PMO gets 32,000 followers in days, even as it tweets only press releases

Manmohan Singh’s office at 7, Race Course Road, may not entertain thousands of visitors every day, but activities on the prime minister’s virtual workplace on Twitter is buzzing, with a little more than 32,000 followers keeping a tab on his administrative actions.

It was last week that a change of guard happened in the prime minister’s office with the appointment of senior television journalist Pankaj Pachauri as communications advisor. Many knew then that this could trigger certain changes in the way the PMO would like to reach out to the citizens — with new-age communication tools.

In fact, it marked the debut of the PMO on a microblogging site. Yes, on Twitter. In a few days, it managed to garner 32,038 followers.

The PMO’s Twitter account, Twitter@PMOIndia, had posted 12 tweets by January 28. Though a late entry into the world of tweets, the PMO had seen 7,000-odd followers within hours of its debut. The list of followers includes a motley of people ranging from journalists, businessmen, government service employees and academicians to random people.

All this, when the tweets posted by Singh’s office merely talk about official press releases so far — and lack personal touch. It is a far cry from similar cases elsewhere. For instance, the Twitter account of the Japanese prime minister’s office (JPN_PMO) posts links of premier Yoshihiko Noda’s blog.

Communication analysts believe that it could be to avoid controversies that the PMO is playing it safe by posting routine press releases on Twitter. Yet, not all are convinced.

Ethical hacker Ankit Fadia says such a pattern shows lack of understanding of the vibrant medium, reducing its vast scope to a platform to disseminate press releases. “People handling this PMO account don’t take Twitter as a medium,” shrugs the computer security expert and author of How to unblock everything on Internet!. “Twitter is not a formal communication medium. It’s a platform where the PMO can bounce off an idea, interact with the public at large or share views on certain developments.”

“It (Twitter) is an interactive communication platform, where there would be critics — people who may not agree with your viewpoint,” he adds.

Maybe it is a case of once bitten, twice shy. A couple of years ago, tweets posted by then minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor had drawn serious criticism from various quarters, including his Cabinet colleagues. Crucially, in many of his controversial postings, it was Tharoor’s secretary, Jacob Joseph, who was posting tweets on his boss’s behalf. It was Joseph who had put up Tharoor’s pictures travelling in economy class on his Twitter page during the ‘cattle class’ controversy.

Communication specialists believe one of the triggers behind the PMO’s entry into Twitter could be the success of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaigns. The social activist’s fast and similar agitations in the national capital saw the use of new-media tools like SMS, Facebook, Twitter and blog. It even prompted a few in the government, including Law Minister Salman Khurshid, to openly acknowledge the superior way Team Anna handled their communication.

According to Supriyo Gupta, managing director of Digilogue Communications, the PMO’s Twitter mission is a “quantum leap for a “largely uncommunicative” prime minister. “See, 140 characters are not ideal for communicating deep reflection,” adds the head of Digilogue Comm, which helps businesses, organisations, groups and learning communities exploit Internet technologies.

The PMO’s latest tweet talks about “innovation for transportation”. It says the PM fast-tracks inland waterways investments.

On January 27, while uploading the press release simultaneously on the Press Information Bureau, the PMO tweeted about the constitution of an expert committee on sugar under C Rangarajan.

The earlier posts talked about the meeting between the prime minister and neighbouring Myanmar’s visiting foreign affairs minister Wunna Maung Lwin. The first two tweets were on the national awards for bravery function at Singh’s official residence. It also had links to the prime minister’s speech made on the occasion and photographs of the event.

The PMO had also tweeted best wishes to the nation on the Republic day.