.then, the world realized, 140 characters of “What’s on your mind” is what you need to have deep impact on society and minds of the world…


The micro-blogging social network service Twitter, which allows users to post short textual messages, or tweets of 140 characters, has gained worldwide popularity in relatively short span of time. From President of the United States for huge campaigns, to promotion of small business next door, twitter generates over 340 million tweets daily and handles over 1.6 billion search queries per day.


The ‘sms of the internet’ concept of twitter is to present short and effective message which is open to all public.  The use of hashtag format, e.g. #Nepal, indicates what the message is about. This helps for trending topics and searching tweets. In addition, the use of @ symbol is used by users to converse and interact by referencing each other in messages.


In many parts of the world, people in all walks of life use twitter to break the news. For instance, king of Indian film Amitabh Bachhan and his daughter in law use Twitter to disclose some important matters. This is common in Hollywood also. But, Nepalese have yet to make headlines through twitter. However, UN resident coordinator Robert Piper used twitter to break the news of postponement of visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.


Twitter is where the celebrities gather in the present world. Whether it is sporting events, political debates or award shows, actors, politicians, writers and athletes are sharing their opinions with the world through tweets and connecting to their followers. The direct and easiest way for a celeb to connect to the followers has become twitter. Twitter is allowing people to share news quickly, easily and regarded as one of the fastest medium.  Activity on Twitter is almost two times bigger than Facebook for any real time events.


So, why is it that twitter hasn’t really settled in the context of Nepal? People here are unaware of how twitter works. Lack of love at first sight due to simplest of interface makes people take the power of twitter for granted. People seem lost as to what they can do with such a simple interface. It is only after some months of forming a good social network, people begin to praise twitter.


Next major setback is the lack of verification of profile of social prominent figures in Nepal. The verified badge, a white tick on sky-blue background, help users discover high-quality sources of information and trust that a legitimate source is authoring the account’s Tweets. Twitter concentrates on highly sought users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, advertising, bussing and other key interest areas. But due to inadequate resources in Nepal, Twitter is unable to verify accounts.  Verified badge would create a lot of enthusiasm among the public to follow people and company and thus open up a huge boom of twitter.


Robert Piper(UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal),Ashutosh Tiwari, country representative of Water Aid Nepal and AIN Chair, Rajendra Khetan Narayan Wagle (journalist), journalist Ajay Khanal, U.S. Embassy Nepal, Kunda Dixit, Kishore Nepal (journalist), Manjushree Thapa (author), and Rabindra Mishra are some of the names found active in twitter. Mixture of charity, social awareness, political view, personal views and personal conversation can be found on these profiles. The list is only increasing while the general public is being more attracted more towards Twitter. Industrialist Binod Chaudhary too has his own twitter account.

Prominent actor Rajesh Hamal, Nepathya Band has also twitter account. Among politicians prime minister Baburam Bhattarai, and CPN-UML leader Jhalnath Khanal have registered their domains but it seems that they rarely log in as they have not posted anything and only a few followers are there for them at all.


Twitter did play a vital role in the ‘Arab Spring’.  While news travelled faster than light through twitter, heated up argument with public has caused many political and prominent figures to resign from their post.

International celebrities are believed to earn as much as $50,000 for a single tweet to endorse a product, just through 140 characters might surprise us at times.


The market and prospects of Twitter are enormous. The minimalistic platform has impacted the minds of many and presented itself as one of the forces in this world. Twitter in Nepal is just growing and we will surely find out its real social, political and marketing impact in days to come. International celebrities are believed to earn as much as $50,000 for a single tweet to endorse a product, just through 140 characters might surprise us at times.


The market and prospects of Twitter are enormous. The minimalistic platform has impacted the minds of many and presented itself as one of the forces in this world. Twitter in Nepal is just growing and we will surely find out its real social, political and marketing impact in days to come.