New Delhi, July 10: The ministry of external affairs has also succumbed to the charms of the little bird. It has created a Twitter account and got several followers already.
In probably the first effort by a ministry to harness the new age internet tools, the Twitter account (twitter.com/Indiandiplomacy) was created on Thursday, which initially had only two posts. But through word of mouth, it got scores of followers.
A Facebook account is also being planned as is the launch of a new web portal by the public diplomacy division of the external affairs ministry, an official said. However, officials were not keen to publicise the effort, and termed it still a work in progress.
They said the new web portal would be interactive through the links to social networking sites, but refused to give further details.
The ministry’s publicity division had so far been involved in organising seminars on aspects of foreign policy in different parts of the city, with a view to take the foreign policy-making process closer to the people.
The former minister of state, Mr Shashi Tharoor, was an enthusiastic user of the tool, often using it for talking about foreign policy issues related to less glamorous aspects, like a visit to African nations. But certain tweets of Mr Tharoor generated controversy.
While several Indian government departments and ministries have had comprehensive websites, they have been all wary of using social networking tools.
There is one notable exception — the Delhi traffic police’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. It was launched two month ago and has become a runaway success.