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Governments are not generally the most nimble in responding to public grievances. But it seems that with more and more people using social media to publicise their grievances, governments have finally woken up.
Facebook seems to have recognised this need and decided to tap the opportunity.
The US-based social media giant has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage governments and official to open Facebook pages to disseminate information quickly. It is also helping various government departments weed out unofficial pages and merge relevant ones. This will give Facebook an opportunity to have engaging discussions on its pages, bringing in more advertisements.
Training programmeAs part of this initiative, Facebook organised a training programme for Telangana government officials on how to use the platform to communicate with the people.
After the one-hour session, a government official asked advice on how to deal with trolls.
“We will help you in setting up the pages. But what kind of content you post and how you respond to the comments and queries is up to you. We are not going to suggest strategies for your Facebook content,” Nitin Saluja, Policy Programs Manager (India and South Asia), has said. Konatham Dileep, Director of Social Media (Government of Telangana), wanted the officials to think a minute before posting a photo or some information. “You can post whatever information on your personal account. But when it comes to official pages, you need to exercise restraint. There is no hurry to post something. Think for a while on the likely consequences,” he said.
Saluja said the company has talked to about 3,000 officials from various governments, including the IAS trainees at Mussoorie, telling them about how to use the platform. Officers belonging to Press Information Bureau and Information Officers were also covered.
App for External Affairs“We have launched an app for the Ministry of External Affairs, making it easy for Indians in various countries to get in touch with the relevant embassies,” he said.
Saluja said the response was good. “A good number of Chief Ministers have taken to Facebook. The governments have realised the importance,” he said.
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