Microblogging is no longer unfamiliar to India’s young netizens. It’s already pouring blogs everywhere now microblogs look like they are here to stay. Twitter undoubtedly remains the most popular microblogging service, and there’s more to come! So why are so many young Indians gaga about micro blogging? Even a year ago, not many knew what Twitter was, or what microblogging was. And now your inbox contains 5 new mail messages saying ABC is on Twitter! What’s so charming about microblogging? The usual answers say “it’s easy”, “it’s cool”, and “ridiculously simple”. But dig a little deeper and the following reasons – the 5 Cs – seem to be why microblogging appeals so much to the Indian youth.
Communication: Microblogging allows you to communicate with thousands of people scattered all over the globe. The youth loves to stay connected and microblogging is just another way for them to stay in touch (apart from texting, emails, IMs, and social networking sites). Ever since the Bollywood brigade has taken to Tweeting, the allure of microblogging has only increased.
Connectivity: Connectivity without restrictions of time and space is a great deal that technology has offered the bloggers. You can also use cell phone to connect to the microbloggers tweeting out there, Hence it is practically a mobile and internet combo pack! So there you are - blogging from any corner of the world - that too even without a computer, sharing the experiences ‘there and then’ and staying connected to the blogging universe all the time.
Content creation: Seeing your own content being read by wide audience is a great feeling which does prompt many bloggers to enter the blogosphere. Though the content many a times remains very basic and does not really have much of a literary value, one has to accept the fact that new media such as Twitter allows people to create their own content and share it proudly with the world.
Crisp: The lengthy sagas on regular blogs have no place in microblogging universe. Microblogs are supposed to be less than 200 characters, that is why they are ‘micro’. Twitter allows maximum of 140 characters, and this restriction does make the post short and crisp. Any microblogger tries to make the post maximum interesting in minimum amount of words, just what the readers expect it to be. Just like their other choices, the youth likes it short, crisp and to the point. (Even though sometimes the post itself has no point altogether!)
Cult: microblogging has become a ‘cult’. Just like Yahoo chat and Orkut were. There might be many of your peers who type away every little thing they do; and have 500 followers. And then there is our media who treats this new medium with equal enthusiasm. So you glance through newspapers, or just watch an entertainment channel and know that Shah Rukh Khan has got tons of followers within few days, and what did Priyanka Chopra write to her ‘tweeple’ even if you do not know what exactly Twitter is. Of course, the movie stars or politicians many a times do it for their own promotion, but that just adds an ‘it’ factor to microblogs. It makes the youth go after it more. That has suddenly become the ‘aspirational’ and the ‘thing to do you see’.
Microblogging is definitely here to stay. Blog-camps and virtual get-togethers are already happening with bloggers all across the globe. Microblogging could surely reach lot more number of people. It will evolve more with the convergence of technology, and become a regular part of our lives, both real and virtual.
Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in February, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
Sneha has her postgraduate degree in media and communication studies, and currently works as a producer- aka the content creator- for a media group. she has been freelancing for last 3-4 years too, and has experience in feature writing. She is a new media enthusiast, travel freak and is currently based in Pune, India.
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