The Indian Idiot: News like its coming directly coming from a friend

Charansh Juneja

In the age of pandemic, when everyone's newsfeed is being constantly bombarded with grave happenings around the world, it's no wonder the youth feels overwhelmed. However, The Indian Idiot, a popular youth community, is drawing the spotlight with its innovative ideas of publishing news for the younger audience.

Six years into building a community, The Indian Idiot strongly holds a fan- following of over 750k on Instagram and 1.2 mn on Facebook. It's recent initiative, ‘News you may or may not have missed today' started out as an idea to create an easy-to-digest newspaper for students on social media. The curated news comes in a fun, positive, and byte-sized version so that it feels like a story being told by your friend with pop culture and meme references. Even the heavy and hard- hitting news is covered with a sense of sensitivity, which makes it easier to consume.

Hailed as "GenZ ka Newspaper," they curate news across their own made-up categories like "mildly interesting," "for the lulz," "wholesome," "yeh bhi theek hai," etc. The news post goes live at 11 pm every night under #AajKyaHua hashtag on their Instagram page and it's read by over at least 150k people daily!

The Indian Idiot, a part of TII Media, started out as a Youtube channel 6 years ago, but it has now grown into one of the most active youth communities on social media in India. Particularly on Instagram, where its bio reads "Home of the youth," their team of over 20 people shares content across all categories; from informative to entertainment, and social issues to mental health.

"With growing interest in memes, adhering to traditional news format has led to a standstill among young adults. The attention of the youth is constantly tilting towards easy-to-digest & unconventional news platforms. Plus, the pandemic is already a difficult time for everyone, and seeing grave news flash on your feed only amps up the anxiety. This is why we wanted to create a space where everyone could consume news on what's happening in the world, but with a tinge of humor & positivity. People should stay updated, not overwhelmed," says the 25-year-old founder, Charansh Juneja.

Aiming to expand their community, they have recently launched their server ‘The Idiot Home' on Discord. Just three months into it, they have an active community of over 20,000 people there. It's a place where people actively interact with each other over text and voice channels all day.

Charansh adds, "I grew up with extreme social anxiety. I didn't have any friends in school because I couldn't express myself confidently. But I found my home online. I made friends, I joined communities, and I could be myself. It changed my life.

Ever since then I've always wanted to create a similar space for people. A community that could be a home to people online."

The Indian Idiot has also worked with brands like Netflix, Zomato, SonyLiv, Dharma Productions, Amazon Prime Video, One Plus, Tinder, OYO, Vivel, Lakme, McDonald's, Max, Times Now, and many other ace players in the digital space.

Having garnered a huge following, it is now planning to expand to new digital properties across pop culture, social issues, literature, & mental health.