With Elon Musk taking over Twitter, the micro-blogging platform has a lot going on. From sacking employees to introducing verification fees, the company has seen several changes in the past few weeks. Amidst all this, India's first Twitter user Naina Redu recalls how the platform was a close-knit community where anyone could talk freely. She also shares her views about the development and new changes of the platform with ANI.
Naina Redu joined Twitter when it was called TWTR. He got an email in 2006 to join a new platform called TWTTR (code name for Twitter project) in the era of Orkut and blogging. She joined in and became the first Indian Twitter user before the platform's official launch.
Redu, who currently works in a hotel in Jaisalmer and has posted around 1,75,000 tweets so far.
"I remember, I received an invitation from Twitter via e-mail and at the time it was named TWTTR, now the spelling has changed. I joined thinking let's sign up and explore, it's just It was a coincidence and I didn't know it would become such a big stage in the future," Naina recalled when she first joined the stage.
She talked about her experience being the only Indian on Twitter and continued, "There was no one from India at the time and most of the chats I saw were from Twitter employees or their friends. They text each other. Back then I was working in Mumbai and I was wondering what I could even talk to him about. That was the reason I didn't use Twitter initially for almost a year and a half because I thought it was just a And there's the platform."
Naina's Twitter bio which introduces her as a "photographer, artist and experience collector" nowhere mentions her being the first Twitter user in India.
Addressing it she says, "Since it is not an achievement and was just a coincidence, I don't think it deserves to be mentioned in my biography as I have not worked hard for it. I came to know about it. Was (being the first Indian Twitter user) when someone from USA wrote an article about the first 140 Twitter users. My name was on that list."
Naina is an active Twitter user and also has a blue tick on her profile, which remains a major topic of discussion these days.
When asked if she would be among the payers, Naina said, "At present, there is no clarity on what money is being charged for. Will the blue tick mean the same thing as it is now? Or it will change. Once there is some clarity on this, then only I will be able to take a decision."
It is a private company and the reason for giving blue tick to the users was to verify that it is a real account of a public person. And if I haven't paid for it in the last 16 years, why should I do it now."
Naina also shared her thoughts on how Twitter's blue tick decision will affect India. "I don't think it will have any effect because there is no need to have a blue tick in general. Also, people who need it and can afford it will just buy it and the general public will not be affected either. But I think people who work independently like journalism and can't afford it can be affected."
Furthermore, he talked about what he felt about freedom of expression through Twitter, "I think freedom of expression in a country is not related to Twitter. Although it has become such a platform now Where we watch the news and check what is happening around the world but there is also a lot of fake news around the world. I think relying on twitter is not the right way, we should do our own research. The problem is that Since we are all busy and can't do research across platforms we are dependent on Twitter."
It has been almost 2 decades since Naina first joined the micro-blogging platform and in that time span along with the world, Twitter too has gone through innumerable changes even before its recent acquisition.
"A lot has changed. Earlier, it was a close-knit community and you could talk freely to people. We used to talk about our daily lives and what's new. It was not about who read our tweets." Now, I think people think a lot before posting on Twitter and my usage of the platform has reduced a lot. Whenever I use it, it is for work," says Naina .
In her 16-year long Twitter journey, Naina has amassed around 22,000 followers, which doesn't seem like a lot though there are celebrities among them. However, for Naina it is about quality over quantity.
"I have never been interested in increasing the numbers in the name of followers," she says. If I want, I have the facility to buy fake followers, do PR and all that. But for me it was always about who is following me. That one person who is talking to me, I know them, can they teach me something new, I am more interested in that, not in numbers."
In today's time we all use many social media platforms. While some use it for a wider reach, others use it simply to stay connected to the world. Similarly, Naina also uses several social media sites, "I have accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Also, I have my blog. When Tiktok came to India, I created an account on it and also on Snapchat though I don't. Don't use them. I'm also on LinkedIn and Pinterest."
Twitter Blue with Verification was launched last week for iOS users in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Musk later confirmed the reports and announced that the company would charge $8 per month for Twitter's subscription service, with priority in replies, mentions and searches.
However, Musk's decision to introduce blue tick fees did not go down well with many. Even some advertisers dragged their feet back from the site. Twitter Blue subscriptions were widely launched about a year ago as a way for some publishers to view ad-free articles and make other changes to the app, such as a different colored home screen icon.
In addition to the "blue tick fee", Musk is also receiving a lot of hate on Twitter for laying off employees.
No comments:
Post a Comment