What got India tweeting in 2014

BANGALORE, INDIA: Politics dominates the top moments on Twitter in 2014. The Golden Tweet for India in 2014 comes from the #LokSabha election with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s (@NarendraModi) election-winning Tweet becoming the most retweeted Tweet ever in India with over 70,000 retweets.

Here are some more details of the #YearOnTwitter in India:

Top Peaks in Twitter Conversation

Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) smashed the world record for the highest individual ODI cricket score of 264 on November 13th versus Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. That incredible batting display drove the biggest spike in conversations on Twitter in India this year. In fact, of the Top 10 moments, three are related to cricket including the Indian Premier League. The roar of the cricket fans, indeed, was heard on Twitter this year in India.

Two of the top 5 peaks in conversations were about PM Modi (@NarendraModi). With 8.5 million followers, he is currently the second most followed political leader in the world (after President Barack Obama) and continues to grow his followers at a rapid pace.

ISRO’s Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) has also made it to the top 10 tweets list, with its two tweets celebrating its historic journey to the red planet. The top 20 most retweeted Tweets of India is also a reminder of the massive influence film stars have in India. While Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) is number two on the list, Rajinikanth’s (@superstarrajini) first ever Tweet actually makes it to sixth on the list for the year.

Fastest-rising Twitter hashtag trends

The fastest rising Twitter hashtag trends in India saw a mixture of sports, disasters and political campaigns. Conversations around the 2014 FIFA #WorldCup lead the trends followed by the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight #MH370. Meanwhile, #Mufflerman, a campaign led by the fans of the Aam Aadmi Party in support of leader Arvind Kejriwal, gathered momentum towards the end of the year. Indians tweeted about the Manchester United Football Club #MUFC and also supported updates and relief measures on the #KashmirFloods relief operations.

Most-Followed Indian Twitter accounts

India’s list of power Tweeters is unsurprisingly dominated by Bollywood stars, except @NarendraModi. Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) is in 15th spot and the current Indian star batsman Virat Kohli (@imvkohli) is right behind at number 16. Author Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) adds more variety to the list, rounding off the top 20 for India.