File photo of Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has added around one million followers on Twitter in last two months, a spike that is seen to be reflective of the Congress' growing presence on social media.

The numbers have not changed much during the Congress vice-president's two-week US tour which just concluded, but the increase in Twitter following has enthused the Congress which is relatively a newcomer in social media largely dominated by arch rival and BJP mascot Narendra Modi .

According to Congress sources, Rahul's followers stood at around 24.93 lakh in July 2017 and have risen to 34 lakh by September 17. The net growth is being attributed to focused engagements on social media which is attracting attention of the subscribers.

What it has done is bring big Congress leaders on Rahul's handle, who has been the subject of a lot of controversy recently when it was found that some of them were not following the party heir apparent. Also, all top leaders have been brought on Twitter.

A Congress social media insider said that the increased engagement has been made possible by methods like the party facilitating "verification" of its leaders from Twitter - from frontal organisations to state unit to legislators to election candidates.

Verification is important for subscribers to establish a genuine identity on Twitter where multiple accounts, also fake ones, are prevalent. A verified account generates interest in and response from its target constituency. Also, the party is buffered from embarrassment when a controversial comment is made from an unverified handle.

Interestingly, sources said, the unwritten rule set by the party for facilitating verification is that all handles should follow the Congress party and Rahul - a natural step that was not necessarily followed by all.

And yet, for all the enthusiasm, the Congress realises how far behind it is from rival Narendra Modi, whose social media presence is overwhelming - with 21 million followers on Twitter and a huge footprint on Facebook .

It is only now that the Congress is ramping up its social media activity with Rahul's Facebook page verified only three months ago. He has only 13.63 lakh followers as compared to Narendra Modi who has over four crore followers.

To put matters in perspective, an insider said Rahul Gandhi's fortnight-long visit to the United States, where he held multiple interactions at universities, political and social circuit, was judged to be very successful, with unexpected reception in the mainstream and the social media.

But there was not much spike on Twitter. On Facebook, the "engagement", which is an aggregate of "shares, likes and followers", was 2,00,000. "It is way below PM Modi whose 'engagement' on Facebook is said to be 1.2 million," a Congress professional said.



In Video: Rahul Gandhi adds 1 million Twitter followers in 2 months