Narendra Modi beats all in web popularity

If Facebook is an indicator of one’s popularity, BJP veteran LK Advani has miles to go before he catches up with junior party leaders such as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley.

With only 16 supporter-friends, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate doesn’t come across as a convincing mascot for the party.

Contrast this with Modi’s Facebook profile, which has five fan clubs with one titled ‘Narendra Modi as PM’ and the largest membership base of 5,674. Even Jaitley, more an ideologue than a grassroots politician, has more Facebook ‘fans’ than Advani, 99 in a group dedicated to him.

Advani’s profile, created  with his blog and web site in November 2008, is under the politician category and is managed by the same team that manages his blog and web site.

Advani’s Facebook account hasn’t been updated for more than a month. It shows on the ‘wall’ — a Facebook utility where friends and supporters can post messages — which hasn’t had a single posting.

When it comes to the Congress, again, its most popular representative, Rahul Gandhi, doesn’t have a Facebook account. Compare this with other party young turks such as Sachin Pilot and Deependra Singh Hooda who have 795 and 116 listed Facebook supporters. Both MPs have separate personal Facebook profiles too, which are not accessible to all.

Politicians around the world started taking their online presence seriously after the stupendous success of Barack Obama’s web poll campaign (the US president’s Facebook page has over 5 million members). But it seems the BJP and Congress hotshots have still not taken a leaf out of the Obama story.