India accounts for nearly half of APAC leaders on #TwitterInfluencerIndex

Twitter has launched its first-ever #TwitterInfluencerIndex, a study to understand the effects of C-Suite engagement, who the top CEOs on Twitter are and what constitutes their success on the influential communications platform. The Index highlights the 100 top C-suite executives on Twitter from around the world. Asia-Pacific leaders occupy 15 per cent of this pie, out of which nearly half were from India:

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group (@anandmahindra)
Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank (@udaykotak)
Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato (@deepigoyal)
Sachin Bansal, Executive Chairman and Founder, Flipkart (@_sachinbansal)
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Olacabs.com (@bhash)
Kunal Bahl, Co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal.com (@1kunalbahl)
Naveen Tewari, Founder and CEO,InMobi (@NaveenTewari)

The #TwitterInfluencerIndex was unveiled at #TwitterUdaan, Twitter’s first business leadership summit in Asia, which was held in Gurgaon May 4, 2016. The event brought together close to 200 industry leaders over thought-provoking presentations and panel discussions on the theme of #FutureForward. Representatives from FutureBrands, GroupM, HDFC Life, Ogilvy & Mather, Olx, PepsiCo, Starcom, Tata Motors, Unmetric, Vodafone India, Yes Bank, and Yu, were among the participants at the inaugural forum, alongside Twitter’s executives.

The rise of digital influence: launch of #TwitterInfluencerIndex

#TwitterInfluencerIndex measures how influential the world’s top executives are on Twitter. The Index highlights how CEOs develop their digital influence and their ability to create an effect (good or bad), change opinions and behaviours, and drive measurable outcomes using Twitter.

Reach, relevance and resonance on Twitter are the cornerstones of the Index: 

• Reach: How far information in a Tweet has traveled across the social continuum and reached those who have in turn interacted with it. Top CEOs with high Index scores have mastered techniques to make their content go far and captivate the attention of a large audience.
• Relevance: Alignment to interests of the moment is key. Relevance is situation and context sensitive; CEOs on the Index know what to Tweet and when to Tweet it, to generate interest and relevance to their audience.
• Resonance: Like information, popular Tweets have a ripple effect. What differentiates CEOs on the Index from others is their ability to create engagement. When people feel compelled to offer their opinion, engage, comment, and share a CEO’s Tweet, influence is gained.

Speaking at the event, Shailesh Rao, Vice President, International Markets, at Twitter, said, “India is the growth engine for Asia-Pacific on Twitter. We are committed to India and the launch of #TwitterUdaan is about celebrating the creativity and innovation from India. The time is ripe for India to lead innovation and we want to help them soar and leverage Twitter in the digital age. CEO participation on Twitter leads to better communication and it is heartening to see India account for nearly 50 per cent of Asia Pacific C-suite executives listed in the #TwitterInfluencerIndex.”

#TwitterUdaan: Future is Live, Content, Disruptive, Data, Media-First

The first #TwitterUdaan Summit focused on five big trends of 2016 – Live, Video, Disruption innovation, Content marketing, Data, and Media-first. The Summit’s opening keynote on ‘Future is Live’ by Parminder Singh, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, India, Middle East & North Africa at Twitter, opened up the floor for engaging conversations with his presentation on Twitter’s live connection to culture. This was followed by a chat between Shailesh Rao and Santosh Desai, MD and CEO of FutureBrands India, on how brands need to build authentic relationships with their customers.

Jean-Philippe (JP) Maheu, Vice President, Global Brands and Agencies, walked the audience through content best practices in ‘Future is Content’, and provided insight on how to engage a customer, hold their attention and why video and media-rich content always wins on the platform.

Steven Kalifowitz, Asia Pacific Head of Brand Strategy, challenged advertising norms, showcased case studies and ideas that stood out of the clutter, and asked brands to think out-of-the-box using innovative, disruptive strategies in ‘Disruptive Innovation’.

Guest speaker Lakshmanan Narayan, CEO and co-founder of Unmetric, presented on a data-driven future, how brands can use data to drive social media accountability and business outcomes. While Twitter’s Maya Hari, Senior Director, Product Specialist, Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets, presented on a media-first future – how we are now living at a time where media is increasingly live, interactive, and visual. This led to a panel discussion with guest speakers from CNBC TV18, PepsiCo, Tata Motors and The Economist on how being media-forward is not an option anymore.