Shel Israel, who wrote the brilliant Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble, is now writing a business book on Twitter – Twitterville – and I’m hoping to convince him to write a chapter on Twitter use in emerging economies like India and China.
We have seen in recent past that Twitter has been effective in both China and India for crisis reporting — first in the China earthquake and then in the Mumbai terror attack.
The question is: are businesses in India and China using Twitter in an interesting way?
In part 1 of my 2-part pitch, I’ll track business use of Twitter India. In part 2, I’ll tackle China.
So, here’s a work-in-progress list of Indian businesses using TwitterIndia –
- Daily News and Analysis: @DNAIndia | Type of Business: Newspaper
Stats: Started on November 28, 2008 | Following: 524 | Followers: 324 | Tweets: 433
Bio: Twitter is in our DNA. Our stories have no links attached, we believe that some stories are better said in 140 chrs. Meanwhile @DNAIndia is not a bot.
Why Interesting: Started after the Mumbai terror attack, the account is not linked to the news firehose, but seeks to participate in real conversations.
- Fastrack @Fastrack | Type of Business: Fashion accessories
Stats: Started on January 10, 2008 | Following: 1890 | Followers: 369 | Tweets: 403
Bio: India’s most loved youth fashion brand!
Why Interesting: Tweets include offers, links to newsletters, trivia and even some @replies.
- MTV India @MTVIndia | Type of Business: TV Channel
Stats: Started on September 29, 2008 | Following: 6 | Followers: 145 | Tweets: 130
Bio: mtv on twitter
Why Interesting: Tweets include a mix of alerts, invitations to submit user generated content and @replies.
- Saawariya @Saawariya | Type of Business: Movie
Stats: Started on October 28, 2007 | Following: 775 | Followers: 154 |
Tweets: 299
Bio: ‘Saawariya’ or ‘Beloved’ – most anticipated Bollywod movie of the year.
Why Interesting: First Indian movie to be promoted on Twitter. Tweets include links related to the movie.
- Virgin Mobile India @ThinkHatke | Type of Business: Mobile service
Stats: Started on March 19, 2008 | Following: 81 | Followers: 155 | Tweets: 108
Bio: Virgin Mobile India Think Hatke
Why Interesting: Tweets include a mix of news alerts, contests and @replies.
- Maruti Suzuki A Star @mar_suz_astar | Type of Business: Automobile (hat tip to Balaji Dutt)
Stats: Started on December 11, 2008 | Following: NA | Followers: NA | Tweets: NA
Bio: NA
Why Interesting: Blocked because of spamming. (Disclosure: I’m on sabbatical from my role as Brand Head of Indian auto brand Indica.)
- FHM India @FHMIndia | Type of Business: Magazine (hat tip to Twilight Fairy)
Stats: Started on October 16, 2008 | Following: 68 | Followers: 27 | Tweets: 101
Bio: World’s No.1 mens magazines’ India edition. Girls, gadgets, games, fashion, style, confessions & more.
Why Interesting: Not really. Mostly links to articles on the FHM website.
- Indiatimes @IndiatimesNews | Type of Business: Newspaper (hat tip to Twilight Fairy)
Stats: Started on November 28, 2008 | Following: 30 | Followers: 26 | Tweets: 38
Bio: Latest updates from indiatimes.com
Why Interesting: Not really. Links to Indiatimes stories about the Mumbai terror attack. Probably a one-off experiment during the Mumbai terror attack. There is also the unused @TOI (hat tip Chhavi Sachdev).
- Delhi Daredevils @DelhiDaredevils | Type of Business: Cricket team (hat tip to Twilight Fairy)
Stats: Started on April 8, 2008 | Following: 203 | Followers: 76 | Tweets: 103
Bio: Official IPL Delhi DareDevils Team
Why Interesting: Tweets about the cricket team’s on-ground and off-ground activities. Inactive since May, 2008.
- Bangalore Mirror: @BangaloreMirror | Type of Business: Newspaper
Stats: Started on April 16, 2008 | Following: 168 | Followers: 156 | Tweets: 247
Bio: Tweet for you.
Why Interesting: Tweets are mostly links to new stories, but also some @replies.
- Live Mint: @LiveMint | Type of Business: Newspaper (hat tip Chhavi Sachdev)
Stats: Started on November 27, 2008 | Following: 0 | Followers: 29 | Tweets: 136
Bio: NA
Why Interesting: Started after the Mumbai terror attack, the account has links to news stories. Not really interesting.
Rajesh/ Dina/ Kiruba/ Rajiv/ Harshil/ Sampad/ Nimesh/ Saurabh/ Chhavi/ Priya/ Manu: Which other Indian businesses are using Twitter in an interesting way? Do leave a reply in the comments below so that I can add to the list, or write a post of your own and tag Shel Israel.
Here are two other lists that were pointed out to me: list of Asian brands using Twitter by Shalabh Pandey and list of Indian brands on Twitter by Karthik S.
Here’s a list of Indian CEOs and founders on Twitter via Kiruba Shankar.
