Bot analysis on social media

Abstract

Ever since the 2014 Lok Sabha election, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook etc.have become a vital part of election campaigns in India with political parties investing heavily in the expansion of their Information and Technology (IT) cells. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,the use of such platforms reached an all time high with every major political party releasing their own coordinated social media campaigns. In addition to the more traditional social media platforms, Bharatiya Janata Party also utilised the NaMo App - one of the first apps centered around a specific political party - as a way of organising campaigns. Through this project, we aim to study the existence of echo chambers on Twitter in the Indian political context. We also plan on examining how NaMo App influences the discourse on Twitter and whether the users who use the app are part of Twitter echo chambers.