Indonesia – To engage with a younger audience and create interest in writing and reading, independent agency network M&C Saatchi Indonesia has partnered with Twitter Indonesia to launch a new social media activation, where people could contribute with stories in a single Twitter thread.
The initiative is in line with Indonesia’s annual literary festival, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, under the theme ‘Mulat Sarira’, which in English translates to ‘self-reflection’.
According to M&C Saatchi, the new social media activation has handpicked 70 contributors and curated over 270 tweets into a book, titled #TheThreadStory. It aims to promote the importance of reading to Indonesians, as the changing media habits of youngsters, especially the adoption of social media and streaming content, have further reduced their interest in reading.
Anish Daryani, M&C Saatchi’s founder and president director for Indonesia, shared that the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has been trying to encourage writing and reading for eighteen years, but their voice doesn’t seem to be heard, which made them decide to change by harnessing the popularity of microblogging.
“We’re thankful to Twitter Indonesia for their support in coming onboard as a partner and to the hundreds of people who contributed to the first-ever crowdsourced book of tweets. We hope #TheThreadStory may have inspired many young netizens to pick up their first book and fall in love with reading,” said Daryani.
Meanwhile, Janet De Neefe, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival’s founder, noted that this initiative is drawn from a local philosophy, and is the spiritual principle of examining people’s actions, thoughts, and values to ultimately build the deepest sense of ‘self-understanding’, ‘wisdom’, and ‘interconnectedness’ in pursuit of Dharma, or “the truth”.
“I am thrilled with the outcome of #TheThreadStory and hope that we can continue to join hands with young writers and readers across Indonesia. Maybe on the way, we will also discover many new voices that need to be heard, fulfilling our dream to provide opportunities for the future writers and readers of this extraordinary archipelago,” said De Neefe.
Dwi Adriansah, the country head of Twitter Indonesia, commented, “Through #TheThreadstory, we encourage people to share their creativity in creating a book using a new way, which is through Threads. We hope this initiative helps people to rediscover their passions in literature.”
The book launch was live-streamed from Indus Restaurant in Ubud, Bali, on Ubud Writers and Readers Festival’s Instagram page.
