Gone are the days when social media was used for reconnecting with old pals or finding new friends. From being a platform to express opinions to a medium to influence many, social media now has a whole new meaning. There have been many instances of how social media helped people in distress, but what is listed here are how several hours were spent online to discuss things that made no sense to the real world. Here are a few of them.
A chatbot that barely survived a day
In March, Microsoft created an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot and introduced it on Twitter. Named Tay, it was meant to ‘learn’ from ‘casual conversations’ with humans. Clearly Microsoft had underestimated Twitteratti. In less than 24 hours, Tay learnt quite a lot, from racism to abuse to mis-constructed history (such as Adolf Hitler had no role in the Holocaust) to feminism being likened to cancer. The next day Tay was shut down.
Bhagwant Mann Facebook Live
In an otherwise productive Monsoon Session of Parliament, Aam Aadmi Party MP from Sangrur, Bhagawant Mann, created a flutter by doing a live on Facebook, his journey into the Parliament Hall in his SUV. The video that ran for about 12 minutes showed Mann ‘explaining’ the various security protocols followed in the premises and even had footage of how MPs’ questions are sorted and selected before the Question Hour. To Mann it was his way of ‘educating’ the public about parliamentary democracy, but his fellow MPs didn’t think so. Cutting across party lines, lawmakers from both the Houses condemned his behaviour ‘of compromising with the Parliament’s security.’ Even after he tendered an apology, Mann was suspended for the Winter Session.
Shobha De’s Olympics remark
“Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Go to Rio. Take Selfies. Come back empty-handed. What a waste of money and opportunity (sic),” tweeted writer Shobhaa De in Hinglish when the Rio Olympics were underway. Though India hadn’t won a single medal till she made the remark, it didn’t go down well. She was trolled and earned the wrath of common people, sports-persons and celebrities. But the woman, known for her controversial tweets, neither apologised nor replied to any of her angry followers. She later predicted a silver for Sindhu, got trolled even harder, but went on to congratulate the winning woman and ridiculed the “apathy" of Indian officials at Rio.
When Sindhu was caught between two States
The saving grace of the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics were Sakshi Malik and P.V. Sindhu. After settling for a silver, Olympian P.V. Sindhu happily landed in Hyderabad unaware of a war of words about her. The 21-year-old Hyderabad resident was born much before Telangana was carved out from Andhra Pradesh. Now both the States staked claim to her. When the people of Telanagana argued that she being a Hyderabadi, belonged to their State, the people of Andhra countered that the twin city was still the common capital for both the States. While Sindhu’s father, P.V. Ramana, is from Adilabad, now part of Telangana, her mother, P. Vijaya, was born in Vijayawada, in Andhra Pradesh. Sindhu and her coach put the debate to rest by saying she was “an Indian first.”
Po Mone Modi
Keralites modified Mollywood idol Mohanlal’s dialogue Po Mone Dinesha to hashtag #PoMoneModi (Get Lost Modi) after the Prime Minister compared Kerala to Somalia for high infant mortality rate in the State, especially among tribals. This was one rare event when the Congress and Left supporters — who usually trade barbs against each other — came together to disapprove of Modi’s remarks. The Modi supporters too joined the battle. And what followed was just a series of lambasting.
Search for a battleground in cricket stadium
Five teams were eyeing the Asia Cup and India was first among them to reach the finals. While Indian fans were expecting a India-Pak clash in the finals, Bangladesh defeated Pakistan to reach the finals. Elated over the win, Bangladeshi fans posted a morphed photograph of their captain, Taksin Ahmad, carrying the head of Indian captain M.S. Dhoni. What followed was an ugly fight between India and Bangladesh fans on social media. It continued even after India lifted the Asia Cup, and both teams got knocked out at the World Cup.
Fake claim over a climb
A photo purportedly showing Dinesh Rathod on the Everest. He and his wife, Tarakeshwari, are facing an allegation of making a false claim of scaling the peak.
A photo purportedly showing Dinesh Rathod on the Everest. He and his wife, Tarakeshwari, are facing an allegation of making a false claim of scaling the peak.
When Maharashtra police couple Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod posted a photo of themselves on the peak of Everest with the tricolour prominently displayed, people erupted with joy. However, it lasted only a few hours as it was found that the photo was photoshopped and it turned out that the couple never made it to Everest. They lost their jobs and are facing a 10-year ban from trekking to the world’s highest mountain peak.
Another ‘peak’ disappointment
The month of November witnessed landmark changes in the world’s two biggest democracies. While the Indian government announced that high-value currency notes of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 were no longer legal tender, Americans chose billionaire Donald Trump as their President. But the people of Britain woke up in pain to see their favourite chocolate bar Toblerone alter its unique triangular shape with more gap between the peaks. The maker decided to offer a slimmer bar citing increasing production costs. Toblerone’s Facebook announcement got as many as 1,200 comments and the makers tried to reply each one of them. But no, Britain is still unhappy.
Name shame
When Bollywood couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor happily announced the arrival of their baby, social media erupted with joy only for a little while. When the name of the child was revealed in subsequent tweets as Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi, tweeple were quick to dig out the historical significance of the name. Only a few praised the ‘Royalness’ in the name, but most were abusive, stooping low by comparing the Turco-Mongol ruler’s name with Hitler and calling the celebrity couple ‘anti-Hindu’. Surely a day-old baby deserves a better welcome?
The B word
If there is an award for absurdities, then this phrase would easily walk away with the top honour. ‘Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai’ — the words scribbled on a currency note, possibly by some jilted lover, took social media by storm and people were frantically searching for this fictional woman on Google and Facebook. It became a delight for meme creators, satirists, and obviously misogynists. But there were supporters for Sonam Gupta too.
And beat this, a march to Parliament has been planned on January 26, 2017, against Sonam Gupta with a demand to table an “anti-bewafai bill.” About 1,900 people have shown interest in the event.
