Delhi bloggers meet offline to discuss issues, gadgets

They shared Twitter handles instead of visiting cards, clicked pictures with their smartphones and tablets, and blogged about the evening using their Blackberries.

Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook were even more abuzz.

"(It was) good to put faces on so many blogs I have read," blogger Shivya Nath wrote on her Twitter page.

"Delhi bloggers were eagerly awaiting an IndiBlogger meet to connect offline with those who they virtually interact with often," said the organiser, Kathik D.R. Of IndiBlogger.

"We wanted to make it worth the wait and as expected, the bloggers showed a great energy at the meet. It is always great to host Delhi bloggers, who come from diverse backgrounds and interests and yet make for a very strong community," he added.

"Bloggers rarely get a chance to know the people behind the blogs they read. IndiBlogger meets beautifully fill this gap and give us all the opportunity to know fellow bloggers better and share thoughts and ideas," blogger Prateek Shah said.

"Spice Mobiles acted as the best partner there could be, giving away so many free phones," Shah, who won two, added.

Blogging has been one of the most popular online activities, where a person, called a blogger, can create and post content online, which can be read by everyone on internet.

The meet, hosted by renowned tech journalist Rajiv Makhni of NDTV, started with a discussion on the security mechanisms available in smartphones based on Google's Android mobile platform.

Bloggers of all shapes, sizes and ages came to take part in the meet. However, the biggest surprise was a boy who won a mobile phone for being a blogger at 7.

The relevance of the discussion was evident as Google's Android looks set to overtake Apple as the largest platform for smartphones in near future. However, the platform is considered vulnerable to online attacks by hackers or viruses.

Later in the evening, blogger and magician Karan Singh presented a 20-minute magic act.

During the break, the participants converged on Makhni with their tech queries, a large number of them asking for his verdict on superiority of the latest smartphones. The gadget guru voted in favour of Samsung's Galaxy S-3 smartphone.

IndiBlogger, one of the largest communities of bloggers in the country, hosted the event with Indian mobility company Spice Mobiles.

The meet also provided the perfect opportunity to Spice for launching its new 'Stellar' range of Android smartphones, which the company labelled as serious competition for market leaders Samsung and HTC.

Towards the end, the meet turned into a free-for-all quiz contest with the questions ranging from the inventor of the Walkman to gadgets used by James Bond. The people with correct answers won Spice smartphones as prizes.