Putting India on the World Twitterverse: @WeAreMumbai

There have been a fair bit of twitter properties in India which have carved a niche for themselves. Twitter property by definition is an idea revolving in and around the twittersphere born in one person’s mind who decides to do something about it. Notable mentions must be given to #AwesomeHandles, #Bglsr, #55WordStory which are some of the well known examples.

The latest kid on the block is @WeareMumbai. India’s First Rotational curation account. I would like to think the term is fairly self explanatory, but for those that need some elaboration, Rotation Curation, also #RotationCuration, is the concept of rotating the spokesperson on a broad scoped social media account. Such a scope can be a location, a country, an organisation, a group, and so on.

The concept originated back in 2011, December 10. When Svenska Institutet and VisitSweden launched Curators of Sweden @Sweden on twitter . An initiative to show Sweden to the world , via the people that make it. The idea being, to let people share their experience, share what Sweden means to them.

All views being strictly PERSONAL. Other Rotational curation accounts across the globe include @PeopleofLeeds @WeAreAustralia and @TweetWeekUSA, @CuratorsMexico and @BasquesAbroad . And there are over 70 such rotational curation accounts world wide. WeAreMumbai is listed on world curation website.

Get the Drift?? Alright. So let us focus on WeAreMumbai now. I had the chance to exchange some notes with the Admin of the account and have a chat with him about this. I have been sworn to secrecy by the admin to keep his secret going and maintain anonymity.

So here is an excerpt from the chat I had with him and once again, the identity of the admin shall not be compromised under whatever bribe :D Unless ofcourse it is good enough. For starters a Royal Enfield might be a good try ;)

What is it?

WeAreMumbai is India’s first Rotational Curation account. By RotationCuration I mean, every week a new tweep from Mumbai handles/operate the account. So every week a new Mumbaikar is @WeAreMumbai.

For seven days, he or she recommends things to do and places to see, sharing diverse opinions, and ideas along the way. After that, someone else does the same—but differently.

How it all started?

I was in a local train when the idea struck me. I made an account immediately on my blackberry phone and named it @WeAreMumbai. And trust me I had no idea how to go about it.

The only thought behind making this account was that I wanted people and share their opinion, their experiences and what they think about Mumbai. WeAreMumbai started on 27th September and it has just been 3 weeks and we are 848 followers strong now.

The strategy is clear, have smart influential tweeples from Mumbai share their insights and the handle has been riding the wave fairly well as followers of the personal accounts of each curator also starts taking interest in their work . Here is what the curators so far have to say about the account:

Nirav aka @EkCupCoffee

Excellent concept. Should be implemented in every city of India and the World.

Hardik aka @Hardism

Mumbai is what you make of it and that is the beauty of WeAreMumbai. It encourages creative expression of the curators in their own style.

Ankita aka @ChotuMissMuffet was unavailable for comment.

Ashrita aka @caramelwings (this week)

I love being the voice of Mumbai. Even if it is for a week.

I have inside news that tweeps like Adarsh Munjal aka @TheBigBhookad and Rohan Joshi aka @MojoRojo are being lined up to wow Mumbaikars on twitter through this setup.

The world of twitter has seen how such Social properties go viral, and contests and innovative campaigns are wonderful ways to keep your audience engaged and give something back to them. WeAreMumbai is no different!

However, what they have done well is being able to tie up their campaigns to their core Brand (yes I call it a Brand as it has a well carved out identity and know where they are going).

Moreover other Brands have identified the potential this particular property holds in increasing reach and visibility for them and has done well to tie up early on. Early adoption on social media has its benefits.

First week : #WeAreMumbaiQuiz

Trended in Mumbai and India for 6 long hours! 350+ mentions and 150 increase in followers count.

@madoverdonuts approached @wearemumbai to let them sponsor the prizes to the winners.

Second week : #YehHainMumbaiContest (photo contest)

Trended in Mumbai and India for long 8 hours! 400 entries and 120 new followers gained.

@ottoinfinito approached @wearemumbai to let sponsor them the prizes to the winners.

Third week : #StarbucksMumbai contest

Trended in India & Mumbai whole day. 500+ mentions and 250 increase in followers.

Winners got the gift voucher from starbucks India.

Each of these campaigns had a deeply rooted significance to Mumbai and what it stands for. In fact the Starbucks Mumbai contest went so well that Starbucks Mumbai decided to name a coffee after them. Albeit, the account turned out to be a fake one.

However, this is a great acknowledgement nonetheless for the property and for their good, I really hope this happens with the REAL starbucks too.

 The only area where the Admin might want to do some more due diligence is making sure the admin mentions he is tweeting in the absence of a curator. To avoid such issues:

Having said that though, it wasn’t a big enough issue for the said curator to create a public mess about this. Could have been handled better by the curators. After all the Admin is learning as they are. And this is my personal opinion.

Despite these little teething problems, WeareMumbai has been going strong and how! It has taken the twitter sphere (atleast Mumbai) by storm and everyone seems to be excited which are all good signs for the handle. Names like Rohan Joshi, Hoezaay etc are some notable followers of this handle and it can only get better from here on.

So here is wishing luck to the curators and the admin and hoping that this becomes really big for Mumbai and for India as well.