#Top 20 Most-Followed #Indian #Twitter accounts

India’s list of power Tweeters is unsurprisingly dominated by Bollywood stars, with apart from @NarendraModi, only film stars feature in the top 10 spots. Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) is in 15th spot and the current Indian star batsman Virat Kohli (@imvkohli) is right behind at number 16. Author Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) adds more variety to the list, rounding off the top 20 for India.

#Top 20 Most-Followed #Indian #Twitter accounts pic.twitter.com/dC40jpKmMe
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) December 10, 2014

#Top 20 Most retweeted Tweets from Indian #Twitter accounts

#Top 20 Most retweeted Tweets from Indian #Twitter accounts pic.twitter.com/H2dO4NBHH4
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) December 10, 2014

While politics dominates the top moments on Twitter in 2014, it is PM Modi (@NarendraModi) that sits right atop the list of most Re-Tweeted Tweets of the year. The Golden Tweet of 2014 was his declaration of victory on the 16th of May 2014 gaining over 70,000 retweets celebrating his win.

PM @narendramodi has highest retweets, Amitabh largest following in India
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) December 10, 2014

The top 20 most retweeted Tweets of India is also a reminder of the massive influence film stars have in India. While Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) is number two on the list, Rajinikanth’s (@superstarrajini) first ever Tweet actually makes it to sixth on the list for the year.

Also, making a debut is ISRO’s Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) as two of its Tweets make the top 10 as it made its historic journey to reach the red planet.

Sports also makes an entry on the list with Sachin Tendulkar’s (@sachin_rt) Tweet, his touching tribute to the fallen Aussie cricketer Phil Hughes.

Top 10 Peaks in #Twitter Conversation among Indians in 2014

As the world’s largest platform for live, public conversations, Twitter was where Indians expressed, consumed and connected with their fellow compatriots over global and Indian events in real-time.

Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) smashed the world record for the highest individual ODI cricket score of 264 on November 13th versus Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. That incredible batting display drove the biggest spike in conversations on Twitter in India this year. In fact, of the Top 10 moments, three are related to cricket including the Indian Premier League. The roar of the cricket fans, indeed, was heard on Twitter this year in India.

The fan club of Rajinikanth (@superstarrajini) definitely made itself heard as well, with his arrival on Twitter making it the second largest peak in Twitter conversation of the year. With over 200,000 followers in the first 24 hours and now over 1.1 million in total, it’s clear that he has many loyal fans both off and on Twitter.

Hardly surprising, two of the top 5 peaks in conversations were about PM Modi (@NarendraModi). With 8.5 million followers, he is currently the second most followed political leader in the world (after President Barack Obama) and continues to grow his followers at a rapid pace.

RANK	DATE	MOMENT
1.	13 Nov 2014	Rohit Sharma scores 264 runs vs Sri Lanka. He claimed the record for the world's highest ever ODI score by an individual
2.	4 May 2014	Rajinikanth joins Twitter with a message of thanks to his legion of fans and has over 200,000 followers within the first two days
3.	22 April 2014	PM candidate Narendra Modi refrains his supporters from making irresponsible statements during the election campaign
4.	2 May 2014	The 2014 season of the Pepsi IPL returns to India
5.	3 May 2014	Narendra Modi gives an interview for a Hindi News channel leading to a big debate on Freedom of Press
6.	23 April 2014	Kejriwal files nomination papers from Varanasi as Shazia Ilmi stokes controversy over communal comment
7.	23 Oct 2014	India celebrates Diwali
8.	21 May 2014	Arvind Kejriwal arrested for protesting on the streets of Delhi
9.	2 July 2014	Outrage over tennis star Maria Sharapova claiming she does not know who cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is
10.	11 April 2014	SP leader Abu Azmi’s rakes up controversy by claiming there should be punishment involved women in rape cases

#ISIS threatens to kill #Twitter CEO and its employees

#ISIS threatens to kill #Twitter CEO and its employees pic.twitter.com/gN6KPzS4Vk
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) October 14, 2014

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said ISIS has threatened to kill him — and his staff — after the social media site shut down terrorists' accounts. Costolo did not give detail the contents of the messages, but said ISIS fighters threatened to "assassinate" him and other Twitter employees.The shut-down accounts were used to promote terrorism and discuss violence — topics forbidden under the site's terms of service.

India's 68th Independence Day on #Twitter

This year, the #IndependenceDay conversation on Twitter peaked at 56,000 Tweets per hour from 8:30am-9:30am on August 15th following the end of the PM’s speech. In addition, 9 of the top 10 Twitter India Trends and 5 of the top 10 most-mentioned terms were related to the PM’s speech. Of course, the Prime Minister’s Tweet was the most shared Independence Day Tweet today.

Greetings to my fellow Indians on Independence Day! May our Tricolour fly high & our nation scale new heights of development. Jai Hind.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 15, 2014

Twitter, in a large way, played a role as the second screen to all the citizens and the Indian diaspora across the world. Citizens tweeted “Independence Day”, “#HappyIndependenceDay” and “Jai Hind” to each other as well as photos sporting the tri-colour, while resolving to make the nation responsible for their actions and powerful through their endeavours.

Promoted video ads on #Twitter soon

Twitter has started testing a new feature called Promoted Videos, which allows advertisers to pay for video ads based on the number of times they are played.

The Promoted Videos will be embedded into the tweets via Twitter’s 'card' technology, allowing users to watch videos in their timelines with a single tap. Twitter claims that tweets containing native Twitter video "generate better engagement and more video views than before".

Introducing Promoted Video on Twitter https://t.co/KClcBmpYw8
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) August 14, 2014

Promoted Videos are the video equivalent of Promoted Tweets, which are ads that look like tweets and appear in users’ content feeds.

Launch of #Twitter Amplify program in India by #Star Sports and #Vodafone

Starsports.com today, in association with Vodafone India, announced they are the first broadcaster and brand advertiser to participate in the Twitter Amplify program In India. The Twitter Amplify program is developed to tap into the growing social conservations around TV programmes, especially live sports. starsports.com and Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecommunication service provider, aim to enrich the live sports experience through social media.  Sports fans will be able to experience this product during the current Indian cricket team’s England tour.

Was Murali Vijay out or not? Have a look and decide: http://t.co/h13gvzJLuZ Presented by @VodafoneIN #VodafoneSports #EngvInd
— STAR Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 30, 2014

The Twitter Amplify program enables broadcasters to publish video to Twitter and then jointly monetize the premium content by creating sponsorship packages. Powered by Promoted Tweets, the program will “amplify” the reach of the video content distributed via the broadcasters’ and sponsors’ Twitter accounts.

For advertisers, Twitter Amplify provides an opportunity to tap into the social conversations on Twitter, especially on mobile devices. It also provides a multi-screen audience engagement strategy essential to satisfying users’ needs to consume content whenever or wherever they want it.

“2014 is a great year for Twitter becoming the social soundtrack for television as 95% of the public social conversation around TV is happening on Twitter today, especially for live sporting events. Broadcasters and brands know that Twitter is a natural TV companion that drives audience tune-in, engagement and affinity,” said Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director, Twitter. “We look forward to working with cutting-edge broadcasters and advertisers, like STAR Sports and Vodafone, who want to tap into a compelling second screen experience We are delighted that cricket fans can now enjoy TV highlights in real-time on Twitter."

Mr. Ajit Mohan, Head of digital business, Star India, said: “We have built starsports.com as the most compelling destination for fans in India to follow sports on a mobile screen and the best platform for advertisers to reach an attractive audience on digital. This program is a new innovation for us to understand the possibilities of being present when the conversations are happening on Twitter.”

Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India, said, “As a brand we are always looking at innovative ways of driving brand engagement and conversations on social media. Cricket (and sports in general) is one of our identified passion points and one with which Vodafone has a huge association. We are very excited to be the pioneers in launching a new social innovation in India centered around Twitter and cricket.”

#TwitterElection: Twitter to replicate its India election model globally

According to media reports Twitter is planning to replicate parts of its India election strategy across countries that go to polls this year, after it emerged as a key tool for politicians and media companies during the world's largest democratic exercise.With polling due in countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and the United States later this year, the San Francisco-based company plans to take its India lessons abroad to expand its foothold in the political arena and increase its user base.

India's 2014 #TwitterElection: 58M Tweets & @narendramodi's victory Tweet becomes the most RT'd Tweet ever from India pic.twitter.com/9xEI74h7VP
— Twitter Government (@gov) May 16, 2014

Twitter widely emerged as a political tool first during the 2012 US presidential elections, and then during the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. Today, US president Barack Obama has more than 43 million Twitter followers.

"The election more than any other moment provides a nice microcosm of the value Twitter can add ... we are sharing widely the lessons of this Indian election around the world," said Rishi Jaitly, India market director at Twitter.