While Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Narendra Modi were the biggest newsmakers of 2013, scandals like that of Tarun Tejpal and Uttarakhand floods sent shockwaves across the nation. Here’s a roundup of trends that captured the digital and social media
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BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi or NaMo as he is being increasingly referred to, predictably tops the ‘Newsmaker of the Year’ list, dislodging last year’s contender Arvind Kejriwal.
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For a nation obsessed with cricket, 2013’s ‘Biggest Cricketing Moment’ was our very own ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar hanging up his boots. The historic moment had the nation in thrall, and of course netizens read, shared and searched all they could on one the cricketer. In the midst of all the emotions and the IPl controversies, Virat Kohli continued his stellar run to establish himself as the ‘Cricketer of the Year’.
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Finance and economics ruled several debates this year. Raghuram Rajan, the newly appointed Governor of Reserve Bank of India, topped the finance newsmakers list. The politics of policies seem to be on the minds of netizens with the Food Security Bill, the land Acquisition Bill and the Pension Bill featuring in the ‘Most Widely Discussed Financial Events Online’. The Top Newsmakers list featured another surprise entry with CNR Rao, head of the Prime Minister’s Scientific Advisory Council, whose Bharat Ratna award and the ensuing row on the comment on politicians ‘nonchalant attitude towards science’ earned him his space in the lime light.
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‘100 years of cinema’ was a historic milestone for India and earned the top slot in online searches on Bollywood Moments, followed by Pran’s demise. Other newsmakers included Kamal Hasan’s magnum opus Viswaroopam. Chennai Express created box office history, helping Deepika Padukone to emerge as one of the top Bollywood newsmakers of the year. Sunny leone continued to hold sway as the most-searched celebrity in the second year in a row.
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Users searched for offbeat destinations, along with the usual suspects placing Tranquebar at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
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In the gastronomic world, Tarla Dalal’s death became the most searched event. There was a huge curiosity for recipes by contestants of MasterChef India Season 3.
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The country loved tweeting about cricket this year, with some of the top trends including #ThankYouSachin, #IndvsAus and #IPl.
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Twitter also provided the second screen for TV fans as they tweeted along in real time, sharing thoughts with fellow viewers across the country. Programmes such as #BB7, #ThePerfectBachelor and #KoffeeWithKaran ranked highly.
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It is also the place people turned to discuss breaking news, from international events in Syria and Egypt, to the devastating Uttarakhand floods and cyclone Phailin.
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Prominent voices from across the world of entertainment, sports and government joined Twitter in 2013, including Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor), Sridevi (@SrideviBKapoor), Saina Nehwal(@NSaina), Sourav Ganguly (@SouravGanguly) and the Indian Army (@adgpi).
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Here comes a surprise in search for games, Angry Birds, Spiderman and Pacman were defeated by games like Temple Run, Stick Cricket and Chota Bheem.
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IGNOU was the most searched university followed by Annamalai University, University of Rajasthan and JNTU, Hyderabad.
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Indigo Airlines seems to have struck gold among netizens. We don’t bet over reasons why Air India becomes the second-most searched airline followed by SpiceJet and Jet Airways.
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Whatsapp, UC browser, Opera mini, Google maps, Skype, Dictionary and Wechat are the most popular mobile
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Trilogy trailers of superhero Krrish, Dhoom 3 with Aamir khan and a comedy short film in Telgu titled viva took the top slots of the trending videos of the year.
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Comedy Nights With Kapil, Top 10 best catches in cricket history, MTV Roadies and made for web content Gangs of social media kept the audience glued to YouTube in 2013.
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Indians watched Krrish 3 Trailer more than 19 million times, making it the top trending video of 2013.
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Short films with social message too found audience on YouTube. The Viva (with English subtitles) by Sabarish Kandregula, The Girl and The Autorickshaw and The Day After Everyday were the popular ones.
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Spoofs like Gangs of Social Media, Emotional Atya-Charge and Gana Wala Song tickled the funny bone.
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Racing spirit ruled the gaming segment as Asaphalt 6 topping the chart and Motocross featuring among top five downloads.
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Mythology inspired kids gaming trended with about 130 per cent more downloads than cricket. Rs 1 store also witnessed a similar trend.
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Indian hearts no longer beat for item numbers, they now love to hum romantic numbers. Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui 2 and Saans from Jab Tak Hain Jaan top Bollywood Hello Tune downloads.
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Indians are upping the ante on English song preferences as well, 4 times Grammy award winner lenny Kravitz’s 1995 hit Can’t get you off my mind tops in the English song category.
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Desi girl Piggy Chop’s international hit Exotic was among the Top 5 downloads in the English song category