Lagarde taps Facebook, Twitter to bolster her IMF campaign

Tapping online resources to boost her campaign for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief post, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will personally answer questions about her bid through Facebook and Twitter tomorrow.

After whirlwind tours of India and China to drum up support for her candidature, Lagarde would on Thursday hit popular social networking site Facebook and microblogging site Twitter.

The front-runner to become the next Managing Director of the IMF, Lagarde would respond to questions for one hour tomorrow, according to her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

"Christine Lagarde will answer your questions via Facebook and Twitter tomorrow [Thursday, June 9]...," a Facebook post by her team today said.

"An hour is not a long time! So in order to make the most of it, we will take your questions in advance. The minister will answer them personally," it added.

Lagarde already has 70 tweets on her Twitter page about her campaign and has over 1,900 followers.

She would be answering questions between 7 pm and 8 pm Paris time (10.30 pm to 11.30 pm IST), the Facebook post said.

After her India campaign on Tuesday, she is today in China.

The last date for applying for the IMF Managing Director's post is June 10.

During her day long visit to New Delhi, India did not commit support for her candidature. Lagarde has been backed by Europe for the top IMF job, which fell vacant after the ignominious exit of Dominique Strauss-Kahn following sexual assault charges against him.

Another candidate in the fray is Mexican central bank Governor Agustin Carstens.