a problem solving mechanism through cloud computing.