iWorld
Twitter and Rolling Stone India partners live Twitter music gigs called #RollingWith
MUMBAI: Twitter India and music monthly Rolling Stone India has teamed up to kickstart a new bi-monthly partnership. Called #RollingWith, this curated partnership will see Indian indie musicians and visiting global acts perform live at the Twitter India #BlueRoom, and the performance will be broadcasted live on Periscope via @RollingStoneIN to reach fans across the country and the world on Twitter. Prior to and during the performance, the artists will also engage with fans on Twitter via exclusive video Q&As and more.
Taking fan engagement from online to offline, a small set of fans, selected via Twitter, will also be invited to watch the gig live at the #BlueRoom.
These ‘music-and-conversation’ video sessions will give music fans a new way of enjoying live music – with a side of social media infused banter. The series will aim to discover new artists, and offer a space where musicians and fans meet, talk music, and enjoy a nonchalant listening session. To make it a more inclusive experience for fans, artists will crowdsources lyrics, take a Twitter poll of their favourite tracks, make new album announcements, new tour announcements, share gig travel stories, or chat with fans live on Periscope while performing.
The #RollingWith partnership kickstarted today with British pop sensation, The Vamps (@TheVampsband) that took place live on Twitter on Monday morning. The September and October line-up also includes artists such as Urdu rapper Naezy (@NaezytheBAa), Sandunes (@sandunesmusic), and Mumbai rapper Divine (@VivianDivine), Nucleya (@NUCLEYA) and Dualist Inquiry (@DualistInquiry).
“Twitter is your live connection to culture, and fans flock to Twitter to share and connect with their favourite artists and other fans. We are thrilled to bring new experiences for music fans exclusively on Twitter with #RollingWith in partnership with Rolling Stone India. Through this initiative, we will be hosting curated performances from Indian indie artists and visiting global acts both on Twitter and live at the #BlueRoom, and will also give fans an opportunity to engage with their favourite musicians in new and unique ways. #RollingWith will feature both known and emerging artists to support the growing local music industry,” says Twitter head of media Partnerships, Southeast Asia Pratiksha Rao,
Rolling Stone editor & publisher Radhakrishnan Nair, India says, “Rolling Stone India is committed to the cause of supporting artists as well as providing them with a platform to interact with their fans directly. We are happy to join hands with Twitter India for #RollingWith, which is a unique and exciting project in today’s social media-driven industry. We hope #RollingWith will go a long way in building and fostering an interactive community of musicians and fans.”
The gigs will go live on @RollingStoneIndia on Twitter and Periscope, and will reach audiences across the country and the world via Twitter. For regular updates on artist line-up, follow @TwitterIndia and @RollingStoneIN. Follow the conversation with #RollingWith.
The Vamps (@TheVampsband) at the first #RollingWith Twitter gig
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
