Twitter rolls out Topics for India; to connect people with their interests

Twitter today announced the rollout of Topics in the country, making it easier for Indians to find, follow and talk about their interests and the things they love. Since there are so many good conversations happening on Twitter, sometimes it can be overwhelming to find what’s most relevant or interesting. That’s where Topics can help.

 Topics let people follow specific subjects of their interest, allowing them to see more content on these subjects on their timeline. Topics also give people the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who share their interests.

 When a person chooses to follow a Topic – whether it’s their favourite band, sports team or even a city – they’ll see Tweets from a whole host of accounts that are experts, fans or just tend to talk about that subject a lot on Twitter on their timeline.

Beyond English, Topics for India are launching in Hindi, the most used Indic language on Twitter in India. Within a Hindi Topic, people will be able to see Tweets in Devanagari script, as well as Hindi speech typed in the Roman alphabet. Some featured Hindi Topics for India include cities like Agra (आगरा), Patna (पटना) and Pune (पुणे), general interests like Animals (जानवर), Horoscope (राशिफल), Poetry (कविता) and Technology (प्रौद्योगिकी), Sports (खेल) teams and individuals as well as entertainment Topics like Movies (फ़िल्में).

 In India, Topics are customised to those interests that are relevant to Indian audiences and are available in both English and Hindi. In order to reach the right audiences, only those individuals whose device language is set to Hindi will be served Hindi Topics. Hindi is the seventh language to be added to the list of Topics. Apart from Hindi, Topics are also available in English, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Korean.

 Manish Maheshwari, MD, Twitter India: “India is an important market for Twitter. We want to strengthen the service’s value for Indian audiences by giving them more control over what they want to see on their timelines. Topics will allow people to engage with content they love and find people with like-minded interests, empowering them to choose their feed. The addition of Hindi Topics demonstrates our commitment to diversity of conversations across languages. We are excited to see these vibrant conversations flourish on Twitter in India.”

 Indians will be able to follow conversations about a Topic like they have been following accounts - with one single tap. Topic suggestions will appear in the timeline and in the search bar based on what is most relevant to them.

How to search for Topics you want to follow:

  • Open the Twitter app on your phone
  • Click on the icon with three horizontal lines on the top left of the app
  • Tap on ‘Topics’ -- you will see a list of ‘Suggested Topics’
  • Tap the ‘Follow’ button on the ones you find interesting
  • Click on ‘More Topics’ at the end of the list to explore a wider list of Topics and sub-Topics to choose from
  • You can also explore the Topics Selector page, which provides a list of Topics to follow

 How to stop following a Topic that you no more wish to see on your timeline:

  • Open the Twitter app on your phone
  • Click on the sidebar icon on the top left of the app, represented by three horizontal lines
  • Tap on ‘Topics’ -- you will see a list of Topics you are already following
  • Tap the ‘Following’ button and press ‘Unfollow’ to confirm

 How to share your Topics with others

  • From a Topic’s page, tap the new share icon
  • It will let you send a link to the Topic in a Tweet, DM, or outside of Twitter.

Topics in Hindi will only be available to people whose device settings are in Hindi. Here’s how to do that on Android and iOS:

On Android:

  • Settings app, select Google
  • Select ‘Manage your Google Account’
  • At the top, select Data & personalization
  • Tap Language under "General preferences for the web”
  • Click Edit, then select Choose your language
  • At the top right, tap Select, and choose Hindi

For iOS:

  • Open Settings on the home screen
  • Tap General and tap Language & Region.
  • On the next screen, tap "[Device] Language" and pick language from the list.
  • An alert will ask to confirm the new language, tap the first option to save settings.

Click here for more information on how specific Topics are selected, the process to find the best Tweets about these Topics, and how Twitter seeks to highlight healthy conversations.

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