PMLN’s social media problem

ISLAMABAD: On September 6, the head of PMLN social media received an advice, which has never got attention of the party leadership despite its failing on the narrative front.

“Whoever is part of our trending team or wants to become part of it should tweet in this trend,” Atif Rauf, head of the party’s social media, tweeted. One of the replies he received was instructive. “First of all, you should make a team. You (the PMLN) have 165 members in the Punjab Assembly. Similarly, there are MNAs and senators. If each of them provides you with 100 volunteers, you can assemble a good team. In addition, if the party’s office-bearers at union council level are also involved, you won’t have to look around for help,” replied one Amir Muhammad Khan.

The PMLN has been lagging far behind PTI in mobilising support and internalising narrative through the social media. The party’s sympathisers are increasingly concerned about this loss on the narrative front but the leadership doesn’t seem bothered. They have not been able to get verified the Twitter account of the PMLN top leader, Mian Nawaz Sharif, let alone understand the dynamics of social media.

This is in contrast with the PTI’s social media accounts. Not only the accounts of office-bearers are verified, Twitter handlers of PTI’s city chapters have also secured verification. A PMLN social media office-bearer said the PTI could do that through Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) when it was in the government. A PTA official, however, clarified that the regulator only recommends verification of accounts of individuals holding position in the government.

A PMLN source said that a number of requests to verify Nawaz Sharif’s accounts have not been entertained by Twitter for reasons best known to the social media company. “We have sent requests more than five times,” he said. Another candidate is Khurram Dastgir whose verification request is also pending. Hamza Shehbaz could succeed in getting his account verified only after he became the chief minister. Similarly, lady luck smiled on Atta Tarar after he was inducted into Hamza’s cabinet and secured verification.

Background discussions reveal frustration in the PMLN ranks and files over the indifference of the leadership towards social media, which has become a battleground on the narrative front at a time when around 70 percent of youth aged between 14-34 receive information through social media. They identify two major reasons behind the PMLN’s poor performance on this count. It doesn’t figure atop the priority of the leadership and there are too many leaders in the Sharif family. “It is not that the party lacks funds. It is the will that we lack,” said a party source in London.

Again, it is not that the fault lies only on the part of leadership in Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif is also not very keen about it. Several sympathisers have tried to sensitise the party’s supreme leader, a source said. While the elder Sharif acknowledges this reality during the course of discussion, it does not translate into actions which is a true measure of one’s seriousness, he said. If Imran Khan is politically damaged by any chance, this will be due to his own fault as the PMLN can’t take credit for that, he pointed out.

Another key factor identified is the struggle within the Sharif family about the leadership. While Maryam Nawaz is quite vocal, she is neither independent in calling the shots nor does she have a team of stalwarts to echo the narrative she builds. Shehbaz Sharif is though a party head, he is still struggling to become a leader who could offer a competing narrative. At the moment, there are different social media teams working to project the performance of the leaders who fund them.

If Twitter is taken as a guide to judge the presence of a party on social media, PTI successfully runs trends on a daily basis to highlight its point of view on different issues. On the other hand, PMLN often fails on that front. This has also been acknowledged by Atif Rauf, the party’s social media head. Talking to The News, he said the PMLN is ahead of PTI in activism but is trying to catch-up in trend-making. Failing in that, he said, is because we have an organic presence whereas PTI is working through a paid model. “You would have read the news that PTI governments in Punjab and KP have hired interns upto the union council level for this purpose,” he explained.

The News has noted that the PMLN workers and sympathisers are often found voicing their concerns on Twitter against the party’s social media cell. Majority of them are active not because of the PMLN social media but due to their opposition to the divisive politics of PTI. Responding to a question, Atif said that those showing concerns about him are in fact trying to be neutral at times and target the leadership. Another social media official described the lack of narrative from party leaders as a major reason for failing in trend making. “We can’t run trends successfully unless there is a pronounced policy/ statement of leadership on certain matters,” he said.

While the PMLN is a poor performer on Twitter, it has negligible presence on other social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube where again PTI reigns supreme. Weeks back, The News asked a minister why social media doesn’t receive due attention from the party. His response was comical: “People know what is happening and who is doing what.” Another party leader was dismissive of this approach. “This is a gross misunderstanding. It is our responsibility to tell people instead of leaving it to them to know and judge at a time when there is a flood of fake news to manipulate the minds of the public,” he argued.

The News tried to contact the information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, to know her version of social media policy, but she was not available. Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir didn’t respond either. Atta Tarar, while explaining the reason for late verification of Twitter handle, said that there was a technical issue with the party’s official website where his designation as PMLN deputy secretary general could be confirmed and this caused a delay in verification. He sent a letter of his appointment as party office-bearer, he explained, but Twitter wanted to check from the website as well. Again, this shows how user-friendly is the PMLN website.