Minister for Information & Broadcasting, M Venkaiah Naidu has said Social Media is a powerful tool to fulfil the communication needs of the Government and implement the vision of the Prime Minister “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”. It is also an important medium to bring about transformational change and act as a catalyst for the emerging “New India”. Instagram as a communication platform for Government would be like a Rainbow to visualise the Story of Emerging New India. The Minister mentioned this at the inauguration of the “Workshop on Instagram for better Government Communication” here today. Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Frank Noronha, PDG-PIB and senior Officials from Ministry and PIB were also present on the occasion.Emphasizing on the role of Instagram, Shri Naidu said that the medium has become an appropriate place for the Government to visually engage with citizens and other stakeholders and communicate with a new generation of digital users. Quoting the old maxim “A picture is worth a thousand words”, he added that the colours of India, through its diversity celebrated through festivals, cultural practices, region specific dresses could best be experienced through visual images. He emphasized that Prime Minister himself was very active on social media and is the most followed World Leader on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Elaborating on the opportunities and challenges of social media in Governance, Shri Naidu said that social media provided actionable intelligence and inputs to policy makers, in order to aid them in making better decisions. On the other hand, it has also raised the expectations of citizens from the Government’s across the globe. In the new digital age, citizens would not be content with just information but also its promptness and the manner in which the information has been communicated. Social Media today shape actions and has become agenda setter for debates on News channels and Papers. He added that in the new world, the way people are communicating with each other is changing, and for governments to be successful, they should seek to match that evolution with their own efforts to communicate in new ways.The Minister mentioned that that Government of India was working hard to institutionalize the creative and systematic use of social media within Government, in order to better tap into the promise of this tool in advancing the cause of good governance.The workshop organized jointly by Press Information Bureau & Instagram was the first such workshop organized by Instagram in Asia. The workshop aimed at exposing the Government Officials to various features and applications of Instagram Platform for better Government communication and outreach on social media.