There is a “Swadeshi” version of Twitter called ‘Tooter’, and it is heavily inspired by the famous microblogging site. Tooter is ‘Made in India’ and branded as the ‘Swadeshi Andolan 2.0’. First established in July 2020, it is only now that the app has suddenly started gaining attention.
While the platform’s colour scheme is very similar to that of Twitter, its layout and interface is a cross between Twitter’s look and Facebook’s timeline. The website is gaining popularity due to its pitch as a Swadeshi alternative to Twitter, and it is aided by the fact that the similar interface of the platform is easier to use for people already familiar with social media. The platform follows the same mechanics as Twitter where a user can create an account with a @username and email address, follow other accounts, read through a feed populated with posts from other accounts, as well as customise groups and lists.
The app is very similar to Twitter, except that instead of tweets, users share ‘toots’ (instead of tweets). Its posts are called toots. Tooter has a web application as well as an Android app on the Google Play store, but is missing from App Store for iOS devices as of now. Account creation on the platform is similar to that on Twitter and is based on username. Once in, users can follow other Tooter users, and view their posts on the feed. The logo is a white conch on a blue background, much like the white bird on blue background logo of Twitter.
