New Delhi: The fact that Indians think differently is a given. Now an interesting report by micro-blogging platform - Koo - reveals that the interests of people from the North of India are in stark contrast to their counterparts in the South. The Voices of India Report by the Koo App - released in December 2021 - gives insights into how Indians across linguistic diversities think, feel and express themselves online on topics that are relevant to them. The Report is representative of user sentiments on the multi-lingual platform - which celebrates the spirit of India and empowers Indians to express themselves online in their mother tongue.
Poetry & Politics for Hindi Speakers
Users in North India, especially those belonging to Hindi-speaking communities, are driven by poetry, literature, and politics. Poetry and literature have created a lot of chatter on the Koo App, with users leveraging the platform to emote succinctly through poems - thus enhancing the cultural and linguistic heritage of their communities and increasing their reach. In 2021, veteran actor Anupam Kher’s poetic Koo on the hypocrisy of humans was one of the most ‘Liked’ Koos in the Hindi community. Likewise, Hindi speakers give a lot of weight to political issues in their regions. #UPElections2022 and #LakhimpurKheri trended most on the platform in 2021, as users expressed themselves and shared their thoughts in Hindi.
Cinema Down South
If poetry & politics catches the fancy of Hindi speakers, it is the overpowering aura of cinema and the charisma of movie stars that often casts a spell in the South. On the Koo App, Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar, who passed away in October, was the most mentioned celebrity among the Kannada community. The platform witnessed a record number of fans pouring their love and condoling his tragic demise. Meanwhile, Telugu users on Koo had expressed their excitement for RRR - one of the most awaited films starring NTR Jr, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, and Alia Bhatt.
A platform that democratizes the voice of India, the Koo App is currently available in 10 languages - Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, and English. It recently attained the milestone of 20 million downloads and is poised to reach 100 million downloads in the next year’s time.