M&C Saatchi Launches First Ever Book of Tweets for Ubud Writers and Readers Festival with Twitter Indonesia

Indonesia doesn’t read enough. According to The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Indonesia ranks 72nd among 77 countries measuring scholastic performance of students’ 15 years of age. In another study by Central Connecticut state University titled “World’s most literate nations ranked”, Indonesia ranked 60 among 61 countries in terms of reading interest.

Changing media habits of youngsters, especially the adoption of social media and streaming content, have further reduced their interest in reading.

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival started a crusade to promote interest in writing and reading 18 years ago, and continued its relentless efforts even during two years of the pandemic. In 2021, they carried out the festival under the theme ‘Mulat Sarira’ (SelfReflection).

To engage with a younger audience and create interest in writing and reading, M&C Saatchi Indonesia partnered with Twitter Indonesia to carry out a social media activation, where people could contribute with stories in a single Twitter thread. M&C Saatchi then handpicked 70 contributors, and curated over 270 tweets into a book, titled #TheThreadStory.

Anish Daryani, founder & president director, M&C Saatchi Indonesia, said: “Many of us discovered the joy of reading early in our lives. But sadly, today's youth has been deprived of the pleasure of reading life-changing stories due to the emergence of streaming content, social media, click baits, and microblogging. The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has been trying to encourage writing and reading for eighteen years, but their voice wasn't being heard. So, at M&C Saatchi Indonesia, we decided to change that by getting under the skin of today's youth. We harnessed the popularity of microblogging and asked netizens to contribute their stories in a single thread on Twitter. We then curated hundreds of tweets to compile this book, #TheThreadStory. We're thankful to Twitter Indonesia for their support in coming onboard as a partner and to the hundreds of people who contributed to the first-ever crowdsourced book of tweets. We will be eternally grateful to Janet and her team for being the flagbearers of Indonesia's literary fraternity. We hope #TheThreadStory may have inspired many young netizens to pick up their first book and fall in love with reading.”

According to Janet De Neefe, founder, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival: “Over the past 18 years, the festival has grown from humble beginnings into one of the region’s most important literary and cultural gatherings. During this time, we hosted more than 2000 authors and artists in 4 days of vibrant discussions and dazzling events across Ubud and Bali. #TheThreadStory is our latest initiative in collaboration with M&C Saatchi Indonesia team with the mission to inspire more young Indonesians to appreciate writing and reading and for the festival to reach a larger audience. The value of reading, writing, and education cannot be underestimated, and we know that a community that observes these pillars of knowledge flourishes in many ways.

"This collective journal reflects our 2021 festival theme, “Mulat Sarira” or Self-Reflection in English. Drawn from a local philosophy, it is the spiritual principle of examining our actions, thoughts, and values to ultimately build the deepest sense of self-understanding, wisdom, and interconnectedness in pursuit of Dharma, the truth. #TheThreadStory delved into the heart and soul of this theme from thoughts and relationships to Ubud and the impact of Covid that resulted in a moving collective memoir for this year. I am thrilled with the outcome of #TheThreadStory and hope that we can continue to join hands with young writers and readers across Indonesia. Maybe on the way, we will also discover many new voices that need to be heard, fulfilling our dream to provide opportunities for the future writers and readers of this extraordinary archipelago. I wish to extend a huge thanks to Anish Daryani and the M&C Saatchi Indonesia team and also to Twitter Indonesia for making #TheThreadStory happen. I look forward to working together for the 2022 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival!"

Several distinguished personalities joined the conversation. Bpk. Ridwan Kamil (@ridwankamil), Governor of West Java Province, Indonesia, tweeted his story, and invited his friends to join the conversation.