Hashtag revolution: Kochi knows to tweet and how!

KOCHI:  The week started off on a cheery note for city’s Twitterati. A study commissioned by Twitter India has revealed that Kochi beat all cities when it came to everyday conversations on food, photography and sports last year. The survey which analysed 8.5 lakh tweets across 22 cities in the country over three months between September and November 2019 found that Kochi not only stood ahead of major metros in the three categories but also chirped away to top spots on tweets relating to animals and travel. 

According to digital marketing strategist and SEO analyst Shinu Shajahan, it is no surprise that Kochi topped the charts in categories with a strong visual component. “Kerala has deeper internet penetration as compared to most other states and the internet reach is more so in cities like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. However, more importantly, there is a predominant culture of sharing or posting about their daily activities on social media among Malayali youth.

For example, if they find a good eatery, they will immediately upload a picture or tweet about it. The majority of popular online groups or handles from the state are centred around food. Being a scenic state and a popular tourist destination for travellers from abroad also aids to the culture of forging virtual connections between visitors and locals,” said Shinu.

While search engine optimisation (SEO) was all the buzz a few years ago, industry experts believe social media optimisation (SMO) and social media marketing (SMM) has now taken the prime spot. “SMO and SMM are the latest trending topics among students in Kerala who want to learn digital marketing. They not only want to know how to get more views or likes for the content but also how to monetise it. This is a result of increased awareness about online platforms brought in by cheaper and easy access to the internet. Another contributing factor is the ever-growing number of social media influencers cropping up in the state,” added Shinu.

The ‘Conversation Replay’ study which focused on throwing back to India’s mundane yet joyful conversations on the platform same time last year found that the ten most talked about themes included animals, celebration, celebrity content, doing good deeds, family, food, humour, nostalgia, romance and sports. While Ludhiana topped the charts for conversations on romance, Raipur led conversations around animals. Bhubaneswar had the most conversations around family and doing good deeds. Mumbai tweeted most on nostalgia.

meet The winner
Kochi beat all cities on themes of food, photography and sports
City also bagged top spots for conversations on animals, travel and adventure
8.5 lakh tweets from September to November 2019 analysed
22 Indian cities considered for the survey
Most talked about themes: animals, celebration, celebrity content, doing good deeds, family, food, humour, nostalgia, romance and sports