Social media has become important in India: Tharoor

Kochi: Along with its other incarnations like print and broadcast, social media, too, has become influential in the country, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Shashi Tharoor, said. Nobody can now ignore social media given the influence it exerts in politics, business and society, Tharoor said at the launch here of ‘Insight Media City (India) Private Ltd’, billed as the country’s first private media city. He said that although the present penetration level of Internet in the country was 12 to 13 percent, mobile phone access had touched 65 to 75 percent. With 4G services coming in, Internet through mobile phone would become cheaper and the influence of social media in all spheres, too, would increase, Tharoor added. Referring to the media city coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore at nearby Thiruvaniyoor, Tharoor said it was a unique combination of TV, education and digital zones among others. [caption id=“attachment_930697” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shashi Tharoor in this file photo. Reuters[/caption] Speaking on the occasion, noted television personality and Managing Director of the company, R Sreekandan Nair said the project would be completed in three years. Modelled on the mega media hubs of Great Britain, Dubai and Singapore, the project, promoted by business groups, will have state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology, he said. The media city would host seven zones including a television zone, an education zone (school of media studies) a digital zone and a free zone that will offer infrastructure and support services to multinational entities desirous of setting up an operations base in south India, he said. The school of media studies is supported and accredited by prestigious universities in UK and Europe. It will also offer workshops and programmes to budding politicians, public representatives and stakeholders wishing to acquire skills in media management and public relations, he said. PTI