ITV

Tag: Twitter

  • TCS ties up with Twitter India for election app

    TCS ties up with Twitter India for election app

    MUMBAI: Arguably the country’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services has tied up with social media giant Twitter to launch an app, iElect, to help users gain social insights into the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

    “The TCS iElect app is a completely new way to observe, analyse and participate in the social conversations around the world’s largest general elections,” TCS said in a statement.

    The app harnesses the power of social media, big data, analytics and mobility to make sense of what seems to be a complex web of conversations, it added.

    “TCS iElect will be new and engaging for them to participate through the entire process with its gamified and interactive features,” TCS VP and head corporate communication Pradipta Bagchi said.

    Users of iElect app will have access to insights and trends on a real-time basis. Plans are afoot to launch an iOS version as well.

    “iElect makes real time Twitter data and analytics around key political events and content accessible to every Indian. The app has opened up a unique engagement opportunity with Twitter content for our users,” Twitter India market director Rishi Jaitly added.

    More that 814 million voters, including over 23 million in the age group of 18-19 years, are exercising their franchise in the world’s largest democracy where polls are being held in nine phases up to 12 May.

    India has the third-largest number of internet users at more than 238 million, with a majority of them youth. This includes over a 100 million people active on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.

    According to a study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), there are 160 high-impact constituencies in India out of the total 543, which are likely to be influenced by social media during the general elections.

  • Robert ‘Iron Man’ Downey, Jr joins Twitter

    Robert ‘Iron Man’ Downey, Jr joins Twitter

    MUMBAI: The Iron Man himself has finally joined Twitter. With only six tweets as of now, he’s taken a dip into the social media universe. Within a couple of days, Downey has tallied 1.2 million followers. Wow, word travels fast.

    Iron Man is a billion dollar franchise for Marvel since it first introduced Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in 2008. Worldwide the first film grossed $585 million, the second one, $623.9 million and the third, $1.2 billion. The next Marvel title for the actor is Avengers: Age of Ultron which will bow 1 May, 2015 from Disney.

    The actor has long been a strong presence on social media due to his many fans who call him #RDJ. His fans post video bits from the actor from media, on-stage award shows, red carpet appearances, and other media events showcasing the witty side.

    His opening Tweet read: Loving all the love, folks. It’s been a blast. Though can somebody please explain how anyone can keep their thoughts to 140 characters or le

    Below is the first pic that #RDJ shared with the twitterati, boy does he know how to start a party…
  • Times Now, Twitter team up for exclusive election partnership

    Times Now, Twitter team up for exclusive election partnership

    MUMBAI: The ongoing elections are unique in many ways. And joining this is Times Now and Twitter. The duo has announced a first of its kind partnership in India where the social media platform has associated itself to exclusive content offerings created by the news channel.

    Times Now and Twitter have teamed up for the elections to create dual, interactive content for both viewers and followers to be a part of the conversation.

    The partnership is a result of the success that the news channel has seen in the social media space in the last one year creating huge properties which have garnered not just audiences but shaped the Indian social media space. These range from creating the biggest non-sporting event on twitter in the form of Rahul Gandhi’s interview with Arnab Goswami which created more than 50 crore potential impressions, to using vines to promote a show for the first time in India to creating a simple hashtag which became synonymous with the state elections in 2013 – Times Now has constantly reinvented itself on twitter. In fact, the #rahulspeakstoarnab hashtag trended for more than 48 hours in India and first seven of the top 10 trending topics were related to the interview.

    For the general elections, both Times Now and Twitter will introduce several innovative properties which will give a real time, updated picture of public opinion.

    Times Now will leverage its substantial presence on the social network to provide the audience with exclusive content created specifically for the platform. This will be in the form of infographics and videos, giving the followers a ringside view of election results with updates throughout the counting day.

    “We will also have a live sentiment analysis of twitter feeds – and participation of viewers in Times Now debate by inviting them to tweet video questions using the Vine app. This will be done by using the hashtag #IHaveAQuestion. This will give viewers an unprecedented opportunity to be a part of the political debate and add their voice to it,” said the channel through a statement.

    The same will be boosted by access to exclusive real-time data from twitter which will be presented to both TV viewers and social media followers in interesting formats – adding an entirely new perspective to the election coverage.

    The entire election coverage will use the hashtag #WhoWillFormGovt which will bring together opinion makers and influencers as well as common people on the platform.

    “Apart from this, we are also trying to make information more accessible through a novel initiative called Tweet to SMS. Through this, people will be able to follow the Times Now twitter handle and more importantly, get election related updates via SMS, making it much easier to keep track of the news,” informed the channel.

  • Sanjeev Kapoor cooks up a storm on You Tube

    Sanjeev Kapoor cooks up a storm on You Tube

    MUMBAI: Sanjeev Kapoor the celebrity chef created a new landmark by crossing 300,000 subscribers and 100 million views on You Tube making him the India’s largest individual channel. Sanjeev Kapoor has been always up the curve on technology and yet again has proved that in spite of coming from a niche space like food he can rule the digital medium. Sanjeev Kapoor has partnered with ZengaTV and One Digital Entertainment to manage his digital properties.

     

    One Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the largest MCN (multi-channel network) for YouTube in India is managing content strategy, audience development and planning for Sanjeev Kapoor’s YouTube Channel.

     

    On this occasion of success and his birthday on the 10th April, Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd which owns his YouTube rights, has decided to release Official YouTube Video Mobile App of Sanjeev Kapoor. This app offers opportunity to his fans to stay in touch with him through live interactions apart from new recipe videos, images of Sanjeev Kapoor, fans will be able to use this app to stay socially connected with Sanjeev through Facebook, Twitter and Fun2shoot.

     

    Commenting on the App, Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor said, “I have received an overwhelming response from my fans on my You Tube India channel. This provides an entire new way for me to communicate with my fans and give them a new and unique content experience! I had a great deal of fun working with the Zenga team in customizing and extending the YouTube channel and social media in to an app and really appreciate this collaboration and giving my fans another way to follow my cooking and stay connected to me. This inspiring app gives everyone the chance to learn and practice a whole range of skills as well as providing hours of cooking that can be enjoyed by the whole family.”

     

    Commenting on the partnership and launch of new app, Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO-Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd, said “We have different strategy and attitude on different platforms customizing it to what works best on the given platform to celebrities. We attribute the growth of numbers to the content created for the platform. We kept innovating on the properties and changed strategy from time to time to keep the users engaged and interested.”

     

    He further adds Sanjeev Kapoor app gives users a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his lifestyle. Zenga’s comprehensive mobile platform and unique app development solutions, provides a new channel for fans to directly engage with Sanjeev Kapoor, while building brand loyalty and increasing his digital audience. Zenga has exclusively partnered with OneDigtal for all the Youtube distribution through their MCN network, as they are the experts in this space.

     

    Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Gurpreet Singh, COO of OneDigital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. said “We have been in the original content creation space for more than a year now and managing over 70+ artists and Sanjeev Kapoor is one of our favorite. We create innovative content and concepts for today’s digital audience. It’s great to work with Sanjeev Kapoor as he understands the power of Digital Platforms and is open to experiment with it.”

     

    He further adds Digital medium has grown to be the epicenter of marketing and communication across all brands and celebrities. Since our launch a year back, One Digital has been connecting fans to their favorite icons/ celebrities in an effective and exciting manner. We are humbled on our association with Sanjeev Kapoor and we look forward to a committed and an exciting endeavor with him. Our expertise in Digital Space will ensure that we continue exploring path breaking initiatives and add value to our clients.

     

    The application is available for all IOS, Windows and Android mobile and Tab users. Fans can download this free of cost from iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad and Google Play for Android users and Windows store for Windows users.

  • Timesofindia.com partners with Twitter for elections

    Timesofindia.com partners with Twitter for elections

    MUMBAI: Election 2014 is being hailed as one of the most important, not just in terms of election but also in terms of coverage. Saying so, the web portal of India’s biggest English newspaper The Times of India, timesofindia.com has tied up with social media platform Twitter for a unique integration named ‘Tweet to remember’.

     

    Through this initiative, users will be reminded to vote on the voting day in the city. When a user tweets “@timesofindia [city name]” like “@Timesofindia Delhi”, they will be guided through a process that easily enables them to add the date for their vote to their calendar on their phone or desktop.

     

    A social news hub has also been created in partnership with Twitter and Frrole that will leverage trend analysis and sentiment analysis via algorithmically filtered tweets to show current trends around candidates and parties. Community feedback is used as a source of news.

     

    Speaking on these partnerships Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani said, “The social conversation is a new component in today’s news cycle. As a news outlet, Timesofindia.com is always looking for ways to bring new information and new value to its users. With social hub, we’re bringing a new perspective that hasn’t been readily visible before, and with ‘Tweet To Remember’, we hope to better enable the thriving democracy that powers India.”

     

    Twitter India market director Rishi Jaitly commenting on the initiative 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. During this election season, the Twitter platform has become a vital source of daily information, conversation and communication for citizens and political leaders alike. We applaud Times Internet for innovating on our platform with “Tweet to Remember” and ensuring its audience can use Twitter to add its polling date and additional details to their calendars.”

  • Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich steps down over political backlash

    Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich steps down over political backlash

    MUMBAI: One of Silicon Valley’s leading firms’ chief executive stepped down just days after his appointment, amid huge uproar on the internet that was sparked by employees who complained about his opposition to gay marriage.

     

    Brendan Eich resigned from Mozilla, the organisation behind the Firefox web browser, after intense criticism over a six-year-old, $1,000 donation he made in support of a 2008 California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.

     

    Eich, who invented JavaScript and helped start Mozilla in 1998, was appointed as CEO in late March. After he was named, some Mozilla employees took to Twitter to call for his resignation. He then apologised for causing “pain” and made a commitment to promote equality for gay and lesbian individuals at Mozilla.

     

    In a blog post Thursday, Mozilla’s executive chairwoman, Mitchell Baker, apologised for Eich’s appointment, writing, “We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public… But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.”

     

    In a statement provided by Mozilla, Eich said: “I have decided to resign as CEO effective today, and leave Mozilla. Our mission is bigger than any one of us, and under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader. I will be taking time before I decide what to do next.”

     

    In her blog post, Mozilla’s chairwoman Baker wrote: “While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the Web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better.”

     

    Mozilla grew out of Netscape, the company behind the first popular Web browser Mosaic. Comprised of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation and its taxpaying subsidiary, Mozilla Corp, the organisation develops open-source, free software with its own employees and a global community of third-party developers. It is best known for its Firefox Web browser, but maintains several other products including Bugzilla, which tracks online software bugs, and Firefox OS, a mobile operating system.

  • Nike launches a digital campaign

    Nike launches a digital campaign

    MUMBAI: Be it any stadium, playground or a by-lane, children playing cricket is a common sight in the country where the sport is a religion.

    Playing on the same phenomenon, Nike has created a film called ‘Make Every Yard Count’. The film which is live on Nike’s facebook page was co-created with consumers through an active online participation and on-the-ground efforts. It has used over 1,440 crowdsourced action images of young cricketers in India who love the sport.

    Nike India marketing director Avinash Pant said, “At Nike, we understand that the cricket culture of this nation is not confined to team India and its players. It includes the millions of young cricketers who strive every day to be amongst the best tomorrow. This film is a dedication to each and every one of those young cricketers who relentlessly chase their dreams.”

    The campaign, which was launched on 22 February on Nike Cricket facebook and twitter, encouraged players all around the country to send in images and also involved over 100 photographers who travelled around the country to shoot young cricketers.

    The ‘Make Every Yard Count’ campaign aims to make the young cricketer the hero of the Nike film.

    Click here to watch the video

    The manifesto that captures the campaign idea best reads: ‘Yesterday was not good enough. Today is not over yet. Make Every Yard Count.’ 

    The digital film was created by JWT Bangalore and the song creation and sound design was done by Dhruv Ganekar and Taufiq Qureshi. 

  • Famebox Networks appoints Ignitee as digital agency partner

    Famebox Networks appoints Ignitee as digital agency partner

    MUMBAI: Video consumption in the country has been on an exponential growth, giving rise to a growing demand for original digital content. India has approximately 50 million online video viewers and one billion unique YouTube users each month.

     

    FameBox, a multi-channel talent platform for digital media, has appointed Ignitee Digital Services to manage its entire digital mandate and engagement across various digital platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

     

    FameBox aims to create an active and engaged online community by promoting established and emerging talent to create innovative and original digital content. As FameBox’s digital marketing partner, Ignitee will help in conceptualising and executing social media campaigns to increase the level of consumer engagement across FameBox’s digital initiatives and properties. Ignitee will also be responsible for the digital media planning and buying as well as managing the FameBox website and microsites.

     

    “India is now witnessing a growing amount of ‘made for web’ content which is capturing the audience’s imagination.  We are seeing webstars emerge and this trend is going to grow rapidly in the coming 12-18 months. At FameBox, we build digital video led communities for established and emerging talent as well as grow the ecosystem around original digital content,” explained FameBox business head Dhruvank Vaidya. “To emerge as a true web-entertainer, it is important to have the right balance of great content, engaging style and an eye for monetisation opportunities. Creating awareness, educating and promoting original web content will require a concerted and integrated effort. And, that is where we see Ignitee adding value to FameBox’s proposition.”

     

    FameBox currently manages a network of channels on YouTube across genres including entertainment, fashion, travel, food, comedy, health and wellness, lifestyle, and technology.  In addition to producing ‘made for web’ content, FameBox is also creating online reality show formats like FameBox WebChef, India’s first online hunt for the best amateur cook. Every quarter will see a new show in a different genre.

     

    Ignitee Digital CEO Atul Hegde said, “With the tremendous surge in digital video consumption in India, there has been an increase in the creation of original content on the web in line with the global trend. This is the ideal time for brands to capitalise on this opportunity, develop channels across genres and create customised content that will connect with the consumers.  Ignitee is thrilled to partner with FameBox and will play an integral role in creating some path breaking content for them. We have started off with a bang with WebChef. You will see some more such marquee content for FameBox in the months ahead.”

     

    Ignitee Digital has an array of renowned clients across sectors – Lifestyle, Entertainment, Corporate, BFSI, and Travel & Tourism and is now aggressively focussing on growing the business across industries in India.

  • Watch your TV on the go with Airtel Digital TV’s Pocket TV

    Watch your TV on the go with Airtel Digital TV’s Pocket TV

    MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service arm of the leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel, today announced the launch of Airtel ‘Pocket TV’ – a mobile app which will enable customers to watch their favorite TV programs while on the move.

     

    Loaded with over 150 Live TV channels and more than 10,000 hours of video content and over 13 channels on anytime TV available at an introductory pricing of just Rs. 60/- per month, Pocket TV now promises a never before library of video content which is available at an affordable price.

     

    The Airtel Digital TV app is available for download on the Android play store and is accessible to all smartphones and tablets with Android version 2.1 onwards. Within 1 month, the app will also be available on the iOS platform soon followed by other platforms. After installation of the app, customers have to activate the service by sending the SMS <ADD TV> to 54325 from their registered mobile number.

     

    The app is a convergence of the TV & mobile phone and its launch follows the success of Airtel Digital TV’s innovative offering of Twitter on TV which was the first ever global convergence of Twitter and TV. 

     

    For more details, please log on to: http://www.airtel.in/pocketTV

  • Ronnie Screwvala bets big on Oximity

    Ronnie Screwvala bets big on Oximity

    MUMBAI: Entrepreneurs Ronnie Screwvala, Krishnan Ganesh, Sashi Reddi and Anand Ranganathan have co-invested in Oximity, a unique news website that crowd-sources opinions and developments on social and economic issues at a global level. The four Indian investors have jointly co-invested to raise the seed round of $620,000 for this innovative crowd sourced news website.

     

    Oximity goes beyond commercial concerns and concentrates on the latest trends like social, mobile, location based services, cloud computing and big data. “For Screwvala, Ganesh, Reddi and Ranganathan investing in Oximity and actively supporting it with personal networks is a validation of the website’s attempt to bring in systemic change in the news industry,” said the company statement.

     

    “The news media landscape is shifting rapidly, and in a few years there will be an entirely new set of players dominating this space. We believe Oximity has the potential to be one of such dominant players,” said Ronnie Screwvala. 

     

    “The paradigm shift that Oximity is planning is huge. There is a clear and present need to replace the Buzzfeed generation with meaningful journalism direct from the source. Oximity’s focus on pertinent news from the community is much-needed and I’m excited to see this collaborative platform grow,” added K Ganesh.

     

    With its modus operandi of crowd-sourcing news, Oximity aims to transform the traditional top-down structure of news media with a bottoms-up approach in writing, reporting, editing and distributing news. By allowing people and organisations to report their news in over 180 languages, and facilitating automatic as well as manual translation, Oximity is removing language as a barrier to the flow of news information globally.

     

    Additionally, it is partnering with various existing user generated news networks worldwide to create one large network of self-empowered news writers and readers.

     

    “We believe all human beings are equal, without exception. The disenfranchised can now have a voice, on a level playing field with the already empowered. And users get to set the news agenda, instead of a few people who run global news media organisations”, said Oximity co-founder Sanjay Goel.

     

    The website has more than 8,000 likes on Facebook and over 6,000 followers on twitter. This only goes on to say that there is space for such news websites where common man becomes the source!