Abstract
Over the past decade, the use of social media and online networking tools has become popular within Indian society and by the Indian government. This research uses social network analysis in order to analyze 20,000 Twitter conversations on two major issues in Indian politics. The first topic is the controversial Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, which has been used by the current administration to strip thousands of NGOs of their ability to receive funding from abroad. The second case study looks at the issue of demonetization of currency in India. By observing how people cluster online based on their ideological, political, and religious beliefs, this work finds that social media tools are a powerful way state governments can more effectively target their messages to groups of interest in foreign nations.
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Chatlani, S. (2020). Finding Ideological Divisions in Indian Society Through Online Twitter Conversations. In: Jones, J., Trice, M. (eds) Platforms, Protests, and the Challenge of Networked Democracy. Rhetoric, Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36525-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36525-7_12
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