Meet Allahabad's Internet sensation, Govind Tiwari

Internet makes heroes of unusual people. On Monday someone tweeted a link to the blog of some Govind Tiwari. Within a matter of hours, the little-known teenager from Allahabad was an Internet sensation. In an interview, Tiwari tells us more about himself and that he had no clue about his fame till he read about it in the papers on Wednesday.

On the morning of Wednesday, Govind Tiwari woke up wondering why on earth every single person in his phone book was trying to reach him.

As it turned out that morning's Dainik Jagran had a photo of his on the front page and a turn to page 5 where an article mentioned about his rather unusual achievement.

If you are on Twitter you'd probably know that Govind Tiwari is no ordinary man.

Tiwari was number one on Twitter's trending topics and number 5 worldwide! The reason? This: http://govindtiwari.blogspot.com/

Someone tweeted a link to this blog with its gaudy and awful-as-hell design, not to mention his blinking photographs and even a picture of Obama watching his picture on television.

By the time someone somewhere said 'Govind Tiwari', the link went viral and by Monday afternoon practically everyone on Twitter had noticed his work of genius.

Tiwari's blog tells us that he maintains at least 11 other blogs, most of which for some reason are 'under maintenance'. He has an Orkut page, a Facebook profile and even a Twitter handle, with just one tweet.

Websites such as Pluggd.in have stopped short of calling him a marketing guru suggesting 'this could be a case study for brands who are spending dollars in social media to look at paid versus organic creativity'.

The article continues, pointing out 'Govind Tiwari reinforces a belief that there aren't any set rules for marketing -- so stop wasting time and start experimenting'.

According to a blogpost on Firstpost.com, Tiwari 'could have made over $35,000 (Rs 1.5 million) in Google ad revenues yesterday (Monday) with the traffic he got on his page'.

The blogpost concludes by asking the questions everyone's been asking: 'So who is Govind Tiwari? An 18 year old having fun from his home somewhere? A hacker who managed to game the Twitter trending engine? A marketer who has managed to capture the collective imagination of people trawling social media channels?

As it happens I spoke with Govind Tiwari over the phone and he is none of the above.

He is just another small town kid, living in Phaphamau, which Wikipedia tells me is 'a satellite locality/township of the city of Allahabad' and turns 19 next week -- on July 27.

Speaking in Hindi, Tiwari tells me that he is quite happy, even pleasantly surprised by the sudden attention he's received, though he's rather miffed by media reports which suggest that he plans to take his 'blinking photograph' off the site.

Are you aware that a lot of people on the Internet are talking about you?

Yes. I read about it in the newspaper on Wednesday.

Which paper was this and what did it say?

The Allahabad supplements of Dainik Bhaskar and I Next. It said 'Allahabadi chokrey ka kamaal'.

On Wednesday morning when I woke up, I saw that there were a lot of missed calls. When I called a friend back, he told me that my photo was in the newspaper. I called back another friend. He also told me the same thing.

(Another paper) said that I was unhappy about what happened. It isn't true. I hadn't even spoken to anyone from the paper. People have just been writing incorrect things. Someone said I was from Jabalpur (whereas) I am from Allahabad.

So when did you create this blog?

It was about one-and-a-half year ago. Two years ago I was learning computers and six months into my training I heard about (the concept of a) blog.

I had learnt Java and HTML and I wanted to put into practice what I had learnt. So I experimented on the blog.

It was just a game just a childish attempt at creating something.

Us samay ek junoon tha. Abhi bhi hai (I was very passionate about it then and remain so now).

What have you studied?

Till my eighth grade I was living with my naani (maternal grandmother) in Mohanganj and studied in some school (he does not remember the name of the school) there.

In grade nine I joined Bharat Scout and Guide Intermediate College and I completed my Inter examination (Grade 12) two years ago.

After that I joined a computer course (in a local institute).

That was where I developed an interest in computers. Now I teach fundamentals of computer DOS, Windows and Internet.

Can you tell us something about your family?

I have a younger sister who's just completed her Inter this year and a younger brother who is still in high school.

My mother is a housewife and my father runs an electric (and hardware) store.

What did your parents have to say about all of this?

They didn't know what it was about. My father asked me what was going on. I explained to him. He was very happy about it.

Have you got a lot of friend requests on Facebook and Orkut after your blog was a hit?

Yes! I think there are 30 friend requests in my Orkut account and about 20-25 requests on my Facebook page.

What about twitter? Have you heard of it?

(Long pause) Yes. It is a social networking website where people write what they feel like. I have an account there as well -- govindtiwari.

Have you thought of what career you want to take up?

Yes. I want to complete my BCA (Bachelors in Computer Application) and (pursue) a career in computers.