Digital campaigning, how effective?

As voting for the General elections reaches final phases after hectic campaigning with political parties heavily relying also on digital technology, the effectiveness of this new penchant is yet to be proven, experts say.

"We can't be certain about how effective this form of campaigning has been because the political parties don't just rely on this medium. They still hold rallies and face to face campaigning, besides the digital form of campaigning," said Rajeeva Karandikar, a psephologist.

Dr Ajay Pal Singh, Psychiatrist, Max Health Care said, "In any human interaction, there are many factors like body language, eye movements that govern the final effect on the listener. So, it becomes much easier to motivate someone when you are face to face with him. The digital medium is impersonal in nature and to convince the audience is not very easy."

While messages from different parties keep on popping continuously into our phone inbox, how much we are motivated and to what extent, determines how effective the message is, according to experts.

"In case of advertisements on TV, we do not have a choice. In case of SMSes popping up every now and then, a sense of irritation is created and unintentionally you start disliking the party or individual," said Dr Singh.