I was quoted yesterday in a story in The Pioneer on Indian celebrities using Twitter. Earlier, I was quoted in a Mail Today story on celebrities using Twitter.
I think Twitter is ideal for celebrities because of a few reasons –
- It’s simple. You have 140 letters to say what you want to.
- It is essentially one-to-many. You don’t need to follow the fans who follow you. They will be delighted if you just reply to their @username messages.
- It is built to be used with mobile, via SMS, mobile web or a mobile app.
- It has an evolved app ecosystem, so you can directly upload photos to it via TwitPic etc., and find an app that is perfect for your device.
- It is hot, so if you are a celeb using Twitter, you are bound to attract lots of media attention.
Here is the full text of the story –
What are celebs doing now?
…. If you want to know it, log on to Twitter that is now fast catching the fancy of desi star, says ASRP Mukesh
Friday, July 24, 2009Want to know whom Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat is flirting with? What kind of music unwinds the cool Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni or how Big B is coping with Mumbai floods and his health? Follow them on the Twitter. The blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut are a passé. The Indian celebrity brigade is now catching up with micro blogging, that is what Twitter is, in a big way.
Reason? Says hair stylist Savio John Pereira, who started tweeting just two weeks ago, “To remain connected is an important aspect of everyone’s life — be it with family, friends, clients or fans. Since I often keep travelling for shows, conferences, shooting et al, I feel it gives me a wider platform to be in touch with everyone even when I am mobile.”
Besides being regular with his blogs, actor Amitabh Bachchan has also ventured into micro blogging now. And he seems to keep updating his fans about his state of mind quite often through Twitter. Consider his tweet (as the messages on twitter are nicknamed) posted on n July 23 at 6:47 pm from twitterfeed iphone: “Damn… Damn. . Hate it when this happens… And I never, never learn… Should saved the matter on Word.. Damn.. Stop rubbin.”
Among the host of stars who have made their presence felt in the world of micro blogging, it is Gul Panang who seems to be most active of all. The Bollywood actress makes an all out effort to share her whereabouts and what she is going through with her fans through the tweets. “And now on the way back. Navigating through a sea of cars that constitutes Bombay prime time traffic,” she wrote on July 23 at 5:31 pm while it was raining in Mumbai. So what excites her to keep continuously tweeting? Says Gul, “I feel I am very opinionated and can express myself without any dilution in form on this site. Besides, the bonus being that on twitter one is able to connect with interesting people. Though it’s very difficult to evaluate twitter with respect to other networking sites but I enjoy micro blogging.”
Besides an avid tweeter, the actor is also an avid photo blogger. She supports her text with photographs be it about the Mumbai rains, seal link or plain traffic. “I’ve registered with TwitSnaps.com as my preferred photoshare application on Twitter,” adds Gul. The actor’s regular presence on the Twitter has earned her over 9,000 followers.
Mallika Sherawat, who tweets from her new base in LA, peppers her posts with plenty of self- praise: “Gosh! Ram Gopal Verma called me the Marilyn Monroe of the east… blush blush.” And then she preaches people about healthy living and perfect looks. “Do the shoulder stand asana pose. Blood rushing to the head makes hair strong and shiny,” she wrote before going to sleep. “Off to bed 4 sum booty sleep, Tweeps!”: “Obey all the rules,” was her final tweet for the day. Actors apart, even sports persons and politicians too are hooked to micro blogging. Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has found this medium an ideal way to let his fans know what is going on in the world of cricket. “Viru picks himself when he is fit. I cannot say the same thing about many others other than Yuvraj,” he wrote on July 7 to air his thoughts on the controversy of Sehwag’s dropping-out from the squad.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, perhaps inspired by Barack Obama’s success on Twitter, has been a regular micro-blogger. Tech-savvy Tharoor has smartly leveraged the micro-blogging service to be seen both as an interesting person and a responsible politician. Some of his recent tweets read: “President Patil’s dinner for Ministers. Still can’t get over the magnificence of Rashtrapati Bhavan, from the decor to the costumed guards!”
So what is it that makes Twitter so popular? Explains Gaurav Mishra, CEO of 20:20 WebTech, a social media research and strategy company, “I attribute three reason for its popularity over other networking sites. One it’s simple and short, so you don’t have to sweat while tweeting. Second, it supports mobile and PC that gives you liberty to stay connected anywhere and everywhere and last but not the least, it’s beautifully segregated depending upon peoples hobbies and professions. So you follow whoever you want — an actor, PR, journalist et al and you don’t have to seek anyone’s permission to follow anyone like in Orkut or Facebook. This makes this site fascinating among all age groups.”
Mishra says that though India ventured late on Twitter but now it’s catching up very fast. “Till Jan-Feb this year, there were 4 million users worldwide and now in July it is over 20 million. Of all this over five per cent traffic is from India. This speaks of its popularity,” he says. However, he points out that the key challenge for Twitter — which is still working on its business model — is to get itself a monetisation plan for India.
