Twitter today launch @TwitterThailand; a dual-language Twitter account for Thailand to keep people, partners and brands connected with #WhatsHappening in Thailand and around the world. From entertainment to sports, TV to live events, conversations on Twitter in Thailand are diverse. With major news stories such as Covid-19, Thai festivals such as #Songkran and pop culture moments generating spikes in conversation; Twitter usage in Thailand continues to grow across a broad demographic and interest-range incorporating entertainment, music, sports, gaming, food, beauty and much more.

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/TwitterThailand/status/1260382447386021888

Twitter has become an important part of Thai people's everyday lives. It’s a place where people Tweet about the latest movie or TV drama, where people follow sports and Tweet about their favourite teams. It’s a place where safety is prioritised and open conversation happens alongside breaking news stories, social trends and what’s the hottest tune at that moment in time.

Arvinder Gujral - Managing Director, Twitter, South-East Asia said “Thailand is a key market for Twitter in Southeast Asia and we're very excited to launch @TwitterThailand today. The power of Twitter is its audience; they have a discovery mindset, are influential and are incredibly passionate. With @TwitterThailand, we are looking forward to connecting with our Thai users, sharing what’s happening and engaging in some stimulating and locally relevant conversations.”

#WhatsHappening in Thailand in Q1 2020

Conversations on Twitter reflect the moment and what people are talking about real time. Like a global focus group, Twitter is an encyclopedia of opinion over time and across cultures. Twitter data for Q1 2020 shows that while conversations around Covid-19 in Thailand spiked in February 2020, we see other conversation topics growing significantly. Conversations around cooking, travel, technology and sports all showed double digit growth in Q1 2020 ; with the largest growth being conversations around gaming.

Twitter’s Proactive Efforts with Partners in Thailand

Over the past 12 months; Twitter has partnered with a number of Thai-based NGOs, as well as government departments and ministries on community initiatives:

•  Women’s Empowerment
• Women's Global Strike campaign - Originated by Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) is a global campaign for women to go on strike on International Women's Day. More than 95 organisations spread across 42 countries have officially signed up for the campaign. We provided training and support on how to use Twitter effectively for nonprofits.
• Twitter Webinar for UN Women - We provided a regional training webinar to the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok on how to use and campaign on Twitter effectively, including during crisis and emergency, and shared updates on Twitter's rules and policies. Other offices who attended included UN Women Thailand, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal. 
• Press Freedom 

Twitter continued to partner with the Manushya Foundation (@ManushyaFdn) to amplify their work on freedom of expression with our Ads for Good grant. Manushya Foundation participated in #ThankAJournalist movement during #WPFD2020 and worked restlessly to provide accurate data, track down misinformation and disinformation, as well as to fight for democracy, justice and free speech in Thailand and around the region. 

• World Mental Health Day

As part of Twitter's work around World Mental Health Day, Twitter partnered with Samaritans of Thailand (@Samaritans_Thai) to launch the #ThereIsHelp notification service for suicide and self harm in Thailand. Twitter recently hosted a Q&A session with @Samaritans_Thai to shine a light on mental health during these challenging Covid-19 times.

•  Covid-19
• Launched a Covid-19 Search Prompt in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health (@pr_moph) and the Covid-19 Centre (@Covid19Thailand) - the prompt points people to both Twitter accounts, as well as providing the hotline number for the Department of Disease Control - tel: 1422.
• Launched ‘Event Page’ feature to spotlight credible Covid-19 information from authoritative sources ensuring Thai people have access to the latest information from expert sources.
• To see all of the latest steps Twitter is taking in response to COVID-19, you can visit covid19.twitter.com. We’ll keep this page updated as our work continues.

“We want to be a valuable partner to Thailand, and @TwitterThailand account will help further deepen our engagement with the Thai community,” added Gujral.

 Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/Samaritans_Thai/status/1256167393832779777

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/BeePunnakanta/status/1227457580299096064  

Special Thai-themed Emoji for @TwitterThailand Launch

To celebrate the launch of @TwitterThailand, a special Thai emoji of two Thai children wearing traditional dress and waiing is activated. The emoji will appear automatically when the following hashtags are used:  #สวัสดีทวิตเตอร์, #ทวิตเตอร์ประเทศไทย, #ยินดีต้อนรับทวิตเตอร์ไทย, #สวัสดีทวิตเตอร์ประเทศไทย, #SawasdeeTwitter, #TwitterThailand, #WelcomeTwitterThailand, and #HelloTwitterThailand.

To keep up-to-date with #WhatsHappening in Thailand, follow @TwitterThailand and join in the conversation by Tweeting with one of the hashtags above.