SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION:

A STUDY ON USE OF FACEBOOK AS POLITICAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGY BY MZORAM NATIONAL FRONT IN THE 2013 MIZORAM ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Abstract

The kinship between politics and communication was pointed out long ago by Aristotle in his Politics and Rhetoric, he said that humans are “political beings [who] alone of the animals [are] furnished the faculty of language†Then he began his systematic analysis of discourse by proclaiming, “Rhetorical study in its strict sense is concerned with the modes of persuasion.†Thus, it was recognized over twenty-three hundred years ago that politics and communication go hand in hand because they are essential parts of human nature. Social Media proved to be a useful platform for political campaigns as it is highly accessible and user-friendly. The paper adopts qualitative approach and data was collected using in-depth interview technique and online secondary sources. The study reveals that Zoram Nationalist Party adopts Facebook as a political campaign strategy.