The progress of 21stcentury can barely be anticipated without the indication of the part of social media in it. It wouldn’t be overstating to say that social media is ubiquitously present in all spheres of life, be it education, health care, business, disaster management, politics, tourism industry and of course the use of media sharing and entertainment needs no mention. In the wake of all such convenience provided by the social media, it too, does have a darker side to cast. Misuse of social media, the other side of the coin, also needs to be accounted. In the light of this and more so because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in India, the authors of this report feel an urge to address the current status of knowledge, the research community possess regarding the use of social media during election. The paperdiscusses the basics of Social Media Analytics i.e., from its evolution and framework to tool and techniques and also some applications in brief. Finally, several studies on social media analytics during elections have been described. It is sought to contemplate the degree to which the result of an election can be predicted, public opinions be altered or its usefulness in campaigning for an election. Apart from this, the authors also hope that this study will be helpful for other researchers to analyse the social media data and yield productive outcomes that contribute to the development of society, government and the nation.

Social Media Analytics, Political science, Elections, Social media

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