Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The BJP-led central government, facing tough challenges from the opposition on various fronts, has decided to further enhance the impact and outreach of all ministries in the masses through wider usage of digital platforms across various social media.According to a letter issued to all ministers, as part of ‘Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsava’, at least two personal staffs of all ministers, who used to handle the digital platforms of social media on behalf of the concerned ministers or their ministries, would be trained on the wider applications of various digital platforms of social media at a workshop, scheduled to be organised on December 4 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).“Today, digital communication is one of the major sources of information dissemination of government. It is requested that two members from the minister’s personal staff and social media teams may be nominated to attend the workshops on December 4 on improving the impact and outreach of governmentcommunication”, stated the official communication issued to the ministers.
The decision to equip the staff and social media teams of the ministers with the latest developments in the fields of social media-driven communication has come at a time when the parties in opposition are putting challenges and questioning the government’s claims on achievements and policies through digitalplatforms of social media, including Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and others on a war-footing level ahead of the next 2024 LS elections.
The trained staff or members of ministers’ social media teams will also be trained on various modalities for effective outreach in the masses through almost all digital platforms of social media.
As per the letter, written by MyGov CEO Abhishek Singh, IAS, to all ministers’ offices, the presence of social media teams of the ministers at the workshop will go a long way in promoting the civic engagement of the government.
The important dignitaries and industry partners of government will also give a keynote address on the wider usage of social media at the workshop after conducting interactive sessions and panel discussions.
As a conservative estimate, more than 150 staff and members of ministers’ social media teams will be trained further on enhancing government outreaches to the masses. At present, there are 78 ministers in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government including the Prime minister.
A larger chunk of the Indian population spends more than 3 hours daily on social media with a rise of internet users to 624 million. “ So keeping the emerging larger population connected with the social media as an important mode of information dissemination in today’s rapid digital advancements, the government would like to enhance its outreach and influence sharing achievements and policies with the people”, said a staff of a minister, preferring anonymity.