How Elon Musk dominates everyday conversations and social media feeds of his Indian fans | Eye News,The Indian Express
Students, fresh graduates, entrepreneurs, IT professionals, gym trainers. Meet the followers of Tesla chief, space entrepreneur and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Sunday, Sep 25, 2022
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HomeEyeHow Elon Musk dominates everyday conversations and social media feeds of his Indian fans
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How Elon Musk dominates everyday conversations and social media feeds of his Indian fans
Students, fresh graduates, entrepreneurs, IT professionals, gym trainers. Meet the followers of Tesla chief, space entrepreneur and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Written by Vidhatri Rao
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Updated: September 25, 2022 7:52:45 pm
The most dedicated “Musketeer” community in India is on LinkedIn, with a member base of 23,579 followers (illustration: Suvajit Dey)IT MAY be a long shot but Gopi Gautham, a second-year engineering student at Chandigarh University, wants to invite billionaire Elon Musk as a speaker to his university’s Ted X event scheduled for this November. So far, he has made several attempts: first tweeting, asking Musk to “come to India where he has the largest number of fans”, then reaching out to his massive online followers in the hope that someone would put in a word to the world’s richest man.
So, why does he think Musk, his “inspiration”, would be a suitable guest? “Kuch na kuch to badlega hi agar woh aayenge (Something or the other will change if he comes to India)… there will be more job opportunities,” says Gautham. The 20-year-old who is trying to secure funding for an education-based Virtual Reality (VR) start-up and who sees Musk as an icon, says, “He works, falters, but does not stop working.”
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Co-founder of fintech company Paypal, owner of Electronic Vehicle (EV) car manufacturing company Tesla, spacecraft manufacturing company SpaceX, founder of infrastructure construction enterprise The Boring Company and co-founder of Neura Link and Open AI. The world’s richest man with a strange, mercurial Twitter presence, who decided to buy the platform and back out of the deal. The one with oft-criticised, grand ambitions to go to Mars. These would be common ways to describe Musk. But for Gautham and other fans such as Aditya, a 23-year-old intern in a tech company in Bengaluru, he is a “brilliant innovator, revolutionising the face of technology and changing the world.”
The South-Africa born billionaire has acquired a legion of fans from across the world, not just for his products but also for himself. In India, his admirers are mostly male, ranging from students, entrepreneurs, fresh graduates, IT employees to professionals. They can be found on social media, online communities and discussion forums. The most dedicated “Musketeer” (as they call themselves) community is on LinkedIn. The founder of the 23,579-member forum — whose description reads “Is Elon Musk your Role Model? If yes, please join” — is Pune-based Atul Veer, director of engineering at Medly, a pharmaceutical company offering digital services.
Rating: 5