Facebook to help govt reach out to public

Ever since the Modi government took over, the government’s media strategy has come in for a major change as it tries to create a direct interface with the common man. As part of these efforts, an extensive training of officials handling social media accounts of government ministries and departments will be held by top Facebook executives on Friday. The conference on “Effective use of Facebook for government communication” will be inaugurated by the Union Information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu. The meet is also expected to be addressed by Global Politics and Government Outreach Director at Facebook Katie Harbath.

It is understood that the training is part of government strategy for better utilisation of social media platforms by government for dissemination of information to the people, a point often emphasised upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per the new media engagement policy, the government has completely overhaul the system through which it interacts with the common man and the media. Through such programmes, the government hopes to put into place a real-time response mechanism for information dissemination and senior officials from various departments are expected to be trained in the utilisation of social media for instant reaction during a crisis situation and information dissemination scenarios. Senior officials from various ministries are expected to be trained in the utilisation of social media in crisis management. Sources stated that the senior officials will be trained on how social networking site Facebook and other social media platforms can be used in various situations. The need for a training module of social media utilisation was felt as the government felt that it would be the most cheap and effective means of reaching out to the common man. The mobile density in India is amongst the highest in the world. Various ministries and departments have been instructed to “ensure a two-way interaction is established on social media platforms with quick response mechanism in place.”