“The Indian social media scene represents a fast-emerging and influential domain of information exchange involving nearly 60% of the 83 million Internet users in the country,” according to a recent report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center.

Indian public attention to social media was galvanized by the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, “when citizens became instant journalists, tweeting from their mobiles what they saw.” It was reinforced by online political activity surrounding the May 2009 national elections. Social media are also employed by commercial enterprises, political dissidents and separatists and almost everybody else.

A copy of the report was obtained by Secrecy News. See “OSC Media Aid: Overview of Leading Indian Social Media,” Open Source Center, December 21, 2010.