A chirpy Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: ‘Eat, Tweet, Repeat!’ seems to be the mantra of South Indian audiences, especially Hyderabad, on Twitter. We form some of the most leaned-in and engaged communities on the service whether it is movies, music, poetry or food - we are at the helm of cultural conversations. CE speaks to Amrita Tripathi, head of global content partnerships at Twitter India, who is in town to chat about bringing the most exciting content to impassioned Hyderabadis on the service.

Twitter’s diverse partnerships in South Indian markets are aimed to bring exclusive content to audiences and content formats that are popular among South Indian audiences, says Amrita. “Twitter is committed to serving the public conversation in India and is always thinking of new ways to support premium local language content. We work closely with publishers, journalists and talent, as well as broadcasters across news, entertainment and sports, to bring exclusive, #OnlyOnTwitter content as well as Twitter-first content in Indian languages to the service, building a deeper connection with regional audiences,” she tells CE.  

Hyderabadis are leaned into what’s happening and love to interact with others, she informs “From celebrating regional cultural moments to regional festivals, to their favourite sports, they turn to Twitter to talk about the things that they care about. They support their favourite entertainers, review newly released movies, or even simply follow and engage with updates from their favourite megastars. They take a keen interest in a wide spectrum of topics and don’t shy away from public conversation. It is little surprise then that they were early adopters of several Twitter features like Spaces and Topics,” she shares.

So what are some things Hyderabadis Tweet the most about? Hyderabadis, in fact, the Telugu-speaking audience on Twitter beyond the city of Nizams and across the world, is one of the most leaned-in south Indian audiences on Twitter. “Given the city’s love for cinema, Mahesh Babu has featured as one of the top South Indian stars year-on-year. In 2021, Mahesh’s Tweet about resuming shooting gave the audience another reason to hoot and celebrate on the service, making it the most Quote Tweeted Tweet of the year.

Pawan Kalyan starrer VakeelSaab, a Telugu remake of the Hindi movie Pink, also won the hearts of Telugu cinema lovers on Twitter, making it one of the most Tweeted about movies of the year 2021. Allu Arjun’s iconic and trend-setting Pushpa was one of 2021’s most anticipated movies, and the public couldn’t contain their excitement, making it the 8th most Tweeted about South Indian movie of that year.” Clearly, Hyderabad and cinema are inseparable — Twitter even launched the first ever Telugu cinema emoji with around 520K Mentions in 24 hours using the official emoji hashtags!

Twitter has uniquely changed the way people have a discourse on the online platform and Arpita says, “The real-time and conversational nature of the service helps people to make meaningful human connections and create strong communities of like-minded people. In fact, oftentimes on Twitter, people find those who ‘get them’ - paving the way for #WeMetOnTwitter stories that recount how they formed a bond on Twitter. Whether it is sports, entertainment, entrepreneurship, finance, mental health, music, literature — if there is a relevant conversation, it is taking shape on Twitter.”

Twitter is currently working on their Twitter Amplify programme which allows publishers to monetise their video content at scale, while allowing brands to connect with premium content and ride the momentum of some incredible conversations. “Stay tuned for more, especially ahead of the Cricket World Cup and Diwali season ahead. We have plans to bring back our Twitter Blue Room, which is our favourite place to host Q&As, fan interactions, live chats, videos and more,” she signs off.