5 popular engineers on Twitter

Twitter originally started as an internal service for Odeo employees, entered the public domain in 2006. This social networking website recently celebrated its eighth birthday on March 21, 2014. For most of us, Twitter is the place to be primarily because it has slowly and steadily become a medium for breaking news, meeting interesting people as well as to have insightful discussions.

We used to hear that engineers hated social media but we are now going to give you a list of engineers who not only try to tweet regularly on a variety of topics ranging from politics to sports and entertainment, but are known to have a huge fan base as well.

People like you and me regularly sign in to know what they feel about the important events taking place in the world. We spoke to some such people to find out what they think about their presence on Twitter.

Ashok Krish

Twitter Handle: @krishashok

Twitter description: Blogger, Columnist, Meme starter, Amateur Multi-instrumentalist, Podcaster, Madras liker, Crow lover, Jalsa & Jilpa, Paruppu Usili connoisseur

Join date: Feb 2007

Followers: 27.2K

Tweets: 38.8K

Having completed his graduation in electronics and communication from Delhi Institute of Technology, Ashok Krish currently works as the head of an innovation lab that focuses on social networks and gamification for a large IT company. But that’s not what we want to talk about here. What we want to emphasise here is the sharp wit, linguistic skills as well as hilarious artwork this engineer manages to create. Talk to him about any topic under the sun and he may reply back with a quick insightful answer but with a tinge of humour in it.

We went ahead and asked him what he feels is the reason that people click with him instantly on social media and he replied by saying, “I have a lot of hobbies. Writing, music, visual media etc and I use social media as a vehicle for sharing what I do to inspire myself to get better at these”.

He is currently following 352 handles on twitter some of whom are Suo Motu, Style Guide, History in Pictures, Open Culture etc.

The Local Tea Party

Twitter Handle: @localteaparty

Twitter description: The pen is mightier than the sword and all ok, but don't try to fight with a pen. Otherwise there will be ink all over you.

Join Date: April 2011

Followers: 9082

Tweets: 42.1K

Okay, so no one knows who is the man/woman behind the handle – localteaparty and he or she likes it this way. Running a blog by the same name (The Local Tea Party), this anonymous person is the best when it comes to talking about any topic in a humouristic manner. Most people who follow this blog as well as the Twitter handle end up saying that they haven’t laughed as hard as they did after reading the posts/articles they came across on The Local Tea Party.

A pass-out from University of Madras, the person behind this popular handle/blog says, “I say very normal things like an ordinary person and so a lot of people can connect with it”. These days most of the posts on this handle are on the elections and reflect that our very own anonymous writer is a responsible citizen of our country and we are extremely proud of you for this!

Twitter handles he likes to follow are Sidin, Krishashok, Dagalti and Nayakgirin.

Arunabh Kumar

Twitter Handle: @TheQtiyapaGuy

Twitter description: Founder & CEO - http://TheViralFever.Com (TVF), Filmmaker, New Media Entrepreneur

Followers: 5181

Tweets: 364

The enigmatic man behind India’s first youth network – The Viral Fever – is Arunabh Kumar an IIT Kharagpur graduate. Having worked with the Red Chillies Entertainment in 2009, Arunabh produced a pilot show Engineer’s Diary. In 2010, he started The Viral Fever with a friend and that is how they got started with producing the ‘Qtiyapa’ and ‘Rowdies’ series. Within the first 18 months of the launch they managed to pull in around 200,000 subscribers, which is an achievement in itself worth applauding.

Fairly new to Twitter, Arunabh feels that, “Having moved around the country as well staying in a college hostel with fellow students, helped me develop a better idea of what people think, say and want,” and this is why he says, he is able to connect better with the larger audience.

He avidly follows Twitter handles such as Faking News, All India Bakchod, Mashable, James Franco among others.

Ashish Shakya

Twitter Handle: @stupidusmaximus

Twitter description: Stand-up comic. Humour columnist for the Hindustan Times. Writer, 'The Week That Wasn't', CNN-IBN.

Followers: 39.7K

Tweets: 21.8K

We went around hunting for information about him and came across his blog stupidusmaximus and even the “about me” section got us laughing. We further read some of his recent posts such as Clothes Maketh A Man, Shopping Destroyeth Hi; Chicks, Vodka, Fancy Car , Abki baar Honey Sarkar; Boys Will be Boys Will be Bachelors etc and understood why all this craze is around him and his work.

An alumnus of BE Telecommunication and Engineering from University of Mumbai, Shakya at present is a member of All India Bakchod and has scripted shows for channels including the likes of MTV, Channel V, CNN-IBN, Bindass and SAB TV.

He is following 602 handles on Twitter some of which are Robert Downey Jr, Shashi Tharoor, Style Guide, Alice in Counderland etc.

Ramesh Srivats

Twitter Handle: @rameshsrivats

Twitter description: Armchair thinker, excessive drinker, occasional writer, wants to be lighter.

Join Date: November 2008

Followers: 182K

Tweets: 16.1K

A B.Tech in computer science and engineering graduate from IIT Madras, Ramesh Srivats went on to join IIM-A for his masters. He has more than 20 years of experience in brand building and idea management. Currently working as the MD & CEO at TenTenTen Digital Products Private Limited, Ramesh Srivats is quick to share his thoughts and actions as they happen on Twitter. After voting at the general elections in his constituency he was quick to share a “felfie” of himself, which we feel is quite innovative.

He is presently following 213 people on Twitter some of whom are Ashutosh, Arvind Kejriwal, Vikram Chandra, IPL Fantasy League, ANI etc.