UP voters prefer Facebook over Twitter for state politics updates: Digital marketing survey

Survey conducted by digital marketing platform iCubesWire over three weeks in January. It had 1,094 participants from Uttar Pradesh, most aged between 18 and 40 years.

Representational photo | ANI

Hyderabad: Voters in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh prefer to access information about state politics on Facebook over other social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, a survey conducted by digital marketing platform iCubesWire has found.

This comes at a time when political parties are shifting their focus to digital campaigns and virtual rallies amid the pandemic.

Uttar Pradesh is set for a seven-phase election for its 403-member legislative assembly starting 10 February. The results will be declared on 10 March.

The survey, conducted over a period of three weeks in January, had 1,094 participants from diverse backgrounds from Uttar Pradesh, most of whom were aged between 18 and 40 years. It ran on various websites including those for gaming, shopping, etc, iCubesWire founder and chief executive officer Sahil Chopra told ThePrint. 

Established in 2010, iCubesWire is a firm based out of Gurugram, Haryana, with branches in other cities such as Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai. Its partners include Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and e-commerce giant Flipkart. 

‘Digital campaigns changing voting preferences’

While 35 per cent of the survey respondents said they use Facebook to access information about state politics, 17 per cent said they do so on YouTube, 14 per cent on Instagram, and 6 per cent on Twitter. The remaining 28 per cent respondents said they preferred all the platforms mentioned, according to a statement issued by iCubesWire Friday. 

While 42 per cent of the respondents said they consume political news in Hindi, 34 per cent said English. The remaining 24 per cent said both languages. 

Political parties laying more emphasis on digital campaigns has led to a gradual change in the pattern of voting preferences, the survey said. 

“Our survey has shown interesting trends in this space, and going ahead we believe more and more voters will switch to different social media platforms to keep track of political parties, leaders and their social media campaigns,” Chopra said.

Around 61 per cent of the survey’s respondents said that the different social media strategies adopted by political parties impact their voting preferences, while 19 per cent denied it. The remaining 20 per cent gave neutral responses.

Roughly 80 per cent felt political advertising on social media platforms is a good way to keep voters engaged and inclined towards a political party, whereas 18 per cent denied the same, according to the survey.

Around 68 per cent respondents said they engage with politicians on social media platforms, and 85 per cent said they see advertisements related to political leaders. A total of 82 per cent respondents said they keep an eye on political candidates’ social media after elections, and, among them, 79 per cent said they also check the number of followers, likes and subscribers on a politician’s social media account.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)