Category: Social Media

Remember your first tweet?

MUMBAI: After tweeting hundreds of time, do you sometimes wonder what your first tweet was? Well, just use the newly launched tool by Twitter as it celebrates its eighth birthday.

Ideas, anecdotes, opinions, experiences and achievements, among other things have been expressed in 140 characters since 2006, the year the now-much talked about social networking site was first introduced.

While in these eight years, many have posted thousands of posts on Twitter to share joy, sadness, crib or even socialise. But there was no way one could find out their first tweet, except for scrolling down the long list to see it.

So, to make life easier, Twitter is now taking people on a nostalgic ride.

And as many people are busy finding out their own first tweets, we bring to you a list of the first tweets by the media biggies.

@rupertmurdoch: Have just. Read The Rational Optimist. Great book.

@ManishTewari Good Morning world on Dec 7 th 2012

@SrBachchan: @juniorbachchan hey baby !! I made it on twitter !!! Yeeaaaaaahhhh !! … sorry..just got carried away ..safe onward flight and love

@sachin_rt: Finally the original SRT is on twitter n the first thing I’d like to do is wish my colleagues the best in the windies,

@iamsrk: hi everyone. being extremely shy i never thought i would be here. but my friend @kjohar25 insisted that i should learn to share my life.

@punit_goenka: #MaryKom is the perfect example of what ZEE has always stood for – empowering people! May she bring home the gold medal!

@cvlsrinivas: ’tis bird has flown..

@haritnagpal: Finally on Twitter too!

@SunilLulla: Hectic Parleying Before The Weekend That My Daughter Moves Cities

@rajcheerfull: Fireworks must be banned and If it cant be done then it should only be allowed in public places like playgrounds, beach, parks etc.

@jawharsircar: RBI monitoring situation: Subbarao http://bit.ly/KhG0QO

@BeingSalmanKhan: Arbaaz ne kaha ke tweet kar toh banta hai boss

@NSaina: Entering the world of Twitter for the first time! Looking forward to great interactions with Fans!!! So here goes my first tweet! 🙂

@ShereenYT: Young Turks Awarded For Consistent Coverage Of Innovation& Social Entrepreneurship At The unconvention Summit In Chennai

@itsmeanuj: nothing is happening…dont know if i am waiting for something to happen…

@parthodasgupta: off to delhi tom

@Rajesh_sethi Indian Govt’s fiscal deficit may be harder to reign in than popularly envisaged. How will Govt reduce expenditure & still be populist ? #in

@vikramchandra checking mail

@ramankalra1 DND limiting Sabeer Bhatia’s next big idea of free global txtng…#TRAI listening? …#Infocom2011

@AjitkThakur: Back on twitter after months. Under pressure from team to do some Life OK tweets! For now just saying life is OK @LifeOKTV

@LloydMathias: hanging loose

@nairsameer: Japs outsourcing to India…with Japan’s aging populace producing few new engineers, there is a real business opportunity here.

@FRIEDFOODBRAIN: Spilled ink on my pants. No really, it’s ink. The kind that helps a pen make squiggly lines that the learned called writing. Yup that ink.

@ bhogleharsha: @Nagaraju_Dovari i do too and you do too.and cricketers and authors and singers are no different from you and me

@Lk_Gupta: Ganpati statues on trucks n guys dancg arnd thm wth branches brokn fm trees. Wot?!

@Sanjay_Tripathy: Going to watch the movie ‘Seven Pounds’

@shaileshkapoor: Checking Twitter out!

@kvpops: This is my new account. Henceforth i shall tweet from this id

March 22, 2014
Tips Music crosses 5 million fans on Facebook!

MUMBAI: Tips Music created a landmark of sorts earlier this week when the company’s Facebook community hit the 5 million fan mark, making it one of the largest and most active entertainment brands on Facebook.

Mr. Sahas Malhotra, (VP – Business Head) of Tips Industries said “This is a very important milestone for us and we would like to thank all our fans and supporters. We regard this as a testament to all the consumer oriented engagements that Tips has undertaken in the digital space. The number of fans on the page has been growing in leaps and bounds and this is a clear indication of our ever increasing popularity on Facebook. Our unique social media initiatives with which we have been engaging fans, has garnered a lot of attention.”

In less than a year, the company has seen an increase of 50 percent in its fan base from 2 million in 2013, to the current 5 million. Tips Music is one of the few Indian entertainment companies with rich industry experience of over 25 years to realize the potential of social media and the digital platform with which they have been using to engage and build their fan community. With a single handed focus on the popularity of Facebook, Tips brings to its fans an exciting and interactive way of engaging with films and allowing music buffs the opportunity of extensive information about various artists, labels, and movies.

Today, Tips is at the forefront of the digital music industry in India and this is just the beginning.

March 19, 2014
LinkedIn’s SlideShare becomes more personalised

MUMBAI: In today’s day and age, social networks are a way of life; so much so that they are the source of news for many media professionals. I happen to be one such professional who gets the beat of the industry through LinkedIn.

Today morning I came across this mail from – LinkedIn’s presentation channel – SlideShare, stating it is integrating its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use into the LinkedIn Privacy Policy and User Agreement, effective 26 March, 2014.

What does this mean for the user? This integration of SlideShare’s terms of service will now make it even easier for the member to discover and share content across both services. This means one’s SlideShare experience can be personalised based on his/her LinkedIn profile, their network, and their engagement with content from both services.

The user’s LinkedIn account will power a richer experience on SlideShare’s service, and in the future may be prioritised over other sign-up or log-in options on the global presentation channel.

“We encourage connecting your SlideShare and LinkedIn accounts, and in the future all SlideShare accounts could be merged into LinkedIn accounts. We’ll let you know ahead of time if we merge these accounts,” stated the e-mail from SlideShare.

SlideShare was founded on the basic desire to easily share presentations on the web. This desire to help professionals around the world to discover people through content, and content through people, led it to join the LinkedIn family in 2012. Both the services claim to work on the fundamental philosophy of “members first”.

March 18, 2014
Facebook buys WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion

MUMBAI: WhatsApp is an application that has seen exponential growth in the five years since its launch and it has become the most popular means of communication through mobile phones. In a deal announced today, popular social media website Facebook has acquired the messaging application for a whopping $19 billion.

As per the terms of the transaction, $4 billion will be paid in cash to WhatsApp shareholders, $12 billion in Facebook shares and $3 billion in restricted stock units that will vest in the owners and employers of WhatsApp over four years after the deal is completed after regulatory approvals. WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will be joining the Facebook board of directors.

After the acquisition, WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and will continue its policy of no advertising. Currently, the application has 450 million users and is adding a million users each day. A release from Facebook says that the acquisition supports Facebook’s and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably.

“WhatsApp is a company of really hardcore engineers who are obsessing over perfecting messaging, not adding a lot of bloated features into a messaging app. Over time, I think people are going to pay for that,” said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook was advised by Allen & Company LLC and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and WhatsApp was advised by Morgan Stanley and Fenwick & West, LLP.

Koum said, “WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We’re excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.”

February 20, 2014
MouthShut.com launches Mobile App for Android users

MUMBAI: MouthShut.com – India’s leading consumer review website – has launched its multi-faceted feature free mobile application, MouthShut, to reach out their millions of consumers.

The mobile app will be available for Android users and can be downloaded for free from Google Play Store. The company will soon be introducing the App for iOS and Windows users.

According to Faisal Farooqui, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MouthShut.com, the entire world becoming glocal (Global + local), it is important that everything fits the pocket. “Consumer reviews have become an integral part of every Indian’s experience. MouthShut.com’s App is now putting reviews and more in the pockets of every Internet user,” he added.

The MouthShut Mobile App has reviews on a variety of products and services across the top six most-used categories: Automotives, Mobile, Movies, Health & Beauty, Travel & Restaurants and Online Shopping. Reviews are sorted in four divisions: popular, most-reviewed products, rating and recommendations.

“The MouthShut Mobile App has a broad range of movie reviews, including Bollywood, Hollywood, Tamil and Telegu movies. The App also looks up restaurants as per the preference: proximity, type of cuisine, ratings by consumers and recommendations. The App can be used to spot the exact location of a restaurant, hospital, pubs, hotels and much more on Google map,” Farooqui said.

February 17, 2014
Social Media to set a red carpet for sports and entertainment

MUMBAI: IMC FUSION 2014, a conference presented by Indian Merchant’s Chamber (IMC), was followed up with a series of panel discussions on the major roles played by the social media in today’s three most dynamic sectors – Entertainment, Media and Sports industry. Ramesh Sippy and Subhash Ghai were most honourable guests inaugurated this third edition of IMC Fusion 2014. This conference was divided into six sessions which focused on several trending social media topics in this generation. It also witnessed the launch of a Knowledge Paper on Multi Screen Behavior: A Study on Emerging Consumer Dynamics.

The IMC FUSION 2014 Conference was organized under the auspices of IMC’s Entertainment, Media & Sports Committee chaired by Mr. Manmohan Shetty and co-chaired by Ms. Bharathi Pradhan, Mr. Sanjoy Chakrabarty and Mr. Mir Ranjan Negi. As in the first two editions, Mr. Kabir Bedi was the Host of IMC FUSION 2014.

The first session included an in-depth discussion on the urgency of software for today’s media content. ‘What prevents Indian media content to extend globally?’ This question received several views from the panelists. Indian media needs to bring in more variety of local and adventurous content at the same time. Gajendra Singh, Founder of Saai Baba Telefilms Pvt Ltd. said, “In order to make the Indian content globally known, the Indian media needs to pay attention toward showcasing an interesting content, helping the marketing team, co-producers to make the Broadcasters buy it and promote it eventually.”

The Broadcasters go forward with a long term investment into a show only if it creates TRP’S but instead it should also turn its attention to a simple and multi-lingual content at the same time. Anupam Mandoloi, Managing Director of Freemantle India, added, “The fact is that India does not have a distribution network and sufficient bandwidth to tap content across the world.” Siddharth Basu, Managing Director, Big Synergy Media Ltd, highlighted further, “Media Partnership between the Government and the Broadcasters can increase the scope of Indian content worldwide.”

‘Does social media affect Traditional Journalism?’ To this, Suchitra Iyer, Editor of Society Magazine, said, “It has in a way challenged the print media, as celebrities leak out their latest happenings using social media platforms.” Harshil Karia, Co-founder Foxymoron, said, “The mobile device reaches out faster than any other media device.” It in fact helps print media to reinvent news, which proves that social media and print media are the two important wheels of mainstream media.”

‘Major role of social media for sports’, the most trending topic for new generation media was also analysed. Digital platforms, especially ‘Twitter’ has proven to be a branded content mechanism in giving out a wider media coverage to sports. Vinod Bhanushali, President, Marketing, T-Series said, “Social media not only adds a spice to sports but also helps the music industry which includes Youtube and Twitter.”

New Delhi Television (NDTV), a pioneer leading in India’s news television, was presented with the Excellence Award in Media. Mr. Sreenivasan Jain, Managing Editor, NDTV was present to receive the award and thanked the IMC Fusion Jury. While accepting the award Mr. Sreenivasan Jain added, “Receiving a prestigious award actually creates a standard and encourages us to even improve and set new standards for the content of news overall.”

The different business aspects of the Indian cinema were also highlighted by Komal Nahta, Editor, Film information, Mukesh Bhatt, Producer / Director, Ramesh S Taurani, Producer, Tips Industries Limited. The availability of multi-screen theatres has led to the change in the normal mindset of Indians who prefer to experience the movie first in the theatres

February 17, 2014
Pepsi Launches @ThatPepsiIntern

MUMBAI: Bringing the thrill and action, from Pepsi IPL 2014, to cricket lovers Oh Yes Abhi!, Pepsi has offered Brand Ambassador Ranbir Kapoor a nifty new career opportunity as @ThatPepsiIntern. Starting this exciting job with a bang, Ranbir Kapoor is at the Pepsi IPL 2014 Player Auctions in Bangalore today. From getting the scoop at the player auctions to hanging with team owners, Ranbir Kapoor looks set for a new milestone in his career,Oh Yes Abhi! What’s more, this new job puts Ranbir on the Twitter bandwagon for the first time as@ThatPepsiIntern.

@ThatPepsiIntern is the most exclusive and awesome job at the Pepsi IPL! With access to events and activities, @ThatPepsiIntern will not only attend the matches but also get an exclusive first-hand experience of the glamour and excitement of the Pepsi IPL, bringing it to the fans Oh Yes Abhi!

@ThatPepsiIntern will generate exclusive content from the Pepsi IPL 2014 and will be the link between the fans and celebrities, thereby bringing the Pepsi IPL experience alive. Through @ThatPepsiIntern, cricket lovers can directly interact with or send their message across to celebrities. They can ask @ThatPepsiIntern to complete unique tasks for them in the stadium and even win tickets to the matches through contests.@ThatPepsiIntern gives people a chance to not just be AT the Pepsi IPL, but BE the Pepsi IPL.

February 13, 2014
Hero Hockey India League crosses 7.75 lac fans on its Facebook page

MUMBAI: With the digital domain proving to be a success mantra the second edition of Hero Hockey India League continues its success run in reaching out to its fans. The Facebook page of Hero Hockey India League today crosses 7.75 lacs fan base and has seen an addition of more than 2.0 lacs fans, post 25th January 2014 when the League started.

Many interesting facts have come to the forefront this year through the Facebook page and which in a way showcases the fact that Hockey is yet again becoming a household entertainment game. The page has witnessed high engagement this year

– More Women have been added on the page than Men

– Women this year have engaged on the page more than men in terms of Liking and even commenting on the daily posts

– Last year the ratio of men vs women was 96:4. This year the ratio is 90:10

– Every post on the page has a reach of 28 million FB users

– 78% of the fan-base are in the age group of 13-24

– 4.85 lac fans have either liked or shared the post through their FB profile

Speaking on the huge fan following on the Facebook Page, Dr. Narinder Batra, Chairman, Hockey India League said “it’s a very happy moment for us because this kind of involvement on the FB page has proved that this game is still alive in people’s hearts. This kind of direct involvement by the Fans reiterates our belief that Hockey has always been the game that the nation looks up to. The fact that women have engaged more is the most satisfactory feeling that everyone at Hockey India is excited about”.

The 2nd edition of Hero Hockey India League kick-started on 25th Janaury 2014 and will culminate with the semi-finals and finals at Ranchi on 22nd and 23rd February 2014. The month long tournament features 6 teams who are fighting to win the title and bring glory to their home state.

For further information please contact Shilpi Bawa / Sumeet Saurabh / Supreet Ahuja / Nishant Shukla / Ashish Shiromani 9711306385 / 9711306639 / 9999202252 / 9811515535 / 9871520056 Adfactors PR

February 11, 2014
MTS Launches #IndiaForShiva movement on social media

MUMBAI: Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), that provides telecom services under the MTS brand has launched a movement on social media to bring all countrymen together to support Shiva Keshavan – Olympian from India who is set to compete in “Luge” at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. MTS has been actively supporting Shiva Keshavan in his quest for Gold. Given that Shiva Keshavan would be competing at Sochi as a ‘Citizen Olympian’ under the Olympics flag in place of the Indian Tricolour; the IndiaForShiva campaign has been rolled out as a show of support for the champion luger.

According to Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer – MTS India, “MTS as a brand has always believed in providing a platform to talented youngsters, who bet on themselves, challenge reality and don’t let the present come in way of their future. We have been consistently supporting Shiva Keshavan for the last two years in his journey to the Sochi Olympics. We have always believed in Shiva and his dedication to the sport of Luge, despite the sport not being as popular as some of the other sports in the country. Now, when the chance to win the Olympic medal is so close, it is time that we all stand behind Shiva and cheer for him”.

The IndiaForShiva campaign by MTS India is an extensive social media movement to generate support and wishes for Shiva Keshavan. The campaign would encompass specially designed twitter feeds, engagement activities on Facebook and other social media channels.

MTS Brand Ambassador and Winter Olympian, Shiva Keshavan said “As an athlete, winning an Olympic Gold medal is my biggest dream. I am looking forward to the Winter Olympics in Sochi and hopefully this would be my chance to bring the medal home. I would like to thank MTS India and all my fans for supporting me through the IndiaForShiva campaign. It is heartening to see my countrymen getting aware about the sport of Luge and cheering for me as I get set to compete on 8th and 9th February 2014”.

February 4, 2014
MTV allows youth to connect with #RockTheVote on Twitter

MUMBAI: With the entire nation under the election fever, MTV has announced a strategic use of the Twitter platform as part of the Hero MTV Rock The Vote initiative to enhance the interactivity and reach of the campaign across youth. A first-of-its kind interactive experience to tap the digital universe, the leading youth brand MTV has launched “Follow the Hashtag” which will allow users of all kinds of devices to listen and engage with the #RockTheVote conversation on Twitter.

This will be the first time this kind of call-to-action innovation will be visible to the audiences globally. Through this feature, the mobile user does not need to be online while listening in to the conversations on #RockTheVote on Twitter. The user can dial 011-30494949 and follow the discussions on #RockTheVote, even while offline. Key tweets and interactions from @MTVIndia on #RockTheVote will be delivered on their phone via an SMS enabled by ZipDial, another strategic technology partner. This underscores MTV’s commitment to encourage every youngster to participate in the campaign and vote in the upcoming elections; and does not limit to their access to internet or expensive phones.

Speaking about the exciting innovation, Sumeli Chatterjee, Head – Marketing & Insights, MTV India said, “MTV Rock the Vote initiative is an interactive campaign that is designed to fuel conversations around elections. And Twitter is one of the leading real-time, interactive information networks in the world. The ‘Follow the Hashtag’ feature will ensure we reach out beyond just the smart phone users…thus allowing the large user base of regular (feature) phones to interact with the Rock The Vote campaign. Starting with crowd-sourced videos from colleges, web series on Funny FAQs on voting, selfies of youth ‘inked’ during election, live tweeting the college concerts, interactive television programming, comic strips and satires…the tongue in cheek messaging of Hero MTV Rock The Vote is naturally integrated with Twitter conversations. This feature phone service will ensure the conversation reaches far and wide across the online and offline youth universe, and hopefully mobilize the eligible new voters to step out and vote.”

Commenting on this innovation, Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director, Twitter said, “Twitter is the world’s leading mobile, real-time information network where users follow, share and experience content that is live, public and conversational. In India, Twitter has brought our users closer to the issues and moments that matter to them, while also enabling them to express their views and participate in real-time. We applaud MTV India for innovating on our platform on the occasion of Rock The Vote and for using Twitter’s unique mobile service to engage its viewers.”

MTV has launched ‘Hero MTV Rock The Vote’ as a non partisan initiative to drive awareness and education of the young generation to vote in upcoming general elections. The campaign objective is to drive conversations around voting and is built on the philosophy that ‘you cannot complain, if you do not vote’. Therefore, it has a huge skew towards the social media and mobile interactions. MTV is also planning to launch hashtag wars on youth issues / voting along with live debates with political spokespersons & election experts leveraging the Twitter platform. Giving this social campaign a humorous skew, the channel has also launched a series of witty videos to capture people’s funny reactions on voting. The web series, ‘Voting FAQs’, captures funny reactions of people to some fun questions asked around the elections. The questions are bold, tricky and most of the times, confusing, thus testing the opponents’ general knowledge while giving you a dose of laughter.

Discuss with MTV about power to vote using #RockTheVote on Twitter or dial 011-30494949 from your mobile to listen in. This election step out and vote!

February 4, 2014