With 2015 coming to an end, Twitter has released its year-in review for India, giving a look at what was hot in the country on the microblogging platform.
From the Golden Tweet, between Shah Rukh Khan and Zayn Malik, to Most Influential Moments, global interest for Delhi Elections and Diwali, to Most Popular Hashtag Trend (worldwide conversations about IPL) to the first non-US brand to get a Twitter emoji (@MakeInIndia), this was the Year On Twitter to show the global rise of the country.
Golden Tweet: SRK’s selfie with One Direction
This kid is so cool. May Allah bless him. Dinner time at the Asian Awards. pic.twitter.com/l0gV12n0kv
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 17, 2015
The social media facilitator said while each Tweet was unique, only one could be termed as 2015 “Golden Tweet” in terms of the same being re-posted many times — a selfie by Shah Rukh Khan with British boyband One Direction’s former member, Zayn Malik at the Asian Awards in London in April.
It took Twitter by storm with over 141,000 retweets and viewed nearly 18.3 million times globally as fans were thrilled to see the two together in this rare selfie.
IPL most popular hashtag in 2015
Popular Twitter hashtag trends in India saw a mix of sports, entertainment, political and social activism movements. Led by IPL, it was followed by SelfieWithDaughter, BiharResults, SaalEkShuruaatAnek (Modi’s e-governance and digital diplomacy initiative) and DDLJ20Years (20 years of the movie “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”).
#INDvsPAK most influential moment
The most influential moments were the Cricket World Cup #INDvsPAK, DelhiElections, HappyDiwali, ChennaiRains and Independence Day. The year also saw many firsts from users, partners and brands — experimenting, innovating and campaigning on the platform.
MakeInIndia first non-US brand to get its own Twitter emoji
In November, the “Make in India” — one of the largest economic development initiatives of the Indian government – became the first non-US brand to get its own Twitter emoji for a worldwide audience.
Given the millions of cricket fans in India, Twitter also created a special cricket timeline for the World Cup and Indian Premier League as a platform for tweets, commentary, expert analysis, photos and videos from the sidelines of the world’s biggest cricketing events.
From the corporate world, JetInstant was a first of its kind Twitter-based innovation that was introduced to help passengers check the lowest fares or view flight status with just a single Tweet.
Also introduced was SmartCare — a Twitter-based customer service allowing 120 million Reliance Communications users to access and manage their mobile phone accounts using #SmartCare, with options to pay bills, recharge, view and buy best deals, track usage and check the balance.
Twitter also pointed out some interesting new accounts that were opened in 2015: The Taj Mahal, former cricketer Kapil Dev, Tamil actor Suriya, and even the Delhi Police Commissioner and Safe City India.
In terms of followers, megastar Amitabh Bachchan continued to top the list with 18.1 million followers, while Shah Rukh Khan was next with 16.5 million. The most followed Indian accounts in 2015 is dominated by Bollywood stars, while PM Narendra Modi is the only politician in the top 10. PM Modi came third with 16.4 million, Aamir Khan at fourth with 15.5 million and Salman Khan with 15 million.
1) Amitabh Bachchan with 18.1Mn
2) Shah Rukh Khan with 16.5Mn
3) Narendra Modi with 16.4Mn
4) Aamir Khan with 15.5Mn
5) Salman Khan with 15Mn
6) Deepika Padukone with 12.3Mn
7) Hrithik Roshan with 11.9Mn
8) Priyanka Chopra with 11.8Mn
9) Akshay Kumar with 10.6Mn
10) A.R.Rahman with 9.5Mn