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News, Politics, Government

In India's Polarizing Election Of 2014, Twitter and Facebook Already Winners

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By Saritha Rai, Contributor

Earlier this month, Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial contender Narendra Modi ousted Congress minister Shashi Tharoor as the Indian politician with the most followers on Twitter. Modi is closing in on 2 million followers while Tharoor, who had long-reigned as the most popular, trails just behind. Modi’s presumed rival for the prime ministerial post, the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi is conspicuous by his nonexistence on Twitter. Modi and Gandhi are going head-to-head on Facebook where their fan pages are garnering a multitude of “likes”. As India’s general election nears, the colorful political rallies and raucous sloganeering is yet to begin. But the digital face-off between political parties and their leaders has already reached a shrill extreme. The main Congress and BJP have set up what are dubbed ‘digital war rooms’ and mandated that leaders get active on Twitter. Each party is mobilizing thousands of impassioned supporters on social networks. Even the newly-launched Aam Admi Party (Hindi for common man’s political party) of anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal is vociferous on social media. With even more frenetic social media activity forecast in the coming months, India’s upcoming general election is giving an inadvertent, huge boost for Twitter and Facebook. “Politics, and indeed democracy, is moving from the old model of one-way political rhetoric sans any real participation to an increasingly voluble, energetic, fractious, interactive engagement on social media,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an independent member of the Indian parliament, who formerly founded and then sold telecom operator BPL Mobile. “On social networks, politicians cannot hide from scrutiny and interactivity.” India has the third-largest base, after the United States and China, of internet users. In reality, the reach of the internet, and consequently social media, is limited, as its nearly 150 million users represent a fraction of the total population. Of these, however, two out of three users are said to access social networks daily. India is shaping up to be an important market for online advertising. Google currently leads in online revenues in India, followed by Facebook. India’s Twitter base, about 20 million users as per a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, is growing rapidly. Meanwhile Facebook said in a recent SEC filing that India and Brazil represent key growth regions in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the period a year ago. It reported 78 million monthly active users (MAUs) in India in the March quarter of 2013. India could boast of the world’s largest base of 277 million Facebook users by 2017. While social networks’ growth is slacking off in the West, populous countries such as Brazil, India and Russia offer plenty of growth room. Social media’s new relevance in Indian electoral politics is highlighted by the fact that the small population active on these networks is influential in urban constituencies. One study says that Facebook and Twitter could help decisively swing votes in 160 of India’s 543 parliamentary constituencies. That could be the change. In the past, India’s urban, educated voters have largely shied …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

The Story Of The Greatest Game Ever Played In America That You Have Probably Never Heard Of

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By Bobby McMahon, Contributor

The first MLS Cup Final in 1996 was a dramatic affair that saw D.C. United recover from a late two-goal deficit against the Los Angeles Galaxy to win through Eddie Pope’s golden goal in overtime. Yet the drama at Foxborough Stadium that day could not come close to emulating the ‘Greatest Soccer Final Played on American Soil’ — the first continental professional final held between franchises from those two cities to crown the 1967 United Soccer Association champion. Nearly 18,000 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum witnessed 11 goals, two hat-tricks, three penalty kicks, last-minute equalizers in normal and extra-time, one sending off, countless punch-ups and a heartbreaking golden own goal in sudden-death overtime.  Ian Thomson is a former Wall Street reporter and freelance soccer journalist based in Morgantown, West Virginia. In his first book “Summer Of ’67” Ian tells the story of that final and the 12 teams that arrived in North America from around the globe to compete in the first United Soccer Association. The twelve teams were adopted by cities across North America and went through name changes. Cagliari of Italy became the Chicago Mustangs, Wolves and Sunderland from England played as the Los Angeles Wolves and the Vancouver Royal Canadians. Stoke City became the Cleveland Stokers, Bangu from Brazil the Houston Stars and Dundee United offered a Texas rivalry as the Dallas Tornado. Toronto City was Hibernian from Scotland, C.A. Cerro of Uruguay the New York Skyliners  and the Netherlands side ADO Den Haag took temporary possession of the mouthful that was the San Francisco Golden Gate Gales. Rounding out the 12 teams was Glentoran of Northern Ireland as the Detroit Cougars, Shamrock Rovers from the Republic not surprisingly lined up as the  Boston Rovers and Aberdeen became the Washington Whips. Ian was kind enough to take time to answer some of my questions. Q What drew you to this specific subject? A I’d heard many years ago that my team, Aberdeen from Scotland, had played as the Washington Whips in some far-flung American tournament before I was born. I never thought too much about it until I attended my first D.C. United game at RFK Stadium last year. Shortly afterward, I interviewed Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark for a college soccer story. Bobby was Aberdeen’s goalkeeper during the 1967 tour. It struck me that the United Soccer Association was a key milestone in the timeline of U.S. soccer history that remains largely obscure. Q As you did your research what level of awareness did you find 0f the 1967 United Soccer Association on both sides of the Atlantic? Or was it case that Pele signing for the Cosmos years later was the starting point for most?  A It’s funny, I was talking to Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie after his team’s 1-0 win at RFK Stadium in June. Rennie is an Aberdeen fan, yet he had no idea that The Dons had played in that venue. Sunderland’s club historian had written a …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Articles of Interest

Pope Francis Aparecida Shrine Mass Draws Multitudes of Faithful Despite Cold Rain

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

APARECIDA, Brazil — Pope Francis is urging the faithful to resist the “ephemeral idols” of money, power and pleasure during a pilgrimage to one of the most important shrines in Latin America and one of great meaning for him personally.

Francis is in Aparecida to celebrate the first public Mass of his trip to Brazil and to pray before the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil’s patron saint. His eyes welled up with emotion as he stood silently in deep prayer before the tiny dark-skinned statue.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post