The net growth is being attributed to focused engagements on social media which is attracting attention of the subscribers.What it has done is bring big Congress leaders on Rahul's handle, who has been the subject of a lot of controversy recently when it was found that some of them were not following the party heir apparent. Also, all top leaders have been brought on Twitter.A Congress social media insider said that the increased engagement has been made possible by methods like the party facilitating "verification" of its leaders from Twitter - from frontal organisations to state unit to legislators to election candidates.Verification is important for subscribers to establish a genuine identity on Twitter where multiple accounts, also fake ones, are prevalent. A verified account generates interest in and response from its target constituency. On Facebook, the "engagement", which is an aggregate of "shares, likes and followers", was 2,00,000. "It is way below PM Modi whose 'engagement' on Facebook is said to be 1.2 million," a Congress professional said.

Source: Times of India September 23, 2017 22:18 UTC