MUMBAI: With elections just a couple of days away, the debate over the role social media will play in these Lok Sabha elections has just got intensified.

A plethora of politicians, political parties and their supporters have taken over the social media to reach out to the urban youngsters. The common man too has taken on to the digital world to express their views on various issues related to the general elections. The reason is simple: social media is free and democratic. One has the freedom to voice their opinion as well as get others involved in the information.

This year’s FICCI Frames too explored the medium when it left the forum open for discussion on ‘Internet and Democracy: Interloper or Catalyst.’ The panelists during this forum discussed how Obama’s election campaign exploited the power of the social media to spread the word, garner support and get people engaged and how Indian politicians can also take a cue from it.

To monetise on the trend, ‘To The New’, a social and mobile first digital service provider has launched a real-time tracker that evaluates digital conversations. The free-to-all ‘Social Tracker’ currently available on IBN Live gives people an insight on what conversations are happening on the general elections.

“Thanks to mobile penetration and the free nature of social media, a lot of youngsters are on the medium apart from others who are following the elections closely. This tool will help not only the news portals, but also common man to know what is everyone talking about,” says Thoughtbuzz COO Ashok Patro.

He adds, “Political parties and politicians too have realized the importance social media has and that is the reason why they are so active in the virtual world this time around.”

The digital agency uses its expertise to track what is happening across social media platforms – blogs, forums, twitter, facebook etc. And this is what separates them from the likes of Google trends or twitter trends, boasts Patro.

Currently, ‘Social Tracker’ works on a dashboard, Omnio and has three panelists analysing these trends 24*7.  “While currently we are available on IBN Live, we have also been approached by other news portals and the discussion for the same is on,” says Patro when asked where all will it be available in the future. However, he clarifies that each portal will get something different because like various polls and surveys conducted by channels and research firms, they all want something different to offer to their viewers.

Parties, personalities/politicians, in general conversations and trends on LS elections is what the tracker focuses on.   “The conversations keep changing, but we always focus on top five parties. Out of this, Congress, BJP and AAP (in no particular order) form the top three while the other two vary on issues discussed on a particular day,” informs Patro.

Apart from daily analysis, there is a weekly analysis done as well for the weekends.