This year, people in India and across the world came together in moments of celebration, protest, mourning and joy. Many millions of you contributed to the moments and conversations that all unfolded on Twitter.
Top 10 Peaks in Twitter Conversation among Indians
As the world’s largest platform for live, public conversations, Twitter was where Indians expressed, consumed and connected with their fellow compatriots over global and Indian events in real-time.
Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) smashed the world record for the highest individual ODI cricket score of 264 on November 13th versus Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. That incredible batting display drove the biggest spike in conversations on Twitter in India this year. In fact, of the Top 10 moments, three are related to cricket including the Indian Premier League. The roar of the cricket fans, indeed, was heard on Twitter this year in India.
The fan club of Rajinikanth (@superstarrajini) definitely made itself heard as well, with his arrival on Twitter making it the second largest peak in Twitter conversation of the year. With over 200,000 followers in the first 24 hours and now over 1.1 million in total, it’s clear that he has many loyal fans both off and on Twitter.
Hardly surprising, two of the top 5 peaks in conversations were about PM Modi (@NarendraModi). With 8.5 million followers, he is currently the second most followed political leader in the world (after President Barack Obama) and continues to grow his followers at a rapid pace.
| RANK | DATE | MOMENT |
| 13 Nov 2014 | Rohit Sharma scores 264 runs vs Sri Lanka. He claimed the record for the world’s highest ever ODI score by an individual | |
| 4 May 2014 | Rajinikanth joins Twitter with a message of thanks to his legion of fans and has over 200,000 followers within the first two days | |
| 22 April 2014 | PM candidate Narendra Modi refrains his supporters from making irresponsible statements during the election campaign | |
| 2 May 2014 | The 2014 season of the Pepsi IPL returns to India | |
| 3 May 2014 | Narendra Modi gives an interview for a Hindi News channel leading to a big debate on Freedom of Press | |
| 23 April 2014 | Kejriwal files nomination papers from Varanasi as Shazia Ilmi stokes controversy over communal comment | |
| 23 Oct 2014 | India celebrates Diwali | |
| 21 May 2014 | Arvind Kejriwal arrested for protesting on the streets of Delhi | |
| 2 July 2014 | Outrage over tennis star Maria Sharapova claiming she does not know who cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is | |
| 11 April 2014 | SP leader Abu Azmi’s rakes up controversy by claiming there should be punishment involved women in rape cases |
Top 20 Most Retweeted Tweets from Indian Twitter accounts
While politics dominates the top moments on Twitter in 2014, it is PM Modi (@NarendraModi) that sits right atop the list of most Re-Tweeted Tweets of the year. The Golden Tweet of 2014 was his declaration of victory on the 16th of May 2014 gaining over 70,000 retweets celebrating his win.
The top 20 most retweeted Tweets of India is also a reminder of the massive influence film stars have in India. While Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) is number two on the list, Rajinikanth’s (@superstarrajini) first ever Tweet actually makes it to sixth on the list for the year.
Also, making a debut is ISRO’s Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) as two of its Tweets make the top 10 as it made its historic journey to reach the red planet.
Sports also makes an entry on the list with Sachin Tendulkar’s (@sachin_rt) Tweet, his touching tribute to the fallen Aussie cricketer Phil Hughes.
Top 10 fastest-rising Twitter hashtag trends in India
The fastest rising Twitter hashtag trends in India saw a mixture of sports, disasters and political campaigns. Conversations around the 2014 FIFA #WorldCup lead the trends followed by the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight #MH370. Meanwhile, #Mufflerman, a campaign led by the fans of the Aam Aadmi Party in support of leader Arvind Kejriwal, gathered momentum towards the end of the year. Indians tweeted about the Manchester United Football Club #MUFC and also supported updates and relief measures on the #KashmirFloods relief operations.
| RANK | HASHTAGS | DESCRIPTION |
| #WorldCup2014 | Refers to conversation around Football World Cup 2014 held in Brazil | |
| #MH370 | MH370 was a flight that disappeared on 8 March 2014 | |
| #MufflerMan | #MufflerMan refers to a campaign by Aam Aadmi Party | |
| #MUFC | #MUFC refers to Football fans following Manchester United Football Club | |
| #KashmirFloods | Update on JK flood relief operation by assisting the Indian army | |
| #QuitAAP | Public outrage against Aam Aadmi Party | |
| #IndvsEng | #IndvsEng refers to India vs England cricket match played | |
| #Results2014 | Information on the Lok Sabha elections results | |
| #IPL7 | Conversations around Pepsi Indian Premier League cricket tournament | |
| #AusOpen | Conversations around 2014 Australian Open |
Top 20 Most-Followed Indian Twitter accounts
India’s list of power Tweeters is unsurprisingly dominated by Bollywood stars, with apart from @NarendraModi, only film stars feature in the top 10 spots. Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) is in 15th spot and the current Indian star batsman Virat Kohli (@imvkohli) is right behind at number 16. Author Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) adds more variety to the list, rounding off the top 20 for India.
