#VOTEFORINDIA with social mobile apps

The following post is for a contest organized by WeChat and Indiblogger.in. The topic- How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the Indian General Elections 2014 using social mobile apps?

Before I start off, I’d like to take my hat off to WeChat, not only for organizing such a thought provoking contest but also for generalizing the implementation of these ideas into all social mobile apps and not WeChat alone. Truly deserves confidence in themselves to do that. As a mark of appreciation, I’d like to keep this post ‘WeChat specific’ even though I’ve started writing this much after the change of rules had been announced.

The elections, and politics in general, is a tricky thing. For one, taking up anything to do with politics is akin to walking a tightrope. Take news channels for example, try as they might, after a point of time even their news reports seem biased. So how do you call upon the general public to come forward and vote without falling into the bias trap.

courtesy:http://stupidusmaximus.wordpress.com/

The answer is actually quite simple. And no, it does not involve giving free video players and sunny leone DVDs. Statistics suggest that the national average voter turnout during the last general elections was roughly 60%. Assuming 5% of the population did not want to vote because they were fed up with the system, that still leaves a whooping 35%. So why do you think this many people don’t turn up to vote? My theory is that there wasn’t enough awareness created- awareness about the dates and the people contesting in each constituency in a particular area.

So here’s how WeChat can chip in; on the Home screen under Discover, WeChat can add something like this:

Clicking on the ‘Indian General Elections’ tab will take you to another screen which will give you information on the polling dates, the candidates in each constituency and a brief description about them and what they have achieved so far (as applicable). This information will change from state to state based on the number being used. The reason I am suggesting this approach rather than using ads is because seriously, no one likes ads running at the top of your screen shoving politics down your throat.

As far as elections are concerned, the most sensible way social mobile apps can contribute is by creating awareness. It is the most one can and one HAS to do. And if even this fails, well, Sunny Leone is always there.

Until next time,

Keep smiling,

Adios!