Shambhavi Singh
lNitish Kumar: 5,37,452 likes
lSushil Kumar Modi: 5,40,401 likes

Prarambh ek baar phir!
Jay Bihar, Jay Bharat
February 23 at 7.03pm
This is how Nitish Kumar connected with people on Facebook a day after his swearing-in ceremony on February 22.

The bug of being “followed” and “liked” on social media has found favours among politicians of Bihar for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Apart from the top order from all parties, leaders such as Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (JDU), Nand Kishore Yadav (BJP), Abdul Bari Siddiqui (RJD), Syed Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) and the man behind the political crisis in Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, are trying to catch up with the social media to make a base among the young and the Internet geeks.
According to a survey, the top five districts with highest number of population on social networking sites are Patna (13,00,000), Muzaffarpur (13,40,000) Saran (11,60,000), Kishanganj (2,60,000) and Gaya, Madhubani and Darbhanga (2,00,000). 

Taking a cue from the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections, where social networking media played a vital role in helping AAP grab a win, the political parties and leaders in Bihar are now focusing on social media communication and strategies. 

Over 50 MLAs, including Anu Shukla, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Ramdeo Mahto, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Shahid Ali Khan, Bima Bharti, Lesie Singh and Ravinder Rai, are active on social networking sites.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose page got “official” status last year in February, is very active these days on social media. Ghanshyam Tiwari, the communication adviser of the JDU, handles Nitish Kumar’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

On the verification of the official page, Tiwari said: “The organisation (in this case JDU) had to send a request to Facebook for giving the page a ‘verified’ status (a blue tick mark on the right side of the page). Once Facebook verifies the page from their end, the status is given to the page. It took around a month to get Nitishji’s page verified.”?

Abhishek Kumar, a software engineer with Facebook decoded the procedure. 

“The person/organisation has to submit a request for page verification. It will go through series of verifications by the research team of the region, which includes verification of address, person and profession. After a proper research, the page gets authentic status and a verified status is given,” Abhishek said.
Tiwari went on to explain the strategies of Nitish as far as FB is concerned to The Telegraph. 
“It was Nitishji’s idea to keep the post in the format of a visual blog. The photographs uploaded on the social networking sites are visual information with detailed and minute facts. He is quite particular about reverting the messages from the followers. In the past few months, the posts of Nitishji have centred around many headlines,” said Tiwari.

Nitish has several followers from SAARC nations, US and UAE and from across the country. 
“Followers on Facebook highlight the popularity of a politician. Nitishji has followers from across the globe. Last week the reach of Nitishji’s posts was over 11 lakh,” added Tiwari.

In the upcoming Assembly elections, the JDU would design a structured strategy for social networking sites. 
“Those between 18 and 24 are well connected to social networking sites these days. We would focus on social networking campaign for the upcoming election (November-December). Such sites are the best way to connect to the youth. During the Delhi elections, social networking sites played an important role but in Bihar almost 90 per cent of the population reside in rural areas where penetration and reach of Internet is poor. But we would still focus on the population on Facebook and Twitter and try to connect them to the official page of JDU-Bihar,” added Tiwari. 

The JDU-Bihar page has over 22,000 followers. 

Nitish has his own way of dealing with the negative comments on his posts. 
“Nitishji has never asked to erase any negative comment until it is abusive. According to him, debatable negative comments reveal facts, which are denied and delayed. He is quite particular about his language, medium and photographs used for the posts,” added Tiwari.

The JDU had organised for a social media seminar last month to sensitise party workers about the use of social media and its widespread reach. 

Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who joined Facebook last year in December, has been quite active on the social platform these days. Siddiqui has over 5,000 followers on Facebook. 

Siddiqui said: “My page was earlier handled by my supporters. But from last year I have started looking after my posts. Facebook is a strong medium through which you can communicate with your followers and can get their feedback on certain issues. The development of technology, mobiles and Internet has made social sites an effective medium. From youth to the working professional to retired officers, everyone has access to the Internet, which has gradually made social sites a medium of information. Facebook and Twitter are an amalgamation of information and technology. I joined Facebook to keep in touch with my supporters from my constituency.” 
Though senior BJP leaders, including Nand Kishore Yadav, Shahnawaz Hussain, Kiran Ghai and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, are active on social media for the past two years, some are busy sensitising local-level leaders to join the social medium. 
“Social networking sites have widespread reach both individually and politically. I have been active on social media for the past year. This is the easiest and a powerful medium to communicate, especially with the youth. In the 
coming elections, social networking sites would play an important role,” said Nand Kishore. His page was created in 2012 and has over 1.25 lakh followers on Facebook. 

The BJP would soon organise a seminar for party workers on the importance of social media. The MPs and MLAs — who were “deactive” on social networking sites for ages, have now suddenly felt the need to “get connected”. 
Anu Shukla, the JDU Lalganj MLA of the JDU, had joined Facebook two years back. She had a laidback stint but she is now back with a bang. 

“I visit my constituency regularly. If for some unavoidable reasons I can’t meet my people, I keep in touch with them on Facebook. I get many messages daily where people complain and discuss their problems and come up with some logical solutions,” said Shukla.