Google and Network18 organise “In Conversation” with key politicians

Network18 and Google have come together to announce a joint initiative to help connect prominent politicians with voters across the country. The partnership involves a series of Google Hangouts with politicians titled “In conversation”. First in the series will be Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, who will be addressing voters live via a hangout session on 25th March.
 
The 2014 general elections have been acknowledged to be the first in the nation’s history that will be extensively discussed, debated and fought on social media platforms, including Google Hangouts and YouTube. The hangout series will involve politicians such as West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, NCP President Sharad Pawar, noted economist Jairam Ramesh and social activist Anna Hazare – discussing key topics and issues on the voters’ minds.
 
Announcing the partnership, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google India, said, “India is a politically vibrant country and the 2014 general elections promise to be a landmark in the history of this nation – it marks the beginning of political parties and candidates embracing Internet to reach out to an educated and digitally savvy group of young and potential voters. We are very excited to partner with Network18 to provide our users with all the information they need and engage the leaders of the country on Google products.”
 
Making full use of the power of social media and understanding the importance of getting real time feedback from the citizens of the country, Indian politicians have increasingly started using social media platforms like Google+ to reach out to the netizens.