Each Has His Own Way of Entertainment
When you hear the word ‘entertainment’ what comes to your mind – television, movies, sporting events, drama, or a party ? Well! People have their own favourites.
Some like to see ‘Big Boss’ on the colour channel, while others prefer ‘Indian Idol’, and there are those who prefer a knowledge based show like ‘Kaun Banega Carorepati.’ At the same time, there are also those who like to see sportsmen in action. They take trouble to stand in long queues for hours to watch the IPL finals.
But this is not what the majority of people prefer. Their definition of entertainment is simple. It should be available to them 24x7x365. They should literally carry it. This is where Indian social media comes into the picture. Over the years, the mode of entertainment has changed.
People now spend more time at home or at the office. And since the pandemic made its appearance, almost everyone is imprisoned within the four walls.
How Social Media Became a Source of Entertainment ?
Social media initially came as a platform to connect with your long lost school friends who got separated with the passage of time. They either shifted to another city, or you settled in another place. You never imagined to see them again, but social media did just that.
Once you discovered your childhood friend on Facebook, you wanted to share a lot of stories, anecdotes, and incidents with him. There were many pictures from important events of your life such as when you cleared your class X board exam with flying colours, when you purchased your first smartphone, when you got your first motorbike, and when you got selected for the IIT. There were many moments that you wanted to share with your best friend.
Gradually, people started spending more time on these social media channels. They found there are a lot of things they can do to entertain themselves. They can watch standup comedy by Raju Srivastava, they can watch Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ video on YouTube, and they can also watch the highlights of the Soccer World Cup.
Watching Videos
People keep on posting interesting and informative videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For instance, if you missed the ‘Indian Idol’ final, you can always watch it on Facebook, or YouTube.
If you had gone for a party on Sunday evening and missed the latest ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ you can still catch that episode on YouTube, or any other channel. You can watch interviews of your favorite singer or the film star.
Sometimes, you get to see legends of yesteryear who are no more. You cannot imagine how a Kishore Kumar, or a Dev Anand fan would feel after seeing their idols talking in a video. These videos may have been recorded long ago, but you are still able to enjoy them because of these social media channels.
You also get to see interesting videos of forest and wild animals on channels like Discovery and Animal Planet. It’s really exciting to see how a tiger chases its prey, and how a bison scares off a lion. These videos are so engrossing and entertaining that you spend hours watching them.
Watching Important Events
In the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, social media was an important source of giving updates and news about various events. It was exciting to see India’s Mirabai Chanu winning the silver medal.
And when Neeraj Chopra won India’s first ever Gold medal in the track and field event, the social media was exploding with record traffic. Everybody wanted to witness that historical moment when a 23 year old young man from Haryana threw his Javelin more than 87 metres. And there was no better platform than social media to watch that event..
Again on the 15th August, when Prime Narendra Modi stood on the rampant of Red Fort, people watched this event on Twitter. When the Taliban seized Kabul, people all over the world first watched this on Twitter. It also showed the pictures of how Afghani men, women, and children were Jostling at Kabul Airport to board inside planes.
Engaging with Celebrities
Instagram is the favorite channel of celebrities. Whether it’s a Bollywood star like Priyanka Chopra, Dipika Padukone, or Ranvir Singh, or Hollywood A-listers like Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, or Anna Hathaway, they are all on Instagram. Besides, they also have millions of followers who religiously follow their icons, and anxiously wait for their latest photographs or videos.
Celebrities too know that to maintain their popularity, they need to engage frequently with their fans. Sometimes, a lucky user also manages a reply from these celebrities. The channel is also used for uploading promos of latest movies.
People often get free entertainment through these engagements, and celebrities get a much-needed promotion of their next movie. There is a lot of curiosity among common people about the private lives of celebrities. And Instagram is one platform that keeps feeding them with such videos,