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Our social media-savvy Prime Minister Narendra Modi – the third most followed world leader on Twitter after Barack Obama and Donald Trump -- threw the easy-to-panic social media world into a tizzy last week with a sly hint at what’s to come. He tweeted that he was “giving up his social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram”. This was followed by an even more cryptic “Will keep you posted”.
Swift as lightning, rumour-mongering began in the online world that Modi was going – gasp! -- offline. Language purists and respecters of syntax and expert read-between-the-liners and contractually obligated doubting Thomases like yours truly would not have construed that that message in any way meant the Prime Minister was of the intent to exit stage right of his most favoured of all platforms, social media. But how do you explain this to the multiverse of our times, the verbigerating ignoriverse? (coinage: me. Doff your hats in my direction). Pro tip: you don’t. You sit back and watch the craziness unfold while nursing a cup of tea or a glass of wine, whichever be your poison, during this scorching summer of our discontent.
This was followed by a tweet with a hashtag (even paper ephemera aren’t as ephemeral as these thingies), #SheInspiresUs. “This Women's Day, I will give away my social media accounts to women whose life & work inspire us. This will help them ignite motivation in millions. Are you such a woman or do you know such inspiring women? Share such stories using #SheInspiresUs,” he tweeted.
Note the change in the phrasal verb there. Cambridge Dictionary defines “give up” as “to stop trying to do something before you have finished, usually because it is too difficult”. Hmm. And the definition of “give away (something)” is: “to supply something at no charge.” Double hmm. So, which is it to be, Mr Prime Minister? Giving up, or giving away?
Like my dear friend and chronically compulsive punster @udupendra tweeted, in reaction to the PM’s grand announcement: “Who called them BJP and not gimmicky kamal?” Brilliant! Social media as a platform is one for instant gratification. Your sentiments get validation, your (mostly sad, with exceptions like the aforementioned one-liner) punning abilities get traction in the form of likes and RTs, there is no filter that separates you from your audience (Mann Ki Baat, anyone?), and the void that family and friends and life and loves and work leave behind end up getting filled by the vitriol that is in constant supply on your timeline. In other words, it is the g(r)ift that keeps on giving. And, it is also the platform for political gimmickry in these times. All this to say: never let it be said that our dear PM is one to shy away from gimmickry.
I must give kudos (due disclaimer: anticipatory at the time of writing this) to his social media team, though, who will have to deal with the nightmarish logistics of letting scores of women handle one account on Women’s Day. Statistics say that social media positions in organisations are mostly held by women (don’t quite know the gender makeup of the leading party’s social media team, secretive that it is, and perhaps why the PM wanted women to take over for a day). Maybe we euphoriant social media mavens of the country can unite into a collective next year and run our Prime Minister’s social media accounts for a day. And if that idea is way too migrainous for BJP’s social media army, how about Divya Spandana? Just think of the engagement potential.
Sparks would fly.