Twitter India is throwing it back to 2019, right before the world started to change through Conversation Replay, focusing on top joyful conversations around the same time last year.

To get more insights into what brought people joy before 2020, Twitter India commissioned Quilt.AI* to analyse the conversations on the service. The team studied 850,000 Tweets across 22 cities in India from same time last year, i.e. September-November 2019, over a 100-day framework.

The study found that the ten most talked about themes included: Animals, Celebration, Celebrity content, Doing good deeds, Family, Food, Humour, Nostalgia, Romance and Sports (listed in alphabetical order). Southern cities like Ernakulam, Hyderabad and Chennai led conversations across themes of sports, food, celebration, celebrity content, and humour.

While Ludhiana topped the charts for conversations on romance, Raipur led conversations around animals. Bhubaneswar had the most conversations around family and doing good deeds, whereas Mumbai led conversations on nostalgia.

Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director, Twitter India says, “Twitter is a modern public square where diverse voices discuss their views on topics that interest them. Last year, people were revelling in many joys of life. With Conversation Replay, we intend to throwback to those vibrant conversations, across varied themes of joy from diverse parts of India. Sharing these conversations is our way of giving Indians a moment of happiness and reminding them that little pleasures lead to joy.”

Martyn Uren (@martynuren), Head of Research - APAC & MENA, Twitter added, “Our research has found that Indians on Twitter love to talk about topics that bring them joy, and there is a diverse range of these topics that one can see emerging from different parts of the country, from food and family to celebration and celebrity content, and much more. With Conversation Replay, we hope to delight people with a throwback to the unique, happy, and joyful moments that they Tweeted about in 2019."

Conversation Replay by Twitter India highlights most talked about themes of joy across cities (arranged in alphabetical order): Results show some of these cities led the way in finding joy in more than one way.

Animals: Raipur knows well the joy of hanging out with animals

As pets, and sometimes as unannounced visitors, animals bring unmatched companionship and delight. People often document through Tweets fun interactions and chance encounters with these magnificent beings. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to call out #PetTwitter or #AnimalTwitter for a dose of cuteness to uplift their mood. The study found that Raipur tweeted the most about animals followed by Ernakulam, and Mumbai.

Celebration: Toss some confetti up in the air, and celebrate like Hyderabad did

Positivity on Twitter often takes a celebratory slant. There is a great amount of happiness that comes with documenting festivities, achievements, and also in celebrating small wins like buying a new item for yourself. Hyderabad led engagement around celebration, followed by Indore, and Visakhapatnam.

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Celebrity content: Chennai shared the joy of fandom

Twitter enables fans to hop over all possible barriers and directly connect with their favourite stars. Chennai led engagement around celebrity content, followed by Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore. The prominence of southern cities on the leaderboard is no surprise considering every year top Twitter conversations around entertainment emerge from this region.

Doing good deeds: True joy comes from helping others, right Bhubaneswar?

Doing good deeds and acts of kindness give one a sense of purpose. People on Twitter witnessed great joy through this conversation theme, with Bhubaneswar being the top city Tweeting and contributing to it, followed closely by Ludhiana and Mohali.

Family: Bhubaneswar celebrated the joy of being with family

Twitter is also the space for celebrating family and creating new memories with them. This joy of belonging to a community, and commemorating special moments with loved ones, was seen the highest in Tweets from Bhubaneswar, followed by Kanpur and Chennai.

Food: Ernakulam has a big appetite for food conversations

Food brings India together. Second to the joy of cooking and savouring food is the joy of photographing it. Ernakulam beat all cities when it came to tweeting about food, followed by Bengaluru and Ludhiana. Do you eat to live or live to eat? Your Tweets will tell all.

Humour: Oh Chennai, good ‘one’

Humour on Twitter is candid, deadpan and without restraint. Chennai loves a good joke, driving the maximum Tweet volumes for humour, followed by Mohali and Coimbatore.

Nostalgia: Once upon a time in Mumbai...

Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata topped the list for conversations around nostalgia on Twitter. These cities reminisce about the good old days of charm and of course, tweet about it. People from these cities often post Tweets containing sepia-tinted or black and white images, old portrait shots in front of popular landmarks, and even their own baby pictures.

Romance: Ludhiana’s love language is heartwarming

Ludhiana tweeted the most about romance, followed by Ahmedabad and Kolkata. If you need a lesson or two in winning hearts, tweet to the folks in these cities!

Sports: Get, set, Ernakulam!

Twitter enables sports enthusiasts to talk about all things sports with like-minded people, and derive joy from these ‘watch parties’ of sorts, wherein everyone comes together to chat about games as and when they are happening. Be it a conversation about the team that they support, or ongoing matches, or sharing fan art wishing their favourite sportsperson a happy birthday, people from Ernakulam engaged the most in the joy of celebrating sports on Twitter, followed by people from Bhubaneswar and Chennai.