Why Twitter isn’t Popular Like Facebook Among Indians?
Indian market remains a Rubice cube, which many have attempted to ace. Few did for sure but others had to satisfy themselves with scaling just the lower dip of the Pyramid. It has been a well set notion that when standing in a queue; most of the status updates are posted. It was one such queue, much to my dismay outside current reservation counter at the Pune station, (For those who don’t know, that could be the longest queue who will ever find yourself prevailed upon to stand in) that I tumbled upon why Twitter has not been run out by Facebook as of yet in this monopolistic market.
The depth of the thought extended and as the line went ahead, as I started analyzing why Twitter has not made it “huge” in the Indian market as its fierce competitor Facebook. A question then popped up – “Is Twitter not meant for Indian crowd?”
The answer was like a bolt from the blue. The Business Development VP of Twitter said that “Twitter is not a social network, it’s a place to get fast Instagram views and get your opinion across all social media platforms, rather it is a NEWS network”. (No this is not a TYPO!!) From a certain faraway point, we might just agree to Thaus’ comment, for how many times do we see NEWS update on Facebook.
The comment made it clearer, why Twitter has seen such cold shoulder from the Indian crowd. Marketers’ need to understand and create an inclusive niche reaching out to potential non-users primarily and then assemble its clientele.
[alert-success]10 Reasons: Why You Should Join Twitter[/alert-success]Following are the major reasons I noticed why Indian People join Twitter:
- There is a buzz around about the word ‘Twitter’ and they just want to know about it.
Thanks to Print and Digital Media. - Their favorite Celebrity is now in Twitter so, they just hope to have a conversation with them.
But, Twitter is not Chat. - Bought a new smartphone and there is a bird icon application on Homescreen.
Just because it is there, let’s try it out. - Twitter is just another social network like Orkut or Facebook.
Unfortunately, the answer is No.
The above assumptions then create problems for them to adapt with Twitter. Expectations aren’t met and then conclusion is derived that Twitter isn’t meant for them.
Indian crowd remains social at Facebook, creating new updates with chipped nails, broken stilettos’, lost and won CS and PS and claims its NEWS updates from either Arnab Goswami and his heated debates or NDTV and AajTak. It has been less of an attempt to receive personalized news feeds, since Twitter is a NEWS network. That might be the reason ‘the bird’ credibility lies at the equator.
Why do you prefer Facebook above Twitter, Tell your story.