Do political elite endorsements influence online mobilization? A study of Twitter behavior in Narendra Modi’s 2019 election campaigns

Abstract

ABSTRACT Modern campaigns increasingly rely on social media to influence voters, with Twitter offering affordances that enable direct communication between politicians and the public. However, scholars remain divided over the effectiveness of engaging ordinary Twitter users for mobilizing support online. This article seeks to address this issue by examining whether endorsements from political elites influence the tweeting behavior of ordinary users. Using a quasi-experimental design, we analyze an original dataset of tweets made by users who were mentioned (N = 27,634; 36.62 million tweets) and not mentioned (N = 27,672; 16.30 million tweets) by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16th March 2019, during his national election campaign. Our analysis reveals that, on average, users mentioned by Modi exhibited a greater increase in tweet activity compared to those not mentioned. However, this surge in activity proved to be only temporary, suggesting that mentions by political elites facilitate immediate mobilization but are not necessarily self-sustaining. Furthermore, no evidence was found of a differential effect based on users’ pre-existing engagement levels. Our findings offer important insights into political leaders’ strategic use of Twitter in campaigns and contribute to the theoretical understanding of Twitter's role in mobilization and interactivity by bringing in diverse perspectives from the Global South.