Social media seen to help 2016 bets

MANILA, Philippines - With help from social media, candidates in next year’s elections may just campaign “smarter” than others.

“The current approach of a politician is self-centered,” Amit Puri, IBM global delivery leader, said in a media briefing.

Puri noted that in traditional campaigns, candidates talk about themselves and their backgrounds and achievements as well as their plans for their constituents if elected into office.

But he said the “focus today is on individuals,” adding that potential voters are now more interested in hearing possible solutions for their current problems and issues.

“Today, a politician can actually make that happen. He can, if he wants, get connected with other people at a community level, at a specific individual level – because all these are now on social media. They are actually talking about their problems, they are talking about their issues,” Puri said.

Puri said technology and consulting giant IBM would make available its data analytics exercise to local candidates who want to better their “social listening” and connection with the voters.

“It’s very easy to perform analytics and understand what issues are being talked about, and (then candidates) address those issues specifically,” he added.

The IBM Analytics services were tapped by incumbent US President Barack Obama in his two successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

IBM’s various software and research programs include, among others, Social Media Analytics, which categorizes social data; Influencers & Like-Minded Geo Analysis, which collates localized feedback and campaigns; and Image Analysis, which identifies users’ ages, topics and sentiments.

Puri shared that IBM was further enhancing their data analytics expertise through a partnership with social networking site Twitter.

Meanwhile, IBM Analytics Asia-Pacific chief data scientist Olav Laudy told reporters that the Philippines can be the data analytics hub of the world – given its large pool of English-speaking information communications technology (ICT) workers.

If the Philippines can position itself as a global hub, it can easily capture $283 million worth of opportunity, IBM said.

Becoming a global center will mean that the Philippines can be home to top consulting, technical and support skills for the sales, solutioning and delivery of advanced business analytics globally.

IBM had earlier estimated that the global market opportunity for analytics to be at $212 billion.

The discipline of data analytics is seen to need a work force of four million.