Hyderabad: One would imagine that a gathering of bloggers would largely be about the nuances of writing for the Web. But the fourth edition of the Hyderabad Bloggers Meet, held in the city on Sunday, was more than just logging in, and publishing a rant. So many city bloggers turned up that the crowd were literally spilling out of the room at Saptaparni.
With the likes of Saurabh Chatterjee of Saddhaq fame, the founder of Blend of Tea, Subhorup Dasgupta and social media expert Venkataraman Ramachandran as the speakers, there was definitely scope for a higher ‘internet learning’.
And the high turn-out at the event is an indication of Hyderabad’s evolving social media and entrepreneurial scene. Take 26-year-old Vamshi Bandi, for instance, a low-profile blogger and a professional adman who was there to pick up some tips to help his start-ups. “I have a blog where I publish short stories and poems. This meet interested me because I am working on a start-up and I wanted to get some pointers on optimising content online.”
Hyderabadi blogger Venkataraman Ramachandran, meanwhile, is confident that these platforms are crucial. “They give a face to the digital content that so many people are reading. I love storytelling and I am here to speak about it. While Vekataraman is careful about having “no illusions” of a future where citizen bloggers grow into a credibile alternate for news, Subhorup is pretty confident of the scope. “There is anger amongst the general public about the mainstream media and the awareness on agendas is growing. So yes, blogging is going to encourage the voice of the common man,” he explains.
Also, one of the organisers of the meet and non-profit publisher, encouraged by the attendance on a Sunday morning... hopes the meet gets bigger. “The idea was to make it a platform for amateurs and professionals. This will get bigger and we’re sensing the emergence of a social movement. Bloggers are finding space in print too,” says Nivedita N., of Nivasini Publishers and an organiser of the meet.
