The Year On Twitter: #ThisHappened in India in 2016

Twitter makes things special for citizen of India, it allows people to be connected with the world in the current time. From breaking news to following their favourite stars, to know live updates of Sports to politics and many more. Twitter is vast and so was year 2016 on twitter. People joined for global conversations on this world’s largest live communications platform. This year, Twitter reflected and influenced Indian society that was united together in celebration, victory, protests, revolutionary reforms, crises, and significant cultural moments. Twitter gives people a voice and the people of India empowered themselves to speak up, to help, to inspire, to debate, to build safer and healthier cities, to ask for better public services, and to build communities together.

The country’s trending moments became worldwide conversations on Twitter, be it PM Modi’s revolutionary demonetisation reform (Most Influential Moment of the Year), Delhi’s rising pollution problem, the debut of Global Citizen Festival in India, and the Bollywood glam at the Filmfare Awards. Meanwhile, proud Indian voices joined the global Twitter community when India’s women athletes broke new ground at the Rio 2016 Olympics, cricketers Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni achieved milestone successes at the international World T20 tournament, and global cultural celebrations took place for Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi and the International Day of Yoga.

PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, and Dipa Karmakar, India’s women athletes that won a million hearts on Twitter during the Olympics made #Rio2016 the Top Hashtag Trend of the Year on Twitter. Their medal victories and near-misses inspired women everywhere, and showcased a spirit of unwavering determination and grit.

Virat Kohli's Tweet in support of Anushka Sharma was the Golden Tweet or the most Retweeted Tweet of 2016. He encouraged his fans and critics, who attributed his outstanding performance in the ICC World T20 to their break-up, to focus instead on empathy and community building. It's an emphatic example of an Indian youth icon using Twitter’s public platform to change the conversation by standing up for the woman in his life and advocating a more positive online behaviour. It was well-appreciated by his Twitter followers and other like-minded individuals, which helped make it go viral on Twitter.

 

MOST INFLUENTIAL MOMENTS ON TWITTER IN 2016

 

Twitter is where Indians go to see what’s happening everywhere in the world right now. From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics - across big events to everyday interests with all the live commentary that makes Twitter special. These are the most influential moments on Twitter - where Indians went first to ask questions, get answers or share ideas about the biggest conversations happening in India and the world throughout 2016.

 1. Modi's demonetisation scheme

On November 8th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@NarendraModi) announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes to fight against black money and corruption in India. The move impacted the majority of Indians and Twitter continues to resonate with their opinions and debates over the currency ban. The platform recorded 650,000 Tweets in 24 hours following the announcement and millions more Tweets in the following weeks. The magnitude of these conversations by experts as well as common people put the global spotlight on India.

Recap the conversation with hashtag #ModiFightsCorruption reverb chart

 

  1. Women athletes at Rio 2016

India united on Twitter to support and praise these top women athletes during #Rio2016. It was girl power all the way for India at the Summer Olympics and fans came together like never before to publicly voice their gratitude to India’s star performers. Twitter recorded millions of Tweets for these moments of national pride as part of the global conversation for #Rio2016 from 5-21 August. These victories saw Sindhu (@Pvsindhu1), Sakshi (@SakshiMalik) and Dipa (@DipaKarmakar) rise as individuals beating the odds and excelling at sports, consecutively emerging as an inspiration to millions of women around the world.

See the Tweets with hashtag SindhuSakshi and Dipa

 

  1. INDvPAK at WT20

On March 19th, #INDvPAK trended all day on Twitter in India and globally, and more than 1.1 million Tweets were recorded, making it the most Tweeted T20 International match ever, beating the earlier record of the recent Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan where more than 670,000 Tweets were sent. With his fantastic innings in a tight run-chase, Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) became the most mentioned player of this #WT20 match on Twitter.

 

  1. Delhi Pollution

The capital city's escalating pollution levels all year have seen citizens take to Twitter to express their worries, share photos of smog-filled streets, and find solutions. At the start of the year, the government implemented the Odd-Even scheme, impounded diesel vehicles and banned fire crackers during Diwali to improve air quality levels. Like every winter, the pollution levels continued to escalate in Delhi this November leading to worries of severe health hazards amongst citizens.

 

  1. India celebrates Diwali

Indians across the world celebrated the biggest and brightest festival via Tweets, photos and videos of sweets, fire crackers, festive clothes, and more from Oct 30-Nov 2. This year, thousands of Indians also participated in a Twitter Poll by @TwitterIndia to choose the colour of the ‘diya’ Twitter emoji, eventually choosing the orange version for the #HappyDiwali hashtag.

 

  1. INDvAUS at WT20

One of the most exciting games of #WT20 was the do-or-die, winner-takes-all clash between India and Australia on March 27th. Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) scored 47 runs in the last five overs, hitting seven boundaries and a six, and the moment he hit the winning runs to secure India’s passage to the semi-finals was the most-Tweeted moment of #WT20. With 973K Tweets recorded during the match, this was the second most Tweeted match during #WT20.

Follow the tweets using the hashtag here #IndvsAus reverb chart

 

  1. International Day of Yoga

The 2nd International Day of Yoga on June 21st was celebrated by yoga enthusiasts in India and across the world on Twitter. The 'asana' emoji was a delight for people celebrating the day and the platform lit up with invigorating photos and videos from the yoga community, even as remote as the Siachen glacier!

 

  1. Global Citizen India

On November 19th, British rock band Coldplay and American hip-hop artist Jay Z performed for the first time in India as part of the Global Citizen Festival India 2016 in Mumbai. As Coldplay frontman Chris Martin performed a duet with AR Rahman for 'Vande Mataram', the electric moment lit up on Twitter with videos and photos from the 80,000 screaming fans reaching a global audience. The concert's energy resonated on Twitter as fans gushed over the event that connected global and Indian music cultures.

 

  1. India celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi

Indians across communities, including celebrities, sport stars and politicians celebrated the cultural moment on the platform with colourful Tweets, greetings, photos and videos from August 5-16. This year, Twitter announced a special Lord Ganesha Twitter emoji for the first time. The special emoji was a pleasant surprise and an instant hit amongst Indians worldwide, who made #GaneshChaturthi emerge as one of the top Global Trends during the festive period, recording nearly half a million Tweets.

Tweets by twitteraties here #GaneshChaturthi reverb chart

 

  1. Filmfare Awards

For the 61st Filmfare Awards on January 15th, Twitter provided a front row seat to fans across the world. Bollywood fans flocked to Twitter to follow the live and exciting #OnlyOnTwitter conversation as the awards unfolded: real-time results of the winners, exclusive behind-the-scenes moments, live news broadcasts from the red carpet, exclusive videos and photos, and more. All of this made the Filmfare Awards the most talked about Indian award show of the year on Twitter.

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