Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election 1 1

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election 1 1

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

1

1. ABSTRACT
Communication is an important factor in all spheres. In this information age, new media
become more powerf ul for communication. New me dia most commonly refers to
content available on-demand through the inte rne t, accessible on any digital device,
usually containing interactive uses feedback and creative participation. A defining
characteristic of new me dia is dialogue. New media has become an unavoidable part of
everyday life around the world.
New me dia and politics were directly proportionate. Now day’s political parties were
using new me dia for political campaigning. It will be an effective way of communication
towards people. Through this political participation also increases. Branding of
politicians was completely changed through the use of new media. After all the trolls
and cartoons become more popular and it will create a sense of humor in people’s
mind.
In our country, ne w me dia become more familiar and it is a major communication way
to propose something to people. This study designed to enqui re upon the i mpact of new
media on politics especially during the pe riod of election. Pe ople use new me dia usually
for getting entertainme nt value. Only voters have enough knowledge about election and
politics, so they are the sample of this study. New media platforms have their own
position among people, because new me dia connect pe ople beyond limits. New media
is so cost effective and easy to access. While Election Days everyone watc h political
news in new media, that’s why they comment their opinion on the spot. So it shows that
new me dia gives a platform for f ree of speech.
The study f ocusing that influence of ne w media on youth, adult a nd senior citizen while
election. Senior citizen won’t inte rest to use new me dia for election, but youth
participation on election was increased. Most of pe ople believe in traditional type of
election campaigning. But the new methods of campaigning make power to raise voice
by public.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

2

2. INRODUCTION
The term ne w media was emerged at the end of the 20th century. New media can get
access at any time or anywhe re, normally on a mobile device using the inte rnet.
Compare olde r forms of me dia, new media is much more de moc ratic with the potential
for anyone to create, publish and distribute their own work using the internet and
popular websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia and twitter. New media
connects people who are living in different countries, and personal blogs, websites and
pictures can see by these friends. New me dia has to be used to educate, organize and
share cultural and social ideas with large bodies of people. The new me dia makes it
possible to create, modify and share content. The process of online content generation
is generally free of cost or less expensive.
Mass communication is a fast growing sector. Uni maginable changes become realities in
its day to day affairs. New medium is one of them. As the name indicates it is new to the
scientific and social communities. Inf ormation at the fingertip is the most important
characteristics of new media which revolutionized media world and information order.
Interactive media have the potential to take huge holes in the news net that emphasizes
stories that can be placed in time and space. New me dia provide multifaceted facilities.
News about eve ry incident happen anywhe re is reachable to any other exte nt within a
few minutes.
2.1 BRIEF HITORY OF INTERNET
The invention of inte rne t has revolutionized the entire communication systems a
compute r technology than any othe r inventions of digital world. I nte rnet i ntegrated the
qualities of most of its procedure technologies like telephone, radio, and c ompute r. The
popularity of internet technology boomed in the nineties after the advent of World
Wide Web by Ti m Berne rs lee. This enabled coordinating websites and provides
information and resources to c ommon users. Advanced research project agency (ARPA)
was derived in 1957, which is responsible for the devel opment of ne w media
technology. The digital communication technology was named as internet in 1973. The

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

3

term World Wide We b was coined by Tim Berne rs Lee in 1990. In the first web browser
was created with the name of MOSAIC web browser. Java the independent
prog ramming language was launched in 1995.Yahoo! was founde d in the same year,
which provide d web search engine, email service. Google was found in September 4,
1998. In 2001 Wikipedia and In 200 4 Facebook which ope ned wi th a new e ra of social
networki ng. In the same yea r G mail, the e mail service of Google, was created by Paul
Buchhiet. The video sharing website YouTube was launched in 2005 and i n 2006 twitter
also found.
New medium is affecting positively and negatively to people especially young natives,
over 25 years. Old media of television and movies still have on youth because, those
messages are highlighting through adve rtising which are reach directed to children and
adolescents. The researches pointing that adolescent get more than childre n while
watching TV. When it comes to the ne w me dia, the e me rgence of vide o gaming
becomes an addiction to children. Teens that use Facebook more often show more
narcotize d tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show
more signs of other psychol ogical disorders, including anti-social behavior, mania and
aggressive tendencies. Daily overuse of me dia and technology has a negative effect on
the health of all children, pre-teens and teenagers by making the m more prone to
anxiety, depression, and othe r psychol ogical disorders, as well as by making them more
susceptible to future health problems. Facebook can distract and can negatively impact
learning. Studies found students who checked Facebook at least once duri ng a 15-
minute study period achieved over gende rs. Young adults who spend more time on
Facebook are be tter at showing “virtual empathy” to their online friends.
2.2 NEW MEDIA ELEMENTS
The main three eleme nts of new media are media conve rgence, information
Supe rhighway, global village and gate keeping in new media.
i) Convergence Media: Convergence means that ‘coming together of two or
more things’. It is a co-existence or merging of several media forms such as

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

4

television, print and inte rne t in a combined digital platform. Some of the dish
television provi ders also avails internet service through the same set top box
for distributing television signals. This can be an example of media
convergence. Multi media functions unde r the theory of conve rgence.
Various media elements like video, audio, print, ani mation a re coming
togethe r to form a multi media program.
ii) Information superhighway: The term inf ormation superhighway refers to
the digital communication systems and interne t telecommunication network.
It is an information and communication ne twork which interlinks and shares
information betwee n all kinds of electronic devices via internet and
telecommunications. Broadband network is delivered through optic fiber
cables that provide high speed ne twork connection. This enables the sharing
of video, online gaming, interactive television, video calling. The specialty of
information supe rhighway is that it interconnects diverse elements like
individuals, households, firms and organization.
iii) Global Village: The term global village is coined by famous mass media
theoretician Marshal McLuhan. The worl d has been contracted or re duced
into a village by electric technology and the rapid moveme nt of information
from eve ry qua rte r to eve ry poi nt at the same time. T he electric speed
heightened human aware ness of responsibility to an extreme point. The
information technology develops an idea of unified world or global society.
Increased speed of communication helped in the disseminating an
information worldwide. This forced the society to become more involved
with one anothe r from various social groups and countries around the World
and to be more aware of our global responsibilities
iv) Gate keeping in new media: It is the process through which informati on is
filtered for distribution, whether for publication, broadcasting, the inte rnet,
or some other mode of communication. Gate keeping occurs at all levels of

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

5

the me dia structure. The individuals can also act as gatekeeper, deciding
what information to include in an email or in a blog.
The shaping of public opinion and lays the foundations of political beliefs is because of
the powe rful influe nce of ne w media on politics. The me dia have been the pre-
dominant source of political informati on f or citizens in a de moc ratic society. During the
election new media plays a crucial role.
2.3 2016 ELECTIONS IN INDIA
India is a democratic country. The legislative assembly elections in India are the
elections in which the Indian electorate choose the me mbe rs of Legislative or state
assembly. They are held in 5 years and the me mbe rs of the legislative assembly are
called MLA). In 2016 election include only 5 state legislative assembly that are Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, and Puduc herri. The dates of election were
announced on 4 March 2016. The election commission decided to conduc t election as 6
phases. First phase of voti ng was held on April 4, for 1 8 constituencies. Second phase
was April 17 for 56 constituencies in Bengal. Third phase was on April 21, fourth was on
April 25. In April 30 the fifth phase and In 64 assembly constituencies more than 18,000
vote r-verified-pape r audit trail (VVPATs) used in these 5 elections. Assam and West
Bengal elections held on April 4 and Ke rala, Puduche rri, and Tamil Nadu held on May
162016. I n Assam assembly election, it was an a mazing entry of B haratiyaJanatha Pa rty
(BJP). Because Assam was ruled by Indian National Congress (INC) in previous years. In
the 126 seats BJP won 60 seats and the elected chief minister is SarbanandaSonowal. In
West Bengal election held for 294 seats and All India Trinamool Congress under the
leadership of MamataBanarjee won 2 11 seats. The election commission decided to
conduc t election as 6 phases in West Bengal. First phase of voting was held on April 4,
for 18 constitue ncies. Second phase was April 17 for 56 constituencies in Bengal. Third
phase was on April 21, fourth was on April 25. In April 30 the fifth phase and sixth phase
on May 5 was conducte d. In the previous election in 2011, All India Trinamool Congress
in a coalition with INC won a majority and ended the 34 years rule of the Left Front

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

6

government. I n Ke rala general election for the 14th legislative assembly held on May 16
and won a clear victory with 91 in 140 seats by Left Democratic Party. And the leader of
Kerala constituency is PinarayiVijayan. 30 membe rs elect in the Pondicherry
constituencies in the non-contiguous territory. INC won 15 in 30 seats. In Tamil Nadu
again AIADMK won under the leadership of Jayalalitha. In 234 they won 136 seats with
powe rful governme nt.
This was the 2016 election in India and it is positively influenced by ne w me dia. Election
PR, Ads, and othe r informa tion related to election were included in new me dia. The
social media and websites are given lots of news and gossips too. Election PR was very
hard to politicians before the wide reach of new media. Now communication is very
easy and any political party and politician can improve their social status through the
use of new media. In early ti mes political PR was through speech, notice, posters…etc.
New media is very fast and we don’t want spend more ti mes for their speech. I n mainly
election and related news will comes first in online newspape rs, social media. Then only
television, radio and other media we re published. Ne w media has lots of types. These
media are very i mportant in our daily life. Because we people are living in the
informational age.

2.4 KERALA ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN 2016
Kerala Assembly elections were held on May 16 and the results were declared on 19
May 2016. The CPI (M)-led Left Democ ratic Front won with 91 seats and the congress-
led United Democratic Front (UDF) won only 47 seats in the 140 constituencies in Kerala
state. CPI (M) polite bureau me mbe r Pinarayi Vijayan, who represents Dharmadam
constituency, is elect as the chief minister of Ke rala. The major parties in Kerala are
leftist LDF and the centrist UDF. Besides these two parties the thi rd major challenger in
Kerala is the emergence of BJ P. Its alliance is Sree Narayan Dharma Pari palana (SNDP)
and Bharath Dharma Jana Se na (BDJS). Other parties are communist party of I ndia

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

7

(Marxist), communist party of India, Indian national congress, Indian union Muslim
league and Kerala congress.

2.5 HISTORY OFKERALA ELECTION ANDKERALA LEGISLATURE
It contains law, and it is very important body of Kerala. In I ndia, 29 states have
legislative assembly. Ke rala legislature includes 140 assembly me mbe rs and 1 one is
representing as Anglo Indian. Who is elected from these 140, is the Member of
Legislative Assembly (MLA). The Kerala legislative assembly have a speaker, deputy
speaker, leader of house (chief minister), and leader of opposite party. Elections in
Kerala are commonly deciding by the election commission of India. And it will conduct in
both Kerala and India as a whole. If any changes needed to state elections the
parliament should approve it in directly.
The legislative council in Travancore was forme d in 1888. It was first native legislature in
Indian sub-continent. The fi rst assembly election in Ke rala was held on Februa ry 28-
march 11, out of the total 126 seats , 11 seats are reserved for scheduled castes and 1
for scheduled tribes. The communist party of India won the election with 60 seats. E.M.S
Namboodi ripad was the first chief minister in Kerala. It was the first time communist
party came to powe r through ballot. 5 of the independent candidates returne d to
house, had the support of the communist party elections, and they joined the
communist legislature party. An agitation known as liberation struggle was launched by
the congress led opposition and the president issued on 31st July 1959, 9 Proclamation
unde r article 356 of constitution dissolving the assembly and introducing president’s
rule in the state.
Elections were held on 1stFebruary, 196 0, for the first time, the polling throughout the
state was held on single day. Pattam A ThanuPillai of the P.S.P took ove r on Fe bruary 22,
as the coalition chief minister leading a council of eleven ministers. But the relinquished
the reins of powe r of Septe mber 25, 1 962, consequent on his appointment as governor
of the Punjab. Then R. Shankar beca me chief minister and he continues for 2 yea rs. A

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

8

political crisis was precipitated in Septembe r 1964 which resulted in the formation of a
dis-agreeing group in the congress legislature party. This group consists of 15 MLA’s lent
support to a non-confidence motion move d by the P. S.P leade r P. K. Kunju against the
Shankar ministry on Se pte mbe r 8.
Elections were next held on 4th March, 1965. Ne w deli mitation of the constitue ncies
increased their me mbe rs to 133. Without any alliance, the INC fought elections in all
seats. Communist party split into CPI a nd CPI ( M). INC won 36 seats, CPM-40, SSP-13,
ML-6, CPI-3, Kerala congess-23, Independe nts-12. As the final post-election picture
emerged, no single party, could from a ministry commandi ng majority. So the 1965
election was abortive. I n 19 67 Ke rala went to nex t poll after abortive pe riod. Second
Namboodi ripad ministry was formed on 6th Marc h, 1967. On this period assembly led to
the formation of an eight-me mber cabinet, was headed by Achuthamenon, who was not
a sitting membe r of the assembly on 1st November 1969.
K. Karunaka ran, the congress leader took charge of chief minister on March 25, 1977
election and f orme d a two me mber ministry. On April 25, 1977 Karunakaran resign due
to the Rajan case, and A.K Antony became the chief minister, but in 1 978 A. K Antony
also resigned.
In 1980 the elections were held on 3rd, 6th January LDF won 93 seats. E.K Nayanar of
CPM heade d a 17 member’s ministry. The 9thLoksabhaelection were held on 22nd
Nove mbe r 1989 in Ke rala. The 11th assembly was held on May 10, 2001 and UDF got 99
seats. The chief minister was A.K Antony. But in 200 4 he was resigned and
OomenChandi assumed charge as chief minister. 12th Legislative Assembly election held
on April 22, 29 and May 3, 2006. A 19 membe r’s ministry headed by V.S
Achuthananthan. In 2011 election Oome nchandi elected as chief minister on May 23.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

9

2.6 NEW MEDIA AND ELECTION
The new media’s influence on elections has been substantial. The impact of new media
changed the way of candidates and their campaigns interact with citizens, and for two-
way dialogue and interaction. The people are movi ng to f ollow social media sites to
know the current position of election news and developments. Citizens are inc reasingly
using new media because of the access of internet a round the globe. Ne w me dia played
a major role in 2014 Indian election. Nare ndra modi was the second most “liked”
politician on Facebook in the world, when he became as the pri me minister on May 26,
2014. Arvind Guptahead, head of the social media campaign for Modi’s party said, “We
saw a trend, we read this trend, whe re the youth of the country were embracing social
media as their first tool when they starte d using the Internet, and we made sure our
presence was there”.

2.7 TYPES OF NEW MEDIA
New media is not a single media. The name de notes its relevance, because this is a new
media. The types of new media are social media, online newspapers, blogs, websites
…etc.
i) Online newspaper: This is one of type of new media. It is actually like a printed
newspaper, but the online version. T his is like hard copy Newspapers, and has
same legal formats such as libel, privacy and copyright. Public can comment
anything while reading the news. In online newspape rs numbe r of links will
attached and it is good to know detailed inf ormation about any issue. We can
read wide and clear all doubts through links. While compare to print
newspapers, online newspapers have more space for writing news, Ads, pictures,
videos…etc. In this media the information are divided as pages and each page
carry more inf ormation. In political, business, health, education, sports, life style,
entertainme nt…etc. are the various pages. People can read their own interests
and can save more ti me tha n reading of print. Online Ne wspapers are always

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

10

colorful and get attention to pe ople. I n social media sites everyone f ollow these
online ne wspapers, because they want to know latest issues. Online Newspaper
Have no specific structure for writi ng. But current informati on can get easily.
People can read in their own regional language. In most times online newspapers
give importance to gossips, because of the marketing strategies.
E.g.: Onmanora ma, Mathrubhumionline, times of India online…etc.
ii) Website: A website is a collection of web pages, including multi-me dia content,
which was identified with a common domain name, and published on at least
one web serve r. Websites have ma ny functions and can be used in vari ous
fashions. There are different types of websites such as; personal website,
commercial website for a ny company, governme nt website or a non-profit
organization website. Website will be an individual’s work, an organization or
business or some other special purposes. In some cases websites require
subscription. Business sites, academic journal sites, parts of news websites, file
sharing websites, gaming websites, web based email…etc. are the examples of
subscription websites.
iii) Blog: This is a discussion or informational website. Blogs provide more
information and it is just like a diary. So blog writing is like diary writing. People
can add photos, videos, and other f orms of communications. Such creative
things will increase the publicity and get more followe rs. If it is a personal blog
we can save our personal informati on. But through public blogs we can share our
creativity to a mass audience. People can comment on our works and in
sometimes we can impress any business person for any job by these works. Posts
are displayed in reve rse chronol ogical order, and then only the newly arrived
posts come first. Web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of conte nt by
non-technical users, and this was the emergence and growth of blog. In some
blogs provide commentary on politics and sports. Blog owne rs or authors want
to check every comment, and they can remove any bad comments or offensive.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

11

iv) Social media: These are compute r-mediated technologies, which is an online
communication channel allow to creating and sharing of information, ideas,
career interests, facts, and other expressions via internet. T hese media are
familiar to everyone, because of the fast reach. This is an interactive web. In this
media people can upload photos, videos, posts, comment…etc. Social media is
for public, so we can interact with various people and create good friendship.
Now the business dealings are through these media. In some cases the job
interviews are announcing and education news, job vacancies are also providing
through these media. Social media are used web based technologies, mobile
technologies…etc. Quality, reach, freque ncy, usability, immediacy and
permanence are the important factors of social media. There are different types
of social media, such as Facebook, twitte r, LinkedI n, Pinterest, YouTube,
Wikipedia, Instagram…etc.
v) Facebook: This is a free online social networking site. Which allows to users to
create their profile with photos and they can upload vide os, posts, and through
these media numbe rs of groups were forme d for welfare activities. In this period
no-one is living without any Facebook account. Now eve ry me dium have
Facebook account and they have f ollowers. In recent years Facebook become a
fashion and people who are asking their Facebook ID on thei r communication.
vi) Twitter: This is another type of social media. It is a free micro blogging service. It
will allow registering short posts that is known as “tweet”. Their followe rs can
see their updates. Tweets are included hype rlinks and it has 140 characte rs. This
is to create tweets into a conversation thread or connect the m to a general
topic; me mbers can add hash tags to a keyword in their post. These hash tag is
shown as #keyword. T weets can deliver to followers in real time ; they might
seem like instant messages to the novice user. People can tweet their own posts
and reply as tweet.
vii) Wikipedia: It is a free open social media and it is a type of encyclopedia. It is one
of the first social media. A community of users known as “Wikipedians”, who

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

12

created and put informati on through Wikipe dia. This will contain each and every
information in the world. People can search anything for detailed information.
The sites name come f rom wiki, a serve r program that ena bles anyone to edit
website conte nt through thei r we b browser. Jimmy wales and Larry Sanger co-
founded Wikipe dia as an offshoot of an ea rlier encyclope dia project, nupe dia, in
January 200 1. Originally Wikipedia was created to provide content f or nupedia.
This is the seventh most popular sites on the internet.
viii) LinkedIn: It is a social networking site, which is mainly designed to business
people. And it allows free me mbership too. I t was launched in May 2003.The
profile page of Linke dIn me mbe rs should specify emphasis skills, employment
history and education, has professional network news feeds and a limited
numbe r of customizable modules. LinkedIn requi res connects to have a pre-
existing relationship, while compare to othe r f ree social media like Facebook,
twitte r…etc. LinkedI n was co-founded by Reid Hoffman, a forme r executive vice
precedent in charge of business and corporate devel opment.
ix) Pinterest: It is social curation website, it is usually share images. Pinterest is
the combination of “Pin” and “Inte rest”. Its categories include architecture, food
and drink, science and travel and other possibilities. Pinterest give brief
descriptions, but main importance is for visual effect. It is founded by Ben Silber
Mann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp.
x) YouTube: This very important social media, because this is most commonly
using one. In this site users can upload video, view, rate, and share, add to
favorites, report and comment on video. This was an Ame rican video sharing
website. But in Nove mbe r 2006, it was bought by G oogle. User can view videos
like films, TV shows, interviews, cooking…etc. Un-registered users can only watch
video. But they cannot upl oad videos. In YouTube, users get more clear
information with visual effects. In 2016 this website was ranked as the second
most popular site. Online Ads are another important factor in YouT ube. Each Ads
very attractive and they create people attention.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

13

xi) Instagram: It is an online photo sharing site, which enables people to take
pictures and share thei r photos as publically or privately to this app. Instagram is
using with the help of othe r social media platforms such as Facebook,
twitte r…etc. in August 2015, version 7.5 was released. Instagram was created by
Kevin systrom a nd Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile
app. It is distribute d through the Apple App store and G oogle play. The service
was acquired by Facebook in April 2012. In 2013 I nstagram grew by 23%, while
Facebook, as the pare nt c ompany, only grew 3 %.Theseare the various types of
new me dia. Each medium have wide reach and every one we re familiar with it.

2.8 FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA
New media is a big platform, it c reate a beautiful world f or users. There a re lots of
reasons for to use new media in our daily life. It is very fast media and it have wide
reach. There are more features for new media. That are Digital, personalized, hype rtext,
interactivity, networked and simulation.
? Digital: This is an important feature. In this media is transferred into binary
codes. It is to retrieve anything, and ve ry easy to calculate of computati ons
without any delay of ti me. But the contents are inhere ntly machine language. As
an output f orm it can be seen as online sources. These outputs are to decoded
and received as screen displays. The opposite of digital is analogue. Analogue
media is fixed, it does not change.
? Personalized: New media is becoming more powerful, and it became more
personal. These media are available in any smart phone, so the use of new
media also changes as personal. Values and life style make changes in peoples
mind.
? Hypertext: Providing of linkage within documents, creating through a body of
information. Non-linear media is the common hype rtext me dia. It is very
important part of history of computing. Hyperlinks help to seen previous post.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

14

? Interactivity: New me dia allows users to get more involveme nt. I t’s a two way
communication, people are interacting to others without face to face, but inter
personally or public communication. In ne w me dia people can comme nt on news
pieces, writings, posts…etc. interactivity includes interactive c ommunications,
hype rtext navigation, and interactivity and proble ms of textual interpretati ons.
Interactivity creates more relations, increate knowledge, ideas…etc.
? Networked: This is the main point of ne w media. The ne twork availability is to
share conte nt through inte rnet. Through network c onnecti on it takes relation to
othe rs.
? Simulation: It creates a virtual life which is represented through digital
technology. Basically it is a creation of artificial world that represent as real one.
This is also an important point, because while playing video games, children are
creating a new world. So new media creates people to a free space and they
make it global world.
These are the various features of new media. Such features complete all functioning of
new me dia. New me dia digital life to all, and involves directly to social welfare activities,
political and economic transition. New me dia can simply me ntion that, it is subtle,
unrestricted, and not standardize d. But new media are good to use, easy
transactions…etc. Advantages and dis-advantages are also important in ne w media.

2.9 TRADITIONAL VERSUS NEW MEDIA
The traditional and new media have exactly some major differences.
? In the traditional media the concept of networking is absent. There is only a way
to read publications, which cannot be changed immediately. In the ne w media,
there is constant scope for improvisation, change and immediate improve me nt.
? While compare to these two media, ne w media enc ourage two way
communication and is highly interactive. New me dia give scope and space for

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

15

discussion. Consumers can interact with one anothe r, and give valuable
feedbacks.
? Message is the primary mover in traditional media and success depends on the
attractiveness of the message. But in new media, everything feels like a friend’s
advice. It is more intimate and gives effective message.
? While compare to the publication ti me of tra ditional me dia, new me dia is very
less in time. The desired message can publish only with a click of mouse, and it
will spread around world. Major drawback of tra ditional media is its
broa dcasting speed is significantly large. Traditional and new me dia have same
goal that well informe d about its produc t to the consume r but supe rior
technology has smoothened these process and has given the ne w social media
an edge over the traditi onal media.

2.10 ADVANTAGES OF NEW MEDIA
i) Cost saving: New media advertising is less expensive, than other media and it
eliminates travel expensive. In this digital area online marketing is now probably
using one. People are purchasing almost everything with cost effectively.
ii) Wider customer base: These new me dia have wide r custome r. While compa ring
to traditi onal media, new me dia have lots of followers and users. Because of its
wide reach, flexibility…etc. Inte rne t connections are available, so people were
use these media for communication.
iii) Sustained competitive advantage: Now the technology is growing ve ry fast. In
business, people can use video communications, for their business dealings. In
remote areas the c ommunications can easily possible through fast reach of new
media. The great tec hnol ogy is the reason and, the compe tition will increase.
They can include public participation through websites and collects their
opinions through comments.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

16

iv) Flexible work options: In business, can use internet connection, the virtual
private network, email, video confere ncing, and other sources will be benefit to
both business, and employees. It gets flexibility on their work. E mployees can
work from thei r home, part-time basis through new me dia. It will include cost
savings, occupying a smaller facility, and reve nue increases, that can result from
rising employee productivity.
v) Product promotion: There are various methods of promotion through new
media like, social media ma rketing, mobile marketing, adve rtising through
websites and forums.

3.11 DISADVANTAGES
The individualism is the first negative of new media. Most commonly the Pe ople, who
are using new me dia, never give importance to family, neighbor, and friends. They
always spend time to texting messages, and other things. They creating a new world
inside the internet and talking to friends who are not di rectly known for the m.
? Negative affect on children: New media badly affected to childre n. Some
contents cannot control on inte rnet, and the re is a chance that c hildren may
access it. So it will be a big problem.
? Physical problems: Health proble ms are anothe r issue of new media. The use
interne t makes lots of health issues. While using computer or mobile phones
instantly for chatting, watching video, listening audio leads to eyesight problems,
ear problems…etc.
? Media addiction: This is also an important point. I t creates pe ople as narcotic.
The more technologies available on new media, so people trying to spend for
their activities on new media. In this global world, people are texting messages,
watching videos with a small mobile phone. In bus, office, during func tion…etc.
people are available in new media. That is because of the addiction.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

17

? Spamming: it is the use of digital communication systems to send unwanted
messages and advertisements repeate dly on the same site. Spa mming is
common in email servers, social media, chat forums, mobile messages.
? Virus threat: Is common for all new media devices. Virus is a computer program
that attacks and destroys the data stored in a digital device. There a re vari ous
types of viruses like spyware, a dware, and other viruses. This may affect the
important files that are stored in a digital device.

The social shaping of technology is one f rame work that helps us to unde rstand how
technologies are produced, developed, regulated and consume d. This perspective is an
umbrella term for a variety of specific stands of theory and research such as the social
construction of tec hnol ogy and actor-network theory (ANT) as well as contributi ons
from diverse disciplines including innovation studies.
Globalization shortens the distance betwee n pe ople all over the world by the electronic
communication. New media “radically break the connection be tween physical place and
social place, making physical location much less significant for our social relationship”.
Howeve r the changes in the new media environment create a series of tensions in the
concept of “public sphere”. It is defined as a process through which public
communication bec omes restructure d and pa rtly disembodied f rom national political
and cultural institutions. This trend of the globalized public sphere is not only as a
geographical expansion forms a nation to worldwide, but also changes the relationship
between the public, the media and state.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

18

2.12 CYBERSPACE ANDCYBERLAW
The te rm cybe rspace is used to describe the virtual world of compute rs and inte rnet. It
is a nonphysical environment in which communication over computer ne tworks occurs.
Individuals can interact, exchange ideas, share information, and provide social support,
conduc t business, direct actions, engage in political discussions, and so on, using this
global network. Cybe r law is a term used to describe the legal issues related to use of
communications technology, particularly cybe r space. It is a rapidly evolving area of civil
and cri minal law as applicable to use of compute rs and activities perf ormed and
transactions conducte d ove r internet and othe r networks. This area of law also deals
with the exchange of c ommunications and information, protecti on of intellectual
property rights, freedom of speech and public access to information.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

19

3.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A literature review is a text of scholarly paper, which includes the current knowledge
including substantive finding, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to
a particular topic. A re view may be contained unit an end i n itself or a preface to and
rationale for e ngaging in pri mary research. A review is a requi red part of grant and
research proposals and often a chapter in thesis and dissertation. Reviews of literature
are secondary sources, and do not report ne w or original experime ntal work. Gene rally
the purpose of the review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of
knowledge through summa ry, classification, and comparison of prior research studies,
review of literature, and the oretical articles.

The study ‘The i mpact of the news media on Public opinion American presidential
election 1987-1988’ was writte n by David P.FAN and Albe rt R. Times. It was published
on01 July 1989.I deodyna mics is a new mathe matical model able to predict ti me tre nds
of public opinion based on informati on in the mass media. Using this model and a new
method of compute r content a nalysis applied to Associated Press stories retrieve d from
the Nexis electronic data base, it was possible to forecast actual opinion poll results for
the Ame rican Presidential election of 1988 with very high accuracy. The average
deviation betwee n the computer predicted values and ove r 120 measured poll values
was 2.7 per cent for George Bush versus Michael Dukakis. On Election Day, the deviation
was 2 per cent.

The study ‘On-Line and on Message? Candidate Websites in the 2001 General Election’
was writte n by Stephe n Wa rd and Rachel Gibson. I t was first published on May 1,
2003. The 2001 General Election generated considerable interest and also much
criticism of politicians’ use of the I nte rne t. The survey indicates that use of the I nte rnet
was patchy and websites often acte d as little more than static on-line leaflets.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

20

Moreove r, the overall impact of the Inte rne t on electoral outcomes was minimal and
use of the technology by itself is unlikely to herald the coming of e-democ racy.
Howeve r, we also argue that some of the criticism leveled at parties is misplaced and
that the re are good reasons why parties have so far behaved cautiously.

The study ‘can social media predict election results? Evidence f rom New Zealand’ was
writte n by Michel P Cameron, Patrick Barre tt ; Bob Ste wardson. The Pages are 416-432
and the accepted author ve rsion was posted in online on 14 Oct 2014. The importa nce
of social media for election campaigning has received a lot of attention recently. Using
data from the 2011 Ne w Zealand general election and the size of candidates’ social
media networks on Facebook and twitter; we i nvestigate whethe r social media is
associated with election votes and probability of election success. Overall, our results
suggest that the re is a statistically significant relationship between the size of online
social networks and election voting and election results. Howeve r, the size of the effect
is small and it a ppears that social media presence is the refore only pre dictive in closely
contested elections.

The study ‘politics in 140 characters or less: campaign communication, Ne twork
interaction, a nd political participation on Twitter’ was writte n by Leticia Bode & Kajsa E.
Dalrymple. 311-332 pages included and the Accepte d author ve rsion posted in online on
14 Oct 2014. The methods by which politicians and policy makers communicate with the
public are constantly adapting to the ever-changing media environment. As part of this
changing landscape, this study considers the case of Twitter. Specifically, the authors
conduc t a survey of political Twitter users, in order to unde rstand thei r use of the
medium and their political behaviors within it. Results indicate that political Twitter
users are more interested in and e ngaged in politics in general and less trusting of the
mainstream me dia. More over, the study investigates the extent to which f ollowers of a
campaign may affect its overall influence in the Twitter verse.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

21

The study ‘pe rsonalized campaigns in party-cente red politics ‘was written by G unn Sa ra
Enli & Eli Skogerbo. Pages of this research are 757-774 and Published in online on 02 Apr
2013.Social me dia like Facebook and Twitter place the f ocus on the individual politician
rathe r than the political party, there by ex panding the political arena for inc reased for
personalized campaigning. The need to use social media to c ommunicate a pe rsonal
image as a politician and to post personalized messages online seems less obvious in a
party-centere d system such as the Norwegian. Within this frame work, the personalized
and dialogical aspects of social media may be contradicted by the political parties’
structural communication strategies. The findings show that politicians’ report both
marke ting and dialogue with voters as motives for their social media use and their
practices varied, too. The preferred social media platform for ma rketing purposes was
Facebook. Twitter was more used for continuous dialogue compared to Facebook. Social
media marketing was personalized and involved private exposure and individual
initiatives.

The study ‘From ne tworked nominee to networked nati on: examining the i mpact of web
2.0 and social media on political participation and civic engagement in the 2008 Oba ma
campaign’ was written by Derrick L. Cogburn & Fatima K. Espinoza-Vasquez. There are
189-213 pages and it was Published on 23 Feb 201 1.This article explores the uses of
Web 2.0 and social media by the 2008 Oba ma presidential campaign and asks three
prima ry questions: (1) What techniques allowed the Oba ma campaign to translate
online activity to on-the-ground activism? (2) What sociotechnical factors enabled the
Obama campaign to generate so many campaign contributi ons? (3) Did the Oba ma
campaign facilitate the development of an ongoing social move ment that will influence
his administration and governance? Clearly, the Oba ma campaign utilized these tools to
go beyond educating the public and raising money to mobilizing the ground game,
enhancing political participation, and getting out the vote.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

22

The study ‘All political participation is socially networked? New media and the 2012
election’ was writte n by Terri L. Towne r. Which was first published on J une 12,
2013.This research examined the influence of attention to specific forms of traditi onal
and online me dia on young adults’ online and offline political participation as well as
vote r turnout during the fall 2012 presidential campaign. A three-wave panel survey
demonstrate d that attention to traditi onal me dia did not increase offline and online
political participation in Septe mbe r; instead, participation was heightened by attention
to online sources, particularly presidential candidate websites, Facebook, Twitter, and
blogs. In the following months, individual-level change in participation was attributable
to attention to several online me dia sources as well as change in media attention. I n the
case of voter turnout, results suggest that television attenti on was positively linked to
vote r likelihood in September but was negatively linked to individual-level change in
vote r turnout in November.
The study ‘Use of the world wide we b in the 1996 US election’ was written by Dave
D’Alessio. The 16th volume issued on 4, December 1997 and it includes 489-500 pages.
The role of the World Wide Web in the 199 6 US election was analyzed from three
perspectives: receiver, source, and effects. A test Web site was set up to provide
political information, and the pattern of use indicates that users seemed more
interested i n seeking news than in deciding how to vote. An analysis of campaign
characteristics and subsequent votes indicates that the higher the office being sought,
the more likely a campaign is to have a supporting Web site, and that having a Web site
was also associated, for one reason or anothe r, with a statistically significant numbe r of
additional votes on the average.

The study ‘towards a systematic study of internet- based political and social
communication in Europe’ was written by Andrea Ricci. Volume 15 Issued on 3, August
1998 and it include 135–16 1 pages. The paper outlines the author’s Ph.D. project on the
newest forms of political and social communication. The objective of the author’s work
is the achievements of a systematic study on the role of new ne tworke d media—in

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

23

particular the Internet—in the shaping of political “cognitive maps” and in re-
engineering governme ntal services to the citizen. As an exa mple of the kind of research
needed to identify these elements the author presents the results of a survey on
Information Society conducte d by the European Commission with EOS Gallup Europe
across Europe in September 1995. This first chapter offe rs a description of the nature of
the media consumption in Europe and highlights the relationship between ” passive”
media like television and related technologies, and “interactive media” like the Inte rnet.
In its second part the paper c ompares two early experi mental measure ments of the
pote ntial of electronic political communication and electronic delivery of governme ntal
services in Europe and in the US. The conclusions suggest a preliminary explanation for
data results and propose a perspective for future research activities in the light of the
growth of the Inte rne t use in Europe.

The study ‘social media in politics: the ultimate voter e ngagement tool or simply an
echo chamber?’ was writte n by Lisa Harris & Paul Harrigan. This was Published on 25 J ul
2015.This paper analyses the role played by social media in shaping political debate
during the UK election ca mpaign of May 2010, with a focus on local application within
two constituencies in Hampshire. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was such a
digital triumph that i t propelled social media onto the radar of ma rkete rs within
commercial organizations worldwide. Our pape r concludes that the UK general election
was far being from an “Inte rne t election.” The re was little evidence of the methodical
and integrated approach to online and offline engagement de monstrated by the Oba ma
campaign. Our contribution asserts that, as in the business world, social media
communications can add significant value at the local level when impleme nted as part
of a systematic and long-term online and offline relationship-building strategy but are
not well suited to short-te rm applications intended to influence the outcome of
particular campaigns.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

24

The study ‘social media use and participation: a meta-analysis of current research’ was
writte n by Shelley Boulianne. 524-538 pages include Received 03 Nov 2014, Accepted 13
Jan 2015, Published online: 09 Mar 2015. Social media has skyrocketed to popularity in
the past few years. The Arab Spring in 2011 as well as the 2008 and 2012 Oba ma
campaigns have fueled interest in how social media might affect citizens’ participation in
civic and political life. In response, researchers have produced36 studies assessing the
relationship betwee n social media use and participation in civic and political life.
Overall, the metadata demonstrate a positive relationship be twee n social media use
and participation. More than 80% of coefficients are positive. Howeve r, questions
remain about whe the r the relationship is causal and transformative. Only half of the
coefficients were statistically significant. Studies using panel data are less likely to report
positive and statistically significant coefficients between social media use and
participation, compa red to cross-sectional surveys. The metadata also suggest that
social media use has minimal impact on participation in election campaigns.

‘Networking de mocracy? Social media innovations and participatory politics’ is a study
which was written by Brian D. Loader & Dan Mercea. Pages 757-769, Received 26 May
2011, Accepted 26 May 2011, published online: 02 Aug 2011.Early conceptions of digital
democracy as a virtual public sphere or civic commons have been re placed by a new
technological optimism for democratic rene wal based upon the open and collaborative
networki ng characteristics of social media. This article provides an introduction to a
special issue of the international journal Information, Communication& Society, which
attempts to present a grounded analysis of these claims drawing upon evi dence-based
research and analysis. A more cautious approach is suggested for the pote ntial of social
media to facilitate more participative democracy while acknowledging its disruptive
value for challenging traditional interests and modes of communicative power.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

25

The study ‘did social media really matte r? College students’ use of online me dia and
political decision making in the 2008 election’ was written by Matthew James
Kushin ; Masahiro Yamamoto. Pages included in this work we re 608-630. It was
Published on 20 Nov 2010. T his study examine d college students’ use of online media
for political purposes in the 2008 election. Social media attention, online expression,
and traditional Interne t attention were assessed in relation to political self-efficacy and
situational political involvement. Data from a Web survey of college students showed
significant positive relationships betwee n atte ntion to traditional Inte rnet sources and
political self-efficacy and situational political involvement. Attention to social media was
not significantly related to political self-efficacy or involveme nt. Online expression was
significantly related to situational political involvement but not political self-efficacy.
Implications are discussed for political use of online media for young adults.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

26

4. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
New media is most powe rful medium which can influe nce peoples mind. It deals with
entertainme nt as well as social relevant issues. Politics are closely connected with new
media and political campaign was effectively run through ne w media. In 2016, Kerala
witnessed the impact of new me dia in politics. New media help to campaign political
parties while election a nd it help to increase the political participation. Mainly twitter
and Face book are the social media which give more news about election. Politicians will
interact through such ne w media for building a good i mage and branding thei r name on
the mind of pe ople. This chapte r contains the description of me thods and techniques
used to collect and analyze the data to the study ‘impact of new media on 2016 Kerala
assembly election’.
Sampling me thod is adopted here for the study. The objectives, ope rational definition,
research me thodology, sampling, and me thod of data collection a re me ntioned in this
chapter.

4.1 OBJECTIVES
1. How much time pe ople spend on ne w me dia during election?
2. To find the election campaign methods of 2016 Kerala assembly election?
3. Whethe r election provides a platform for creativity in social media?
4. Whethe r people are aware about misleading allegations in new media.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

27

4.2 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
YOUTH:
Youth is the ti me of life when one is young, but ofte n means the ti me between
childhood and adulthood ( maturity). I t is also defined as “the appearance, freshness,
vigor, spirit, etc.., characteristic of one who is young”. Youth is an experience that may
shape an individual’s level of de pendency, which can be ma rked in vari ous ways
according to different cultural perspectives.
ADULT:
Biologically an adult is a human being or other organism that has reached sexual
maturity. I n human content, the te rm adult additionally has meanings associated with
social and legal concepts. Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult
development. Definitions of adulthood are ofte n inconsistent and contradictory; a
person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavior but still be treated as a
child if they are unde r the legal age of majority. Conversely, one may legally be an adult,
but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that may define an adult character.

SENIOR CITIZEN:
Senior citizen is a common euphemism for an old pe rson used in Ame rican English, and
sometimes in British English. It implies that the person being refe rre d to is retired. It
refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human being, and is thus the
end of human life cycle. Senior citizen is a social construct rather than a definite
biological stage, and the chronological age denoted as “old age” varies culturally and
historically.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

28

POLITICAL STRATEGY:
Political strategy deals with politics from a strategic perspective. Basically, it is the study
of how politics are invented, and used to obtain some given objective.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN:
It is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a
specific group. In de moc racies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns,
by which re presentatives are chosen or referendums are decided. In mode rn politics,
the most high-profile political campaigns are focused on general elections and
candidates for head of state of government, often a president or prime minister.

4.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The nature of this study de mands surve y method. ‘Me thodol ogy’ implies more than
simply the me thods you intend to use to collect data. It is often necessary to include
a consideration of the concepts and theories which underline the methods. For
instance, if you intend to highlight a specific feature of a sociological theory or test
an algorithm for some aspect of informati on retrieval, or test the validity of a
particular system, you have to show that you unde rstand the underlying c oncept of
the methodology. Whe n you describe your me thods it is necessary to state how you
have addressed the research questions or hypothesis. The methods should be
described in enough detail for the study to be at least repeated in a similar way in
anothe r situation. Every stage should be explained and justified with clear reasons
for the choice of your particular methods and materials.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

29

4.3 SAMPLING
Sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a
statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. Two
advantage of sampling are that the cost is lower and data collections is faster than
measuring the e ntire population. I n surve y sampling weights can be applied to the
data to adjust for the sample design, particularly stratified sampling. Results from
probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide the practice. In
medical and business research, sampling is widely used for gathering information
about population.
For the study, purposive samples of 30 respondents were taken. Unde r non
probability sampling the organizers of the inquiry purposively choose the particular
units of the unive rse for c onstituti ng a sample on the basis that the small mass that
they so select out of a huge one will be typical or representative of the whole.
The study is focused on youth, adult and senior citizen, because they we re the
vote rs of the country. And to know about the use of new media while election time.
Out of the 30 respondents, 10 were taken from youth, 10 we re taken f rom adult and
anothe r 10 were take n from senior citizen.
The samples were taken from family, friends, neighbors.

4.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
In orde r to collect the required data for the survey, we used a printed questionnaire of
15 questions as data collection tool. The questionnaire is prepa red with a brief
introducti on about the study and with e nough directions to answe r the questions. The
questionnaire contained both open ende d and close ende d questions. Most of the
questions are objective in nature, but they are prepare d to provide some descriptive

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

30

answers for example, questions 1, 2, 6, 10, 14, 15 are pre pared to j udge respondent is a
heavy user of new media during election or not. The copy of a questionnaire is added in
appendix part.
For the purpose of study; and to get more accuracy I had taken samples from youth,
adult and senior citizen.
Ambiguous and biased questions were avoide d while prepa ring the questionnaire. The
questionnaire was distributed among youth, adult and senior citizen after giving a brief
description about the inte nsion of the study.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

31

5. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
The study of ‘i mpact of new media on 2016 Ke rala assembly election’ yielded significant
results and lights up various dimensions on public’s approach to election on ne w media.
The study reveals the impact of new media on 2016 Ke rala assembly election.
The study focused on youth male and female (19-25), adult male and fe male (26-50),
and senior citizen male and female (above 60). The findings as follows;
TABLE: 5.1 SAMPLE SELECTION
Sample Male Female Total
Youth 5 5 10
Adult 5 5 10
Senior citizen 5 5 10
Total 15 15 30

Out of the 30 samples, an equal numbe r of youth, adult and senior citizen were
selected, in which both are constitute d 10 each.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

32

TABLE: 5.2 DURATION OF NEW MEDIA USAGE

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Below
1 year
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 4 (80%) 7
1-2 years 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 5
2-4 years 1 (20%) 3 (60%) 0(0%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 6
More than
4 years
4 (80%) 2 (40%) 4 (80%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 12
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (2) shows that a majority (12) of the population have been using new media
from more than 4 yea rs, in which 6 of the youth, 5 of the adult and 1 of the senior
citizen. 7 of the population, consisting 1 of the adult and 6 of the senior citizen have
using new media below 1 year. 6 of the population, 4 youth and 2 adult used new media
since 2-4 years and only 5 have the device, 1-2 years. Here we can see that the use and
reach of new me dia are very high.
From the result we can see that 4 youth male and 4 adult male using new media
more than 4 years. 4 senior citizen fe male were starte d to use new media below 1 year.
Adult female are not actively participants in new media.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

33

TABLE: 5.3 TIMES SPEND FOR NEW MEDIA

Table 5 (3) shows a majority (11) of the population we re spending less than 1 hour for
using new me dia in daily, in which 1 youth, 4 adult and 6 senior citize n. 8 of the
population, including 2 youth, 2 adult and 4 senior citizens were using new media during
1-2 hours. Then 7of the population, in which 5 youth, 2 adult were spend more than 4
hours for using new media and only 4 of the population use new media for 2-4 hours, in
which, 2 youth and 2 adult. Here shows the daily use of new me dia and it describes that
people having information more from ne w media.
From the above table 6 of the senior citizen were using new media in less than 1 hour
daily. 3 of the youth were using new media more tha n 4 hours. 3 of the female adult
using new me dia in less than 1 hour. Senior citizens and female adult were neve r using
new me dia more than 4 hours.

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Less than 1
hour
1 (20%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 11
1-2 hours 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 8
2-4 hours 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4
More than
4 hours
3(60%) 2(40%) 2(40%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 7
Total 5(100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

34

TABLE: 5.4 INTERESTS TO WATCH ONLINEPOLITICAL ADS

Table 5 (4) shows 14 of the majority we re inte rest to watch online political ads in
sometimes, in which 5 of the youth, 6 of the adult and 3 of the senior citizen. Near the
majority 13 of the population ne ver interest to watch a ny online political ads. 2 youth
male always interest to watch online political ads and 1 of the youth male watch most of
the time
Majority of the population shows that people watchi ng online political ads sometimes.
Always youth male were inte rested to watch online political ads. Female Senior citizen
never inte rested to watc h any of the online political ads. Adult male and female watch
sometimes and generally male watch more political ads than female.

Period Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Always 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2
Sometimes 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 0 (0%) 14
Most of the
time
1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1
Never 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 5 (100%) 13
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

35

TABLE: 5.5 PREFERRED MEDIUM TO ACCESS NEW MEDIA

Table 5(5) shows that a majority (24) of the population we re using mobile phones to
access new media in their daily life, in which 8 of youth, 9 of adult and 7 of senior
citizen. 5 of the population using laptops for access new media and only 1 of the
population using tablet for get new me dia. It shows that the reach of mobile phones.
Everyone is using mobile phones because of mobility.
From the result we can see that pe ople we re using mobile phone to access new media
in their own needs. The use of mobile was very high than other me diums. Youth male
and adult male were common users of mobile phones. Senior citizens were interested to
use laptop and the reach of tablet was not good. Pe ople never involving to other
mediums because of the high influence of mobile phones.

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total Male Female Male Female Male Female
Laptop 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 5
Mobile 5 (10%) 3 (60%) 5 (10%) 4 (80%) 4 (80%) 3 (60%) 24
Tablet 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1
Others 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0(0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

36

TABLE: 5.6 USE PATTERN OF ONLINEMEDIA WHILE ELECTION

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total Male Female Male Female Male Female
Face
book
4 (80%) 3 (60%) 4 (80%) 3 (60%) 2(40%) 3 (60%) 19
Twitter 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1(20%) 0 (0%) 1
YouTube 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 5
Others 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 5
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5(100%) 30

Table 5(6) shows 19 of the responds, of which 7 of youth, 7 of adult and 5 of senior
citizen were using Facebook as the online media to know election ne ws commonly. 5 of
the population shows people interest to use YouTube and othe r media to watch election
news, but only 1 of the population use twitter.
The results clarify that everyone uses Facebook not only to chat, but also to know more
information. 2 of the Fe male youth use YouT ube than male and adult neve r using
YouTube and twitte r. 1 of the senior citizen uses twitter. 3 of the Female senior citizen
uses face book to know election details. But youth ne ver use othe r online media than
Facebook.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

37

TABLE: 5.7 NEW MEDIA CLAIMS

Table 5 (7) shows 19 of the responds, in which 10 of youth, 5 of the adult and 4 of the
senior citizen were partially agree that political parties are fully transparent In their
claims through new media. 7 of the population disagree that, in which 2 of the adult and
5 of the senior citizen. 3 of the population agree and 1 of the responds were strongly dis
agree the statement.
The Results shows those 10 youth male and female were partially agree that political
parties are transparent in their claims through ne w media. Only 1 female senior citizen
were strongly dis agree to this statement. Only 3 of the adult were agree, but in total
outlook people we re accept that political parties are fully transparent in their claims
through ne w media.

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Agree 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3
Partially
agree
5 (100%) 5 (100%) 3 (60%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 1 (20%) 19
Disagree 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 7
Strongly
disagree
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

38

TABLE: 5.8 IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA WHILE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Period
Youth Adult Senior citizen
Total Male Female Male Female Male Female
Always 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5
Sometimes 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 4 (80%) 18
Most of the
time
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 3
Never 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 4
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (8) shows that 18 of the population, in which 6 of the youth, 5 of the adult, 7 of
the senior citize n we re think that ne w media is the good me dium for election ca mpaign
sometimes. 5 of the population always think that, in which 3 of the youth and 2 of the
adult male. 4 of the population neve r think that about new media election campaign
and 3 of the population most of the time.
Results show that 7 of the senior citizen we re following the election campaigning
through ne w media than youth and adult.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

39

TABLE: 5.9 USE PATTERN OF NEW MEDIA DURING ELECTION

Table 5(9) shows that 18 of the responds, in which 7 of the youth, 3 of the adult and 8 of
the senior citizen use new me dia less than 1 hour during election. Nea r the majority 10
of the responds, including 2 of the youth, 6 of the adult and 2 of the senior citizen use 1-
2 hours.
Minority of the population, 2 of female youth use new media more than 4 hours and 2
of female adult use 1-2 hours during election.

Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Less than 1
hour
3 (60%) 4 (80%) 0 (0%) 3 (60%) 3 (6%) 5 (1%) 18
1-2 hour 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 5 (10%) 1 (20%) 2 (4%) 0 (0%) 10
2-4 hour 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1
More than
4 hours
0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

40

TABLE: 5.10 INTERESTS OF TROLLS AND CARTOONS

Table 5 (10) shows that 17 of the population inte rested to watch trolls and cartoons, in
which9 of the youth, 6 of the adult and 2 of the senior citizen. 7 of the population show
the inte rest partially. Minority of population 6 not inte rested to watch trolls and
cartoons.
Results show that youth male completely inte rested to watch trolls and cartoons.
Female senior citizen does not interest for trolls.

Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Yes 5 (100%) 4 (80%) 4 (80%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 17
No 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 6
Partially 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 7
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

41

TABLE: 5.11 POLITICAL TROLLS EXHIBITS CREATIVITY
Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Always 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 5 (100%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 8
Sometimes 3 (60%) 4 (80%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 3 (60%) 2 (40%) 13
Most of
the time
1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 6
Never 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 3
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5(11) shows that 13 of the population, in which 7 of the youth, 1 of the adult, and
5 of the senior citizen the political trolls exhibits sometimes creativity during 2016
Kerala assembly election. 8 of responds always exhibit creativity, in which 1 of the
youth, 6 of the adult, and 1 of the senior citizen.
Minority 3 of the population says that political trolls never exhibit creativity.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

42

TABLE: 5.12 TROLLS HAVE THE POWER TO ALTER VOTING DECISIONS OF PEOPLE
Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Agree 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 4
Partially
agree
5 (10%) 4 (80%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 1 (20%) 19
Disagree 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%) 7
Strongly
disagree
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (12) shows that a majority 19 of the responds, in which 9 of the youth, 6 of the
adult and 4 of the senior citizen were partially agree that trolls during election day have
the power to alter voting decisions of people. 7 of the responds, in which 1 of the youth,
1 of the adult and 5 of the senior citizen were disagree the statement.
Minority of 4 agree that trolls have the power to alter voting decisions of people.
But no one strongly disagree because of the wide use of trolls. Female senior citizens
never agree because they are not interested to watch trolls.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

43

TABLE: 5.13 ELECTION STRATEGY PREFERENCES

Table 5 (13) shows that public issues were the first preferences for people on 2016
Kerala Assembly election. Second prefe rences are to special claims and a third
prefere nce is to branding of politicians.
This shows that 2016 Kerala assembly election gives importance to public issues other
than unnecessary planning. Always the politicians do something for publicity. But the
result shows that branding of politicians have least importance. And the specials claims
make influence among people.

Ranking Branding of
politicians
Public issues Special claims
1 14 15 1
2 9 5 16
3 7 10 13

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

44

TABLE: 5.14 EFFECTIVECAMPAIGNING CREATES GOODPOLITICIANS THROUGH NEW
MEDIA
Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Agree 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 3 (6%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 8
Partially
agree
3 (60%) 4 (80%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 11
Disagree 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 8
Strongly
disagree
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1(20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 3
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5(100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (14) shows that a majority 11 of the responds, in which 7 of the youth, 3 of the
adult and 1 of the senior citizen partially agree that effective campaigning creates good
politicians. 8 of population, in which 2 of the youth, 4 of the adult and 2 of the senior
citizen agree and other 8 of population we re disagree this statement.
Minority of a 3 of the responds were strongly disagreeing, in which 1 of the adult
and 2 of the senior citizen. Female senior citizens were disagreeing that new media can’t
create good politicians through effective campaigning.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

45

TABLE: 5.15 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION THROUGH NEW MEDIA
Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Agree 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 5
Partially
agree
4 (80%) 4 (80%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 14
Disagree 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) 7
Strongly
disagree
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%) 4
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (15) shows that a majority 14 of the population, in which 8 of the youth, 4 of the
adult and 2 of the senior citizen we re pa rtially agree. Minori ty of 4 of responds in which
female senior citizen were strongly disagree that new me dia political participation is
bette r than oral campaigning.
Male and female youth always agree and adult also give importance to
new me dia election campaigning. But senior citizen support to oral campaigning.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

46

TABLE 5.16 OPINION ON NEW MEDIA HELP TO STAY AWAY FROM MISLEADING
POLITICALSTRATEGIES
Period Youth Adult Senior citizen Total
Male Female Male Female Male Female
Agree 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2
Partially
agree
5 (10%) 4 (20%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 3 (60%) 0 (0%) 17
Disagree 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 7
Strongly
disagree
0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 4
Total 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 5 (100%) 30

Table 5 (16) shows that a majority 17 of the population, in which 9 of the youth, 5 of the
adult, and 3 of the senior citize n we re partially agree. 7 of population, of which 2 of the
adult and 5 of the senior citizen were, disagree.
Male youth, female adult and senior citizens were not agreeing with this statement.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

47

6.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
After the findi ngs and analysis of the study table (5.2) shows that most of people were
using new media less than 1 hour during election. The online political participation was
very less and more ove r youth we re spend more time with new media. Table (5.6)
shows that most likely people we re inte rest to use Face book while election and it is a
good social media for providing election news. Table (5.4)explains that People were
interest to watch online political ads, it create a sense of awareness. Through new
media pe ople get more inf ormation with photographs, videos, and col orful writings. Up
to date information will upload in such new me dia, so everyone can get f resh
information. While election c urrent ranking of political parties or their favorite
politician’s current status will provide in every second, that’s why people use new media
as a good medium during election too. Youth Political participation was increasing
because of the effective campaigning through online media. On my findings, female
youth were interested to watch political news more than 4 hours, but senior citizen
were not inte rested to follow new media political participation. They are always
believed in traditional political campaigning. So are not aware about current status and
new me thods of election.

2016 Kerala assembly election were held on May 16, 2016. The election campaigns were
started on March on wards. The campaigning were ve ry effective way, because, every
party we re campaign through any social media for popularize thei r pa rty and politician.
In Kerala assembly election 3 main political parties are LDF, UDF, and BJP. While election
period eve ry politician were communicate to people through twitte r. So it’s a good
social media for politicians. Our chief minister also use twitter for specify their strategies
and plans while the election campaigning. Table (5.13) shows that ne w media
campaigning increase the branding of politicians, so the politicians name will imprint to
peoples mind unc onsciously.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

48

The celebrities like mohanlal, nivinpauly we re gave support to some candidates through
social media. It was a campaign method, because people will watch the video or read
the script about such celebrities, so it helps to spread the political party’s status to
peoples mind. In this 2016 Ke rala assembly election campaign, public issues have
become more important in election strategy. They f ocus on public matte rs for change
the negative attitude on some political parties. So in my vie w, they we re tried to
influence among people for more participation to election.
Social media were important platforms for election in this century. So social media were
help to give publicity for election related inf ormation. During election, lots of creative
ideas can see through social media. Trolls and cartoons are the best examples for this
creativity. Table (5.11)shows that pe ople we re sometimes agree that social media is a
good platform for creativity. Youth and adult male were more interested to view these
creativities. These trolls and cartoons create funny, but inside the humor, there will be a
social issue. In most of the time such creativity ex plains the whole incident other than
writing. Political trolls and cartoons we re more interested to watch youth, because they
are the active users of new media. On the opinion of youth trolls during Election Day
have the power to alter voting decisions of people, because of the creativity.

People are aware about misleading allegations in new media. Mode rn tec hnologies help
to make aware ness among people. But new me dia most of the ti me spread misleading
news, and it create a sense of negative thinking. Table (5.16) shows that Majority of
population is partially agreed that ne w me dia platforms or websites help to stay away
from misleading political strategies. Especially youth were supports on this statement,
than senior citizen. Ne w media create an idea among pe ople about political strategies.
The 2016 Ke rala assembly election give more importance to public issues and through
new media publicity of their political strategy were increased. Political strategies are
very familiar to new media users.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

49

Over all the study shows that new media is more importa nt to pe ople. The wide use
helps to take good decisions to people, and help to understand more than our
knowledge. Politics is a vast area, but the use of new media clear the complete details of
politics and participation on politics also increased, especially the youth.

In the beginning of the study, on my view, senior citizen were neve r support any new
media for their political interest. But the result shows that most of the senior citizen
likes to use new media and they already interested to oral political campaigning too.

New media is used to communicate beyond the li mits. On my study I f ound that new
media has a power to make changes on society. The political campaigning and political
strategies were changed because of the influence of new media. New techniques of new
media create more pa rticipants and it is more powe rful tha n traditional political
strategies.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
New me dia is an important factor in every one’s life. Wide use of new media change the
attitude of society, a nd the way of communication we re c hanged. In traditional times
Politics or election news were convey through oral communication, which was the only
way to inform pe ople effectively. Now the new technologies help to politicians to
spread their plans and ideas to people ve ry fast and the opinion of pe ople was also get
without any delay. New me dia is a fast growing media, while election all kind of
information were update for more de tails. So it is an easy medium to politicians and
political parties. Political participation also increases, because of the effective ca mpaign
through social media. I n my study limi ted samples shows that the impact of new media

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

50

on election help to change the way of election and political parties achieve their power
through ne w me dia. Twitter influence politicians more, and it help to twit their words to
public without a microphone.
Impact of new media on 2016 Ke rala assembly election is a study which explain that the
influence of ne w media on politics. New media is not only an entertainme nt media. It
helps to grow our social behavior and othe r things. In my study there were faced lots of
limitations. But these limitations were neve r negatively affected on my study. Some of
the limitations are;
This study is limited to take samples from rural and urban areas. The study is limited
with 30 samples; I can’t take more samples for my study.

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

51

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS
“A guide to journalism and mass communication (for higher seconda ry and graduate
level journalism and mass communication students), published by PAPERBOAT
publications”
“Kaliyadan Ratheesh (2003) Principles of mass communication” Published by media
analysis ; research center.
“Kumar Keval J (1994) Mass communication in India” published by JAICO publishing
house.
“Mass communication principles and conce pts” published by CBS publishers ;
distributors
JOURNALS

“Information, c ommunication& society” volume 18, 2015- issue 5: communication and
information technologies section (ASA) special issue.
“Internati onal journal of public opinion research” volume-1 issue 2.
“Journal of political marketing” volume 10, 2011- issue 1-2: money and technology in
the 2008 election.
“SAGE journals” the British journal of politics and international relations volume-5 issue-
2, 2003

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

52

WEBSITES
“Advantages of new media- Retrieved on 28.9.2017.
www.e how.com/info_77 43515_advantages_new_media.html”
“Elections Kerala- Retrieved on 4.10.2017
https://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Kerala#General_Elections”
“Kerala legislature- Retrieved on 6.10.2017
https://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/Ke rala_legislature#history”
“Whatis.techtarget.com/definition (Wikipe dia)”

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

53

APENDIX
Sample Questionnaire

Dear friend,
You are invited to take part in this survey which aims to find some answers about
“Impact of ne w media on 2016 Kerala assembly election”. I ensure you that the
information obtaine d from this questionnaire would be utilized only for the project
(mini dissertation) for my Bachelor’s Degree and this document would not be misused. I
humbly request you to help me by truthful participation. Please note that you will not
be referred to by any personally identifiable information in any of the reports.
Thank you.
Athira A.S
VIth Semester
BA Mass communication & journalism
ST. Joseph’s college, (Autonomous)
Devagiri, Calicut.

Name:
Gender: Male Female
Age:
Occupation: Student Professional
Business others
Annual income:

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

54

Instruction
Please tick for all questions ( )

1) How long have you been using new media?
1 Below 1 year 1-2 years
2-4 years More than 4 years

2) How much time do you spend in a day using new media?
Less than one hour 1-2 hours
2-4 hours More than 4 hours

3) Do you have inte rest to watch online political ads?

Always Someti mes
Most of the time Never

4) Which medium normally you use to access new media?

Laptop Mobile
Tablet Others (please specify)

5) Which online media platform did you prefer to know election news?

Face book Twitter
YouTube Others (please specify)

H
o
w

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

55

6) Do you thi nk that political parties are fully transparent in their claims through
new me dia?

Agree Partially agree
Disagree Strongly disagree

7) Do you think that ne w media is a good medium for election campaign?
Always Sometimes
Most of the time Never

8) During election, how much ti me did you spend in new media?

Less than 1 hour 1-2 hour
2-4 hour More than 4 hours

9) Do you like trolls and cartoons?
Yes No Partially

10) Do you think that political trolls exhibits creativity during 2016 Ke rala assembly
election among its audience?
Always Sometimes
Most of the time Never

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

56

11) Do you think that trolls during Election Day have the powe r to alter voting
decisions of people?

Agree Partially agree
Disagree Strongly disagree

12) What is your view on 2016 Kerala assembly election strategy preferences?
Rank below 1, 2, 3…
Branding of politicians Public issues Special claims

13) Do you think that new media creates good politicians through effective
campaigning?

Agree Partially agree
Disagree Strongly disagree

14) Do you think that ne w me dia political participation is better than oral
campaigning?

Agree Partially agree
Disagree Strongly disagree

Impact of new media on 2016 Kerala assembly election

57

15) Do you think that following with many ne w media platforms or we bsites will help
to stay away from misleading political strategies?

Agree Partially agree
Disagree Strongly disagree

Thank you