iWorld
#ConversationStarters: Women leaders share how Twitter is helping shatter gender stereotypes
Time and again, Twitter has facilitated women with an open, public space to raise their voice, leading to massive movements that have brought about ground-breaking changes in society, especially in the workplace. With movements like #MeToo, #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer and #LahuKaLagaan the service has brought forward various issues concerning women. Brands such as Uber India, Ariel, among others, have also addressed and championed women-focused causes through pioneering campaigns on the service.
To manoeuvre this dialogue further, Twitter Marketing India (@TwitterMktgIN) hosted another episode of #ConversationStarters with Guneet Monga (@guneetm), CEO of Sikhya Entertainment, and Sairee Chahal (@Sairee), Founder and CEO, SHEROES, about how women are rallying change and breaking barriers.
Sairee (@Sairee), who often shares recommendations of accounts to follow on Twitter, mentioned that her favourite account is @WordWhispers and called it her happy Twitter place. “I follow tons of interesting people and Twitter is like my little oasis to find very, very interesting conversations.” she said.
Welcome to Episode 9 of #ConversationStarters
We are with @Sairee, Founder and CEO, @sheroes, film maker @Guneetm and your host @MitaliLive, as we chat about gender roles, the challenges and how to overcome them.
Join the conversationhttps://t.co/djVTYnVTB8
— Twitter Marketing IN (@TwitterMktgIN) August 20, 2020
Speaking about how the pandemic has impacted women, Sairee commented that having to manage workload with household chores and the effect of the slowing economy is taking a toll on women’s lives. However, she mentioned that digital consumption has increased considerably and this will have a huge impact on a lot of women-related issues such as mobility and income generation. Entrepreneurship among women is a real deal now.
For Guneet (@guneetm), Twitter is her medium of staying connected with the happenings of the world. “I consume news through Twitter. It allows me to filter a lot of rubbish that is thrown at us. So you can just follow people you love. I get my piece of dosage from them which is credible and which I know can be trusted. So it's almost like you have to dive into what you want rather than stuff that is just put out there for you.”
Guneet, who has been making waves in the global film space through women-centric stories, sounded positive and optimistic regarding the role of women in her industry. “For a long time, men have run the industry. I see a power shift, a narrative shift, an equation shift. It's now cool to be a part of women led stories. Films have now ramped up in putting women stories out there. What we collectively need to do as an industry is amplify women voices as creators and not limit them to just telling women led stories.”
While both Sairee and Guneet agree that women have made significant strides in society as well as in work settings, they also believe that there is still a great distance to be covered for women to actualise their potential and resourcefulness. They feel digitisation, social mobility through internet access, and strong support systems from the government will catalyse this growth in the right direction. In line with this view, Twitter plays an integral role in bringing together women as a community, and allowing an open forum of discussion, debate, as well as a window into the changing dynamics of the world.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
