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Now, Shah Rukh Khan is just a phone call away
MUMBAI: In this era of social engagement with audiences and fans alike Bollywood‘s King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, takes one step ahead to reach out to his fans and become the first celeb to enable all his Indian fans to ‘Dial to follow him on Twitter‘.
Riding on the success of Chennai Express, in response to the love and affection shown by his fans worldwide SRK announced a groundbreaking global integration with Twitter India and ZipDial in which everyone living in India can follow and engage with him on Twitter via SMS.
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Effective immediately, anyone with a mobile phone in India can follow @iamsrk on Twitter by dialing (or giving a missed call) at 09015500555. The experience works for 100 per cent of mobile users in India on any phone, any operator network and is completely free, irrespective of whether they have a Twitter account or data-enabled phone.
On calling the number this is the text message that is received – Thanks for dialing. Enjoy my Tweets by SMS. To reply to me or see my photos, just follow me on Twitter. Love, Shah Rukh Khan; followed by his latest tweet.
Commenting on the integration, Shah Rukh Khan said, “I have always believed in the power of technology and use it in various ways to further my connection with my audience. In recent years, Twitter has been a magical place for me to engage with my fans. I hope all my fans in India will avail this new service to connect with me. I thank ZipDial and Twitter India for helping me inaugurate this innovation and help bring together my entire national audience who don‘t access Twitter. Very soon I hope to also expand this to multiple countries, languages and platforms.”
Twitter‘s India market director Rishi Jaitly said, “Twitter is the world‘s leading real time information network where hundreds of millions of people follow the people and organisations that interest them. In India, Twitter among other things brings our users closer to their favourite stars and icons. We are pleased to see Shah Rukh Khan and ZipDial use the Twitter platform in this way.”
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
