According to a study by Online Marketing Trends, India's Facebooking youth make it the fastest growing nation on Facebook.
Facebook usage grew by 11, 292,140 (65.32%) in only six months, as per June 2011. but Even without the statistics, India's everyday lives are lived, told and shared on Facebook. Here are five stories that prove India has found a lot, and lost, with Facebook.
Pet Lost - and Found on Facebook
The Santa Cruz-based Aswanis had lost their three-year-old dog cocker spaniel named Shotzie. After the dog was reported kidnapped, the family put up a message on Facebook about their missing pet. Within hours, they received a call informing them that some men had tried to sell the dog at Bandra.
Government Job - Lost on Facebook
Arun Narayan and Musafir Baitha, assistants in the Hindi publication department at the Bihar Legislative Council, and award-winning writers lost their job after they were found discussing administrative red-tapism and state politics on Facebook.
The suspension order was issued after Bihar Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brijendra Yadav insisted that the had “violated service rules”, even as no show-cause notice was served to the duo for their alleged misconduct of making “unparliamentarily remarks against the government”.While Narayan, author of trends Dastaan-e-Zindagi (a historical treatise on Bihar’s journalism) was charged with his critical discussion on Facebook about rebel JD(U) leader and writer Prem Kumar Mani’s termination, Mr Baitha, a well-known dalit writer reportedly discussed administrative lethargy in the Council.India's 'Second Freedom Struggle', Powered by Facebook
According to, Kunal Kishore, director, Value360, social media was a vital part of communicating Anna Hazare's message to a young India. "Without Facebook, Anna Hazare's movement which galvanised India against corruption, may not have picked up pace," said Kishore.
India Against Corruption's campaign to promote Anna Hazare's version of the Lokpal Bill is said to be the most social-media and technology savvy public-cause campaign India has ever seen
On Facebook, Pages like India Against Corruption, Anna Hazare and Mera Neta Chor Hai engaged fans and mobilized public action against the the government's response to the bill.
Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge:
India's First Facebook Love Story
Plain old Vishal and Preity can't tell their crushes Malvika and Rahul that they love them.
As the movie's promo suggests,‘Liking’ someone on Facebook is a lot easier. And a fake Facebook identity can do that. They So Vishal and Preity become cool and desirable online, and chat, ‘like’, tag and LOL together to pretend being something they are not. It gets 'Complicated'. How complicated?
"Rahul loves Malvika. And Malvika loves Rahul. But Rahul is not Rahul. Rahul is Vishal. And Vishal loves Malvika too. But Malvika is not Malvika either. Malvika is Preity. And Preity loves Rahul. But Preity hates Vishal. And Vishal hates Preity."
Indian Brand Pages lead World's 100 on Facebook
According to the August 2011 Engagement Analytics Report by Socialbakers, a social media statistics portal, a showcase of the global top 100 pages on Facebook reveals that the Indian Brand Pages occupy the first. The study reveals that the top six slots have been occupied by Indian agencies. These are Kingfisher (83 per cent), Bingo! (82 per cent), Tata Docomo (78 per cent), MTV India (77 per cent), Tata Photon (76 per cent) and eBay India (75 per cent), based on brand-strength of the page, engagement, response rate and quality of content management.
A Facebook store for Shopper's Stop
To move social media media traffic to actualizing sales, Shopper's Stop, which reportedly has the largest number of Facebook fans among retail brands in India (1.45 million, the eighth largest among clothing and apparel stores globally has invested in bringing loyal members to its Facebook page.
Vicious Facebook campaign hijacks J-K litfest
Jammu and Kashmir’s first All-India Literature Festival was set for September 2011.
Then, a vicious campaign on Facebook smeared the Festival as ‘Indian propaganda’ and incited people to act violent on Facebook, even though the Festival was intended to be 'apolitical’. Many writers cancelled their plans to to participate, thus leading to plummeting participation.
Indian Government
The Indian Finance Ministry has launched their Page on Facebook, and lets users upload messages, photos and request updates to the government's financial works.
Other government departments have also launched a Facebook presence, including the Traffic Police, India's Census Bureau and National Highway Authority of Traffic
Girl Commits Suicide After Being Dumped on Facebook
Malini Murmu, a 22-year-old IIM student committed suicide after getting dumped on Facebook after her boyfriend announced the breakup on the social network.
Her boyfriend had posted “Feeling super cool today. Dumped my new ex-girlfriend. Happy independence day.”
“Earlier if the break-up was done between say four people, it would’ve been bearable. Online the number increases to 400, and the hurt is magnified, and the individual feels that the damage to her ‘image’ is permanent,” says Dr Sandeep Vohra, senior psychiatrist, Apollo Hospital.
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