From Googling abut amendments to the Constitution to expressing their opinions on hotly-debated topics, Indian netizens made ample use of all social media platforms. Here is what trended in 2019.
Tweets
Desi Twitter's got no chill and an average day on the microblogging platform is a fight to the finish for many. From socio-political events to cricket to entertainment, anything and everything of relevance was discussed, debated and dissected on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's jubiliant tweet after the Bharatiya Janata Party's emphatic win in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 was the most retweeted and liked tweet of the year, making it the Golden Tweet of India.
Considering our obsession with cricket and cricketing stars, it is no wonder that Indian skipper Virat Kohli's tweet to former captain M S Dhoni, wishing him on his birthday, was the most retweeted sports-related tweet. The top ten sports handles on Indian Twitter also belonged to male cricketers, with Kohli and Dhoni leading the pack. The most tweeted about female sports personalities included P V Sindhu, Hima Das, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and Mithali Raj.
Actor Vijay's tweet about his movie 'Bigil' was the most retweeted one in entertainment. It also became the tweet that received the most retweets with comments. Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Vijay were the most tweeted male handles in entertainment. The females were led by Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Sharma, Lata Mangeshkar, Archana Kalpathi and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
The laughing emoji was the most tweeted one this year.
Memes
It was the year of memes on Indian social media! From the Pakistani fan (whose disappointed face, after Pakistan lost to England at the ICC Cricket World Cup in England, became immortalised in public memory through a plethora of memes) to the bizarre but hugely popular 'JCB ki Khudayi' posts, the memes that went viral were creative, hilarious and relatable. Other meme trends that took social media by storm were Priyanka Chopra's Met Gala 2019 'bird nest' hairdo, the 10-year challenge, the oh-so-adorable Baby Yoda, the ‘woman yelling at cat’ meme, the agonised commentary of an Indian man who went paragliding to realise it wasn't his cup of tea, Yuzvendra Chahal relaxing on the ground during a India vs Sri Lanka match and some 'Game of Thrones' references. Scenes from Bollywood movies too contributed a fair share to this frenzy.
Google searches
The all-knowing ever-helpful Google was approached by Indians to know about people, politics and more. According to Google's search report of 2019, topics and questions relating to Article 370, Ayodhya case and NRC were among the top searches. According to the report 'What is Article 370?', 'What is Ayodhya case?' and 'What is National Register of Citizens of India?' were among the most asked questions from Indians on Google this year.
The Cricket World Cup was the most searched news in 2019 followed by the Lok Sabha elections. “The top 10 overall list of trending search terms this year reflected the country’s excitement around events like the Cricket World Cup and the Lok Sabha elections, followed by the buzzing interest that surrounded the launch of Chandrayaan 2,” said the report.
The list of top ten most searched Indian personalities on Google was topped by IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. He was followed by veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar, Yuvraj Singh, Anand Kumar (the inventor of 'Super 30', a coaching institute for children of economically underprivileged students for the Indian JEE examination), actor Vicky Kaushal, Indian cricket team's wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, Ranu Mondal (who shot to fame after a video of her singing at a railway station went viral), actress Tara Sutaria, model and actor Siddharth Shukla and supermodel Koena Mitra.
“Movies like Kabir Singh, Gully Boy, Mission Mangal, Joker, and a double-entry of Marvel’s blockbusters — Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel also featured in the overall list,” the report added.
Hashtags
When we tell you #loksabhaelections2019 was the most tweeted about hashtag in India in 2019, you can imagine what Twitterati in India are passionate about. Politics ruled the roost
when it came to trending hashtags in the country, with #cwc19, #pulwama, #article370 and #ayodhyaverdictmaking it to the top ten.
Twitter said that it calculated the number of unique authors engaging and discussing on the micro-blogging site from January 1 to November 15, 2019. Which is why those relating to the Citizen (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens didn't figure in the list. Over the past few weeks, #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019, #IndiaRejectsCAB, #IndiaWithCAB and #VoteAgainstCAB have been dominating the top Twitter trends on a daily basis in India.
Among politicians, the most tweeted about male politicians included Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah, Arvind Kejriwal and Yogi Adityanath. Female politicians included Smriti Z Irani, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sushma Swaraj, Nirmala Sitharaman and Mamata Banerjee.
YouTube
In India, 'Khandeshi Movies - Chotu Ke Golgappe' was the top trending video while Dhanush and Sai Pallavi's 'Rowdy Baby' from the movie 'Maari 2' was the top trending music video (727 million views). This was followed by Dhvani Bhanushali and Tanishk Bagchi's 'Vaaste'. Interestingly, this was also the only Indian music video that was featured in the global list of most liked music videos.
Singers Arijit Singh and Asees Kaur's 'Ve maahi' for the film 'Kesari', 'Dheeme Dheeme' from 'Pati Patni Aur Woh', 'Pachtaoge' featuring actors Vicky Kaushal and Nora Fatehi and 'O Saki Saki' also made it to the list.
Indian YouTube channel T-Series broke the record for maximum number of subscribers this year.
YouTube also revealed how women content creators have grown in a short span of three years. In 2019, we have around 120 women creators with over a million followers.