When Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his government’s first Union Budget on July 10th, the social media was abuzz with opinions, viewpoints and observations. Salaried professionals, entrepreneurs, students, activists, politicians and the common man, everyone was concerned and hopeful at the same time.
After all, the financial plans and decisions which were being announced will be impacting each and every citizen of the country.
But which were the topics which were hotly discussed on social media? Who discussed these topics?
CRISIL, which is India’s leading credit rating agency, recently analyzed this social media buzz inside India on the day of budget: July 10th. Their social media analytics and research presented us with some interesting facts, which give us an idea about the general perception and participation in the Union Budget by Indian social media users.
CRISIL picked up 36,000 social media users from India and observed their 328,000 comments, mentions and shares out which they selected the most relevant 175,000 activities. The observation was made for 24 hours: 12 hours before the budget and 12 hours after that. Leading social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and News sites were selected for this research.
Based on the inputs, the entire data of social media users were categorized under the following heads:
- Individuals
- Influencers
- Economy Experts
- Investors
- Media
- Politicians and Activists
- Distinguished citizens
- Businesses
And, the interactions and engagements on the social media were divided into the following main topics like Tax, Defense, Housing, Education, Infrastructure, Insurance, Banking, Agriculture, Healthcare and E-commerce
Interesting insights from this research:
Contents
1) Majority of Indians were least bothered by the Budget Announcements
Out of 36,215 social media profiles, the study observed average interaction/profile of only 1.1%! Politicians, who were supposed to be most active on the discussions related to budget had a dismal engagement of just 4.6 mentions/profile, whereas economy experts on social media shared 10.1 mentions/profile.
The largest group which carried out most engagement was “Individuals” which constituted 76% of the overall group and engaged 68.3%.
However, average mentions/profile was still low at 4.8. The report mentions that “Individuals” constituted mainly students, freelancers and solo-entrepreneurs.
2) Taxes, Housing, Education & Defense Most Discussed Topics
If we observe the breakdown of the topics which were mostly discussed, then we will find Taxes as the #1 issue which ignited debates.
Housing schemes, education and Defense were other broadly discussed and shared topics. Influencers mainly discussed tax and defense whereas Individuals discussed Education and Housing as their primary topics.
3) Regional Sentiments
The study also observed the social media sentiments being generated on a regional basis:
- Tax was the main topic to be discussed in Karnataka & Maharashtra
- Northern India was mainly focused on FDI and Defense
- Eastern India had the least social media mentions regarding budget, as only 8% of them posted any relevant update on July 10th.
- Tax was not even in the top 5 topics in Delhi!
4) Most positive and negative sentiments
“Hike in Tax Exemptions” & “FDI in Defense and Insurance” were the most positive sentiments whereas “Sardar Patel Statue” & “No change in Tax Rate” were the most negative sentiments
5) Which Social Network Was The Winner?
With more than 85% of social mentions originating from Twitter, it was the clear winner among all social networks. Facebook represented just 7% of budget related talks on July 10th and social media sites of news channels constituted 3.5%.
You can access the report here.