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Sunday, July 11, 2010 (00:35:30) |
| Tags : External Affairs, Twitter, Public Diplomacy |
Public Diplomacy Division of MEA comes close to people, joins Twitter |
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| New Delhi, July 11:In a novel initiative to reach before the people and make the communication process more transparent Public Diplomacy Division of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stepped into the social networking domain by joining Twitter.
This is the first time that Indian government has put an effort "to listen to the public and communicate to open two-way communication on foreign policy issues" as one of the tweets from the official twitter account @Indiandiplomacy reads. The prime intention of listening to what people want to say reflected from the official tweet, "Please let us know if you have a specific issue that you would like us to bring to the attention of our High Commission."
While talking to HeadlinesIndia over phone, PD division chief Navdeep Suri clearly stated that the ultimate objective behind coming to Twitter is to speak, engage and connect with the people and share latest information on foreign policies. Pointing out the need for building a common platform for interaction, Suri added that people glued on to Indiandiplomacy account on Twitter will get to know about the benefits offered by the Ministry and receive first hand information on "foreign policy issues from Indian perspective."
When asked about the upcoming initiatives of MEA, Suri asserted, "We plan to have a public diplomacy site up and running, which will be connected to all the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook etc. We will create a space in the site wherein people can post their feedbacks, comments. This will help us to connect with the people in a better manner."
The Chief of the Public Diplomacy Division feels that other ministries should follow suit since Social Media is a powerful tool to engage with fellow citizens.
Suri further asserted that Ministry of External Affairs wants to utilize social media tools to increase people participation and get their reactions. Ever since Indiandiplomacy made its presence felt on Twitter on 8th July, it received a positive response with Indians and tweeples outside India pouring out their suggestions and complains through their tweets.
The official twitter account has already got 1,130 followers under its name.
The very effort by MEA received admiration from all quarters with some of the supporting the idea of coming "so close to the people" Some were even seen questioning Indiandiplomacy as to "why does India not allow dual citizenship?"
Talking about the mechanism the ministry is expected to follow, Suri added, "We are already getting good response from people and they are coming up with suggestions and feedback. It may not be possible to resolve all the issues but yes we will forward the feedback and complaint to the right persons in the ministry so that these are taken up in a suitable manner."
With such assurances coming straight from the External Affairs Ministry, it is a clear indication that government should take such initiatives in future. |
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