Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated the the 'Social Media Outreach & Communication: National Workshop on Management and Best Practices' organised by Ministry of HRD for various educational institutions and organisations in New Delhi today.Nearly 200 Social Media Champions from various Centrally funded educational institutions participated in the workshop. Principle DG, Press Information Bureau, Shri Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, Joint Secretary, Department of Higher Education Smt Neeta Prasad; Joint Secretary, Department of School Education, Shri R.C Meena; Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau, Smt Nanu Bhasin and other senior officials of the Ministry of HRD were present on this occasion.Speaking on the occasion Shri Pokhriyal said that sharing of knowledge and information is very important in today’s world. It is the duty of every institution to promote their good work through various media platforms. He said that social media is a good tool for this purpose and social media champions have a very important role to play in building and maintaining the image of their organisations by highlighting their achievements which have relevance not only for the country but the whole world. The scale and quality of research, innovations and new studies taking place in IITs, IISERs, IISc etc cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, the HRD minister explained.Shri Pokhriyal further said that social media champions will help to ensure improvement in the perception of the institution locally, nationally and globally. In QS rankings and other international rankings perception about the institute carries marks and Indian institutions are losing out on that front. The social media champions play a major role in improving perception, he explained.
He further said that purpose of the workshop is to bring the social media communication and outreach of various institutions under one umbrella and to open a channel for day to day communication and dialogue. Social media has become a powerful tool to connect, interact and collaborate. Use it as a tool for enhancing performance by improving delivery of services and convert the image of the organization into a brand, he added.He said that we are here to take social media champions to next level and I believe this workshop will do that. He added that the information and tips you get to know here by experts, participants have to use them and prove that they all are real social media champions. He also promised to felicitate and reward best social media champions at national level.During the first session of workshop Chief Executive Officer, MyGov, Shri Abhishek Singh guided the participants regarding strategies of social media platforms for Government Communication. Principal DG, PIB explained the support which can be extended to social media champions by PIB in highlighting their achievements. Addl. DG, PIB, Ms Nanu Bhasin in her introductory speech gave an overview of the programme and the broad purpose of bringing together the social media managers of various educational organisations of HRD ministry. Social media expert Smt. Gayatri Deshpande briefed participants about best practices of social media.In the second session ADG, Social Media, PIB, Shri B. Narayanan guided the participants about the Challenges of social media. Advisor to HRM Dr. Rajesh Naithani in his session briefed participants about Initiatives and Campaigns of Ministry of HRD. All the participants received a participation certificate at the end of the workshop.