From increasing user engagement to getting a golden tweet, Kollywood’s growing presence on Twitter this year was evident, with posts on the microblogging platform finding a place from among trends across the country.
Ahead of its release in October, Mersal , starring Vijay, became the first Tamil movie to get a custom character emoji on Twitter. Widely used by fans, the hashtag ‘#Mersal’ became the top trend of the year on Twitter in India.
The second look of actor Surya’s upcoming movie Thaana Serndha Kootam , which is scheduled to release in January, was awarded the golden tweet with over 75,000 re-tweets (RT). While it was initially the most RTed tweet in India, the tweet was displaced by Virat Kohli’s tweet announcing his marriage to actor Anushka Sharma.
“Until a couple of years ago, Twitter wasn’t as popular as Facebook but with an increasing number of users, films are being talked about more.
“As opposed to newspaper ads, users here are given a chance to react to everything, right from trailers to songs in a short and snappy format, which is why it is popular,” said G. Dhananjayan, founder of Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy (BOFTA).
Stars who have an active presence and following on Twitter are also being roped in to release the first look posters or trailers of other upcoming movies for a wider reach.
Tamil television too made a splash online with Big Boss Tamil emerging as one of the most talked about moments of the year.
‘Scope for growth’
Mr. Dhananjayan further said that the platform had a lot of scope to grow as well, with regard to engaging with Tamil film audiences. “Marketing teams and production houses have to be careful in how they promote a film at the same time not bombard users. The trick is to be both selective and make an impact,” he said.
Keeping fans on their toes have also been actors and their involvement in politics. Actor Kamal Haasan in particular, who has over 3.76 million followers, had said this year that he was considering entering politics.
He has been extremely active on the platform in 2017 tweeting about current issues to personal anecdotes.
Actor Vishal, who had earlier quit the microblogging site, joined again after he announced his decision to contest in the R.K. Nagar bypolls.
