Hina Rabbani Khar, Social Media and the Gangs of Twitter

The Indo-pak dialogue on social media is never a polite one. It can get ugly and sometimes outright disgusting. YouTube videos of Pakistani or Indian musicians is one such example where they go way out of hand.

But the rest of social media especially twitter is different. In the case of Hina Rabbani Khar, her statements on India's reaction to beheading of its soldier did not go too well.

The twitter trend started with several news agencies updating their twitter account reporting the statement and opinion. Then it was up to the Gangs of Twitter to decide her fate. I've noticed one interesting thing about this gang - Its popularity hinges on humor and satire.

The "serious issue" soon became an opportunity to mock the incident with utmost creativity and apathy. The following are some of the top tweets on "Hina Rabbani Khar".

Ramesh Srivats ‏@rameshsrivatsMaybe we should counter Hina Rabbani Khar by making Digvijay Singh the External Affairs Minister?

IndiaSpeaksPR ‏@IndiaSpeaksPRIndian Govt declines Hina Rabbani Khar's friend request.

Firstpost ‏@firstpostinHina Rabbani Khar talks peace; Pak Army keeps the powder dry

Stereotypewriter ‏@babumoshoyHina Rabbani Khar is as overrated as Rohit Sharma.

Madhavan Narayanan ‏@madversityThomson: "Hina Rabbani Khar wears shades". Thompson: "To be precise, she is shady" #tintin

Chetan Bhagat ‏@chetan_bhagatHina Rabbani Khar. So pretty. So shrewd. What a character she'd make in a book or a movie.

Ramesh Srivats ‏@rameshsrivatsDear Hina Rabbani Khar, You know and we know that Pakistan doesn't want peace. It wants piece. A piece of India.

What started as a serious issue soon turned out be an object of ridicule. But there is more to the Gangs of Twitter.

While the news media often portrays a sad image about corruption, Indo-Pak issue, and politicians, often making us feel that the world is truly a very bad place; these gangs quite like the Joker do make you laugh and make you realize a hard fact - Life is out of control!.

After all, why so serious?

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Twitter vs. News - Effectiveness in building relations

Social Media has been termed as an effective way to build relationships. Brands are trying to harness this capability by building social presence on this new media. Celebrities today account for the maximum amount of followers on the web with twitter being a fine example for this. But is this new media effective in creating relationships with this vast list of followers, which celebrities often tend to have? In an interesting research by Lee and Jang , they explore the effectiveness of celebrities in building social presence on new media. They compare twitter and a news website to check the relative effectiveness of enhancing social presence. While the traditional PR machinery used by celebrities might give them news coverage, they contend that their tweets can reduce the barrier of relational development as compared to a news website. Their findings are counter-intuitive and very interesting.

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