India Social: How Social Media is Leading the Charge and Changing the Country

'As a pioneer in the age when social media has become India’s new political pulpit and argumentative town-square, Ankit Lal is perfectly poised to chronicle India’s transformational tryst with Twitter and Facebook and whatever comes next.’ – SHEKHAR GUPTA, senior journalist and recipient of the Padma Bhushan

‘This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how social media has shaped India in the past decade.’ – ARVIND KEJRIWAL, chief minister, Delhi

In India Social, social media activist and influencer Ankit Lal takes a deep dive into India’s biggest social media campaigns and analyses how, in just the last ten years, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp have changed the way Indians engage with politics, popular culture and social revolution.

From the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which unleashed the potential of the medium, to the 2012 #IndiaAgainstCorruption protests; from the rage-filled Justice for Nirbhaya movement to the citizen-driven

fight for a free Internet with the #NetNeutrality campaign; from the controversial #AIBRoast to WhatsApp becoming the primary tool used to spread the agenda and ideology of major political parties – India Social unravels, for the first time, the behind-the-scenes stories of the most influential social media movements of the past decade.

Incisive and insightful, India Social is the story of how they began, why they spread and the way they have reshaped democratic life in India.