How To Buy Friends & Influence Elections

No matter how rich Bill Gates is and how successful Microsoft is, it is widely known and acknowledged that he failed to read the Internet trend when it began. Early 1990s he couldn’t see it clearly and MS had to bundle Internet Explorer with Windows to combat Netscape. There are many other internet-applications companies that MS simply couldn’t catch up with. Even today Internet Explorer isn’t the No.1 browser. Others like Firefox, Chrome and so on have taken up a good bit of space. In business, it’s a huge advantage to be the first to take off. Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first but not many may be able to name the second man to set foot on the moon. (Are you wondering who?)

It’s a famous song by The Beatles: “Can’t buy me love” but I’ve got news for you. There’s also a movie of the same name titled “Can’t buy me love” in which the hero rents a girlfriend for $1000 for a month. Hmm! Are you available? If you are, you’re in luck! Someone’s just decided to buy a lot of friends on the Social Media. What do you do? Send in your profile to the guy who gave that “Badminton” speech on January 20. Here’s the good news:

According to reports, Kapil Sibal, the guy who earlier wanted to choke the internet and social media, the Congress party would need to spend 100 Crores to buy fraaands and influence votes through the social media. The other guy, foul-mouthed Digvijaya Singh, who ironically heads the party’s Communication Cell feels the BJP is leading on the social media front and Congress got left behind. The best part? Both these wiseguys have decided a strategy would be formed and presented to Rahul Gandhi, the “Badminton” boy. So essentially what they’re thinking is that the RSS invented social media, Narendra Modi nurtured it and the Hindu terrorists have overwhelming presence on it. Yeah! Move over Social Genius ‘Internet Hindus’ is now passé. After Sushil Shinde’s remark on Hindu Terror, the call-sign is now changed to “Internet Terrorists”. Except for the stray presence of Diggy on Twitter, the other guys don’t have any presence and still probably believe Al Gore invented the internet. Nothing to worry, help is always around.

Remember all those tweets you get promising to get you thousands of followers in just a few hours or days? That would be a good starting point for Congress. Of course, there are Twitter champions like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Bhupendra Chaubeji, Ashutosh, Nikhil Wagle and even Pankaj Pachauri, the PM’s media advisor. No, I haven’t forgotten! They also have Twitter Goddesses Sagarika Ghose and her protégé Pallavi Ghosh. With a whole team and these two ladies batting for Congress, a solid start is assured. So while these guys have been called PaidMedia for Congress so far, now there’s a new meaning to it; they will now be PaidSocialMedia. I hope the party also needs some bloggers (Hint! Hint!). Someone on Twitter has also suggested maybe the Congress should float a TwitterNREGA. Not a bad idea for a bunch of brain dead people who still don’t understand how SM works.

Diggy and the Congress still remain under the impression that the SM in India has been driven by RSS or Narendra Modi. Well, what can I say! If the doc diagnoses your common cold as cancer he is bound to make you spend 100 Crores. Hey, later on don’t complain if we make some noise about the ‘100Cr tag’ just like someone created serious heartburns with the ‘50Cr tag’. So how do we help the party spend the 100 crores? The first point is always those paid-follower sites which guarantee you millions of followers like this one:

There is a harsh truth behind the Congress’ SM plan. It’s that the MSM has failed to help the party’s fortunes. Despite their best attempts, channels like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and the gang don’t seem to have worked wonders for the party. All the Tulika ads during the Gujarat campaign haven’t paid off. In the print media, newspapers like Hindustan Times seem to have failed them. Remember, this is despite the fact that the last HT Summit was best funded by Govt PSUs. Social Media has now become a watchdog over the MSM; there can’t be any more doubts about it. All the lies, half-truths and propaganda by MSM have been successfully dismantled by SM. Congress feels the threat because there’s a forecast that by 2014 there will be 200 million internet users in India. Let’s try and examine some features influencing SM.

1) First and foremost most of the SM people who are successful in getting their message out are well-educated people. Historically, that is not the Congress vote-bank. In fact, I’d go a step further in stating that Congress thrives by keeping people uneducated and uninformed.

2) Being connected for serious participation on SM requires stable power supply. There’s hardly any Congress-ruled state that isn’t facing power problems. This is a failure that will affect not just their SM constituency but life in general.

3) Unlike MSM, SM is mostly “user-generated” content that comes out of genuine interest and beliefs. I doubt money can buy that. Sure, there are some people who can be bought but usually they are the ones who don’t really have thinking skills or writing skills that can have a great influence. You know, like the bimbo on Twitter who said villages in Maharashtra had internet connection in 1995.

4) The Congress foolishly thinks NaMo’s success is partly due to his presence on SM. Wrong! NaMo gained followers and admiration for “performance” and not for “presence”. By Congress logic Shashi Tharoor should be far more influential for the Congress as its SM brand ambassador. Doesn’t work like that!

Now, being on SM is all about being “connected” with people. If the Congress were to really learn from Modi they’d have to learn that Modi “connects” everywhere. He connects on the SM and he connects with villagers in rural Gujarat. In contrast people like Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are being booed when they visit Amethi or Rae Bareli. The duo had to beg Mulayam Singh for non-stop power supply in their constituencies as a favour. No villager has to beg NaMo for such a favour. Does that teach them anything? No! The Congress still believes money can buy fraaands.

The other thing is historically the communists and the MSM have perpetrated a fake history on Indians when it comes to the Mughals, the British and many other historic events. They have even turned patriots into villains. This correction of history is undertaken on the SM by many good writers and researchers and nobody pays them to do this. Their only drive is their love for their country and truth. The anti-Hindu MSM, similar to Shinde’s “Hindu Terror” comment, has always been biased against the Hindus. Many SM people make a strong effort in correcting this bias. They aren’t paid for this. The MSM may help sustain the Congress propaganda or campaign of half-truths but propaganda usually gets exposed and rejected on the SM. Lies and half-truths get destroyed on the SM. Every lie, deception, distortion and negligence by the MSM has been exposed by people on the SM. If Congress believes spending money will gain friends and influence votes they haven’t fathomed SM yet. That is why it appears they’re going for Chemotherapy to treat the common cold.

The Congress team for SM is going to be headed by Rahul Gandhi and assisted by the likes of Digvijay and Kapil Sibal. Two of them don’t have any presence worth the mention. The third, Diggy, is the comic relief on Twitter who gets ridiculed every step of the way. Modi was vilified by the MSM, he became a hero on the SM, that’s the reason his supporters have campaigned heavily for him without seeking any payment for it. Unlike the sycophants in the Congress party that fall at the feet of “Madamji” and the prince, SM doesn’t have a sycophant culture that can be bought. Seriously, you can’t pass 66A as law on one hand and hope to succeed on the SM.

Hard truth is that for over 60 years the Congress, the Commies and the MSM wiped out the Hindu voices from public discourse. Let me add that everything connected with Hindus, like the RSS, BJP or any party was painted as “Evil” by these political parties and the top media celebs to appease their favourite minority group. The Hindu practices and rituals were rubbished. Their temples were looted to pay out doles. Technology has this potential to destroy lies, distortions, deceptions and injustices. It is laughable that those who couldn’t do justice in the public domain are now seeking to redeem themselves on the SM. Take the case of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Their voices were destroyed by the MSM but they’re being heard on the SM. You need to spend money to buy lies and propaganda. You don’t need money to buy truth. Too late the Social Hero!