For some time, Indian stars have appeared on various media platforms, including YouTube and Blackberry messenger, to reach out to their fans. This week it was the turn on media giant Google to host Shah Rukh Khan and his co-star of his upcoming film Ra.One, Kareena Kapoor.
“Google+ users joined the hangout with Shah Rukh Khan, both through their mobile phones with G+ apps, as well as the web,” said a Google spokesperson. Though Google had faced technical problems in getting all the 10 lucky fans chosen for the hangout into one chat, SRK was kind enough to allow for multiple chats, which were conducted in groups of two. For those who were not chosen but friends of someone who was, the day became luckier as they were also able to be invited into the chat. SRK tweeted about the issues saying “Already at google hangout…come on guys kareena is waiting….waiting to chat with u all” as he was eager to talk to his fans.
SRK’s Google page boasts a following of 48,000 and each fan looked to have their turn at speaking with the star. One fan, Rupinder Gill wrote, “I want to hang out with you. Please choose me. I’m your biggest fan. My mic, camera, Google voice & video plug-in (sic) is already installed.” There was some disappointment as fans discovered that only a few
were allowed to speak to the star. As soon as the stars official page updated to “heard that i’ll be hanging out with some of u only. but the team is trying to ensure that the rest of u can watch me live on my g+ page. see you at 3” some fans commented on their frustrations as many were lead to believe that the chat would be more readily available like those conducted on YouTube in the past. While some were frustrated, others like Saubhagya showed their appreciation for the chat writing “it was really great while they were talking with people. They were amazing but i didn’t have a chance anyway better luck next time though i was bit sad but also happy that at least i got to see him doing really nice
things. hope his movie do well. he is great.”
Although the site, which is in its infancy, attracted a large amount of activity during the chat, Google+ will look to strengthen its appeal to its audience. Although SRK’s Google page has a following of 48,000, this is very short of his Twitter following. “Twitter’s popularity can be attributed to its early celebrity presence, as we all know how popular the social network has become,” says Google. Although no comments on the issue have been made, it is expected that Shah Rukh Khan will team up with Google in the future to reach out to his fans again as he is the only Indian star to have an official profile, although Google looks to attract more in the future.
