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Monday, May 10, 2010 (21:23:38) |
| Tags : IndiaTC, India Twitter Conference |
IndiaTC (India Twitter Conference) meets with success in Kolkata |
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Kolkata, May 9: India Twitter Conference or IndiaTC as the event is popularly known now, spelled success once again as it made its presence felt in India for the second time. It was though for the first time in Kolkata on May, 8 Saturday. As the main initiator of IndiaTC Simarprit Singh puts it, "IndiaTC is Official Twitter Passion and Unofficial Twitter Conference." With the subject of discussion being "Can Twitter change the way India works?" a mixed response emanated from the long 2 hours of discussions.
Abhijit Dasgupta, Deputy Editor (National),India Today mag, kick started the panel discussion in a rather unconventional fashion citing instances of his real-life experience on Twitter to support his view that India does not know how to make use of Twitter. Reiterating his views, he went on to add that most Indians on Twitter consider this social networking site as a plaything and they are not curious enough to learn things from Twitter.
Taking cue from his observations, Subrata Sen, an eminent filmmaker in the Tollywood industry, raised two pertinent questions before the attendees - "Does Twitter work?" and "What is wrong with the way India works?" He observed that Indians know how to work and they have been working all these years without Twitter. The filmmaker affirmed that Twitter made its presence felt in Indian shores only recently and this medium will hardly be of any use to change the way India works.
The varying opinions on the topic turned more interesting as the panelists put forward their ideas on CPM (Cricket, Politics and Movies) that have been getting the maximum attention of the Indians on Twitter. While moderating the event, Mr Simarprit Singh, the founder of Twitsnaps, a photo-sharing application on Twitter, invited the panelists' take on these issues.
Arun Agarwal, CEO of ebizindia and an Internet Marketing Expert himself, affirmed that Indians should learn to use Twitter judiciously and not just indulge in sundry talks that add unnecessary pressure on the site. Countering Abhijit Dasgupta's view that New India is not motivate enough to learn new things and ask questions about myriad range of issues, Arun added that today's youth are better informed and have a clear stand on almost every issues concerning India.
Abhishek Rungta, CEO of Indus Net Technologies pointed out the fact that the viral system of Twitter keeps people charged for a certain period of time over a particular issue but they soon lose the spark. While answering to a question as to whether "Twitter can help curb corruption in India?", he referred to the instances where Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor met with a sad plight due to their revelations on Twitter.
Aniruddha Chatterjee, a documentary filmmaker and an IT professional working with TCS, stood to his view that Twitter does not have that reach in India to make any mark on the Indians. He made it clear that Twitter is still an unexplored medium for the majority of Indians and at present we should not count on Twitter to change the way India works. He rather suggested a mass change among the people, which can actually create a difference.
The opinions and counter-opinions of the panelists and the attendees conjoined to a conclusion where people still remained divided over the Twitter's utility in changing India's working mechanism. While some were optimistic about Twitter stronghold and reach on Indians others seemed sceptic about its greater use. Abhijit Dasgupta made his final remark, "Twitter will not change the way India works and it will change the way India plays". |
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