“What are you doing?” The 140-character 'tweet' to this Twitter question that has got the microblogging website over five billion users worldwide,
is becoming increasingly popular in India too. But a majority of Indians use it to get news updates.
Twitter's popularity surged in India after Shashi Tharoor's controversial
'cattle class' tweet, and now it has the third largest number of users after the US and Germany. Tharoor is the most popular Twitter user with over four lakh followers already.
The key to its success lies in its simplicity and ability to send and receive short message updates.
With Airtel planning to tie up with Twitter, its over 100 million subscribers will be able to tweet from their mobiles without having to pay for an international SMS. Its popularity is set to increase manifold.
Not on Twitter yet?
While it is amply evident from the
Shashi Tharoor Twittergate episode that those in the
Government do not appreciate humor, it is unlikely that you would find any humor appreciation classes or courses being held anytime soon for the political classes. Dr Shashi Tharoor got away with "control your tweets" kind of tip-off from the party leadership. But soon we may have a situation where humor content may be monitored and controlled!
Here's a limerick to prepare you for what's coming:
The Indian Government will appoint a moderator;
To scan columns n blogs sooner or later;
To look for that pun;
Where infact there's none;
And consign your post to the incinerator!
"Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows." This tweet on Twitter by Shashi Tharoor about having to travel in Economy Class as part of the austerity drive launched by the Congress party has got him into trouble with the High Command. Poor guy was better off in the UN, it seems.
The tweet and the Congress party's sharp reaction to it have resulted in this quick poem from my pen:
There was this smart guy called Tharoor
Who came to India ready to say 'Huzoor'
Not knowing then that for first class
He would soon lose his long held pass
Now little more than chattel
He has to suffer class cattle
And to the wishes of the holy cow
Morning and evening humbly bow
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For a limerick and a detailed write-up on the issue, head for India Retold
