Kolkata, Feb 21 (UNI) In this age of social media when most people post or communicate in English, the importance of one's mother tongue has not been lost on many platforms.
There are innumerable online sites offering vernacular content.
ShareChat, India’s own social media platform, is available in 15 Indian languages.
Though International Mother Language Day is celebrated on February 21, ShareChat did the honours a week earlier on Valentine's Day with #loveforlingo. The platform witnessed immense excitement among the users who poured in their love for their mother tongue.
February 21 has been recognised as International Mother Language Day since 2000. The day was first recognized in November 1999 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and later welcomed by the UN General Assembly in 2002.
India, being a nation of 22 official languages with over 6000 dialects, remains relevant to the core of International Mother Language Day.
Nationally, ShareChat created more than 30,000 UGC (user generated content) across eight Indian languages with #MyMotherTongue #LoveMyLanguage. The posts received 25 million views and shared over 2,00,000 times on WhatsApp. About two million users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc., as per a statement shared with UNI here by ShareChat.
The sentiment analysis indicates the users' love for mother tongue and takes pride in speaking in that language.
In Bengali over 2000 (user generated content) got created that received three million views and shared over 20000 times on WhatsApp. About 120000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc. Mostly trended with #BhashaDibosh
More than 3500 UGC got created in Hindi that received 4 million views and shared over 40000 times on WhatsApp. About 150000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc.
In Tamil more than 2000 UGC got created that received 4 million views and shared over 25000 times on WhatsApp. About 100000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc. The numbers for Telegu was over 1000 (user generated content) that received 0.5 million views and shared over 5000 times on WhatsApp. About 30000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc.
More than 3500 UGC got created in Punjabi that received 1.2 million views and shared over 15000 times on WhatsApp. About 150000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc.
In Gujarati more than 2000 (user generated content) got created that received 2 million views and shared over 18000 times on WhatsApp. About 90000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc., while in Malayalam over 5000 UGC got created that received 3 million views and shared over 10000 times on WhatsApp. About 120000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc.
Lastly in Kannada more than 2000 (user generated content) got created that received 1 million views and shared over 10000 times on WhatsApp. About 50000 users engaged with the posts with likes, comments, favorites etc.
Meanwhile, Helo, another popular regional social media platform, has announced the launch of a comprehensive campaign - #MeAndMyLanguage, to celebrate ‘International Mother Language Day’ 2020. The six-day long in-app campaign will run across all 14 Indian languages available on the platform, entailing interesting elements to celebrate the occasion with its vibrant community.
With a mutual endeavour of enabling a multilingual internet, while digitally empowering millions of people, Helo has also joined hands with FICCI-ILIA (Indian Language Internet Alliance) to host a Webinar which will be Live Streamed on Helo.
'Language is not just a means of communication but a device that provides identity to individuals and the community. We are extremely happy to partner with FICCI-ILIA and celebrate the diversity of Indian languages on this special occasion with our users. As a platform with a truly Indian soul, it is a constant endeavour to enable best possible resources of building a multilingual internet, especially for the new internet users,' Raj Mishra, Head of Creator Strategy and Growth, said here yesterday.
Elaborating on the association and the campaign, Dr. Ajay Data, Co-Chair, ICT and Digital Economy Committee, FICCI and Chairman-Universal Acceptance Steering Group said, 'Understanding the importance of the occasion of “International Mother Language Day” FICCI-ILIA is happy to partner with Helo and also work with all stakeholders to bring the next Billion Indic-internet users online with a vision to develop language inclusive internet for all. We are glad that this occasion gives us the reason to once again strengthen the cause of developing a multilingual internet and helping millions of people become digitally empowered.'
The initiative is a part of Helo Care, a community empowerment initiative by Helo. As a part of the campaign, Helo invites users to delve in the beauty of their language with the hashtag #MeAndMy (name of the language) between 18th and 24th February 2020. The campaign unfurls a number of activities for the users to partake in and one such activity is the in-app quiz with hashtag #HeloOffBeat. Ten winners who truly understand the gist of regional language will win exciting prizes.
The campaign is slated to be concluded with a webinar on February 24, underpinning the importance of native language, in bridging India’s digital divide. Some eminent industry experts and esteemed dignitaries from academia and the government are expected as the panelists of the Webinar. Scheduled to be a one long session, hosted in Hindi and English, the webinar will be hinged on the premise of ‘Linguistic diversity and multilingualism on Internet in India’.
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