Bihar Government Asks Districts To Increase Social Media "Followers"

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar is intent on improving its social media presence and districts with negligible activity on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter are getting a rap on the knuckles.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the “not up to the mark” performance by certain districts in improving their social media presence, the Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD), has directed officials concerned to pull up their socks and highlight the achievements and welfare measures of the Bihar government on different social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

Officials concerned have also been asked to remain active on these platforms and take the initiative to increase the number of "followers".

“Efforts should be made by district PRD officials to reach out to everyone and every social section by increasing the number of followers on the social media platforms of their respective districts”, said the minutes of a session recently held by the IPRD department.

The minutes, accessed by PTI, flagged a decline in the social media outreach of Araria where the number of followers on the district administration's Twitter handle dropped “from 12,899 in March 2023 to 11,009 in April 2023".

Besides, districts like Siwan and Jamui, despite adding nine and seven followers, respectively, during the same period, did not still have their total numbers in double digits.

Other districts called out for adding a less than satisfactory number of followers were Aurangabad (11), Sheohar (17), Madhepura (25), Lakhisarai (27), Kishanganj (55), Sheikhpura (64), Bhojpur (64), Arwal (67), Sitamarhi (68), Khagaria (74) and Madhubani (87).

The capital district of Patna, on the other hand, stood at the top with 1,341 fresh additions, followed by Nalanda (566), East Champaran (304) and Muzaffarpur (270).

As far as Facebook was concerned, 14 districts in the state failed to add a single new follower on their respective pages. These were Gaya, Banka, East Champaran, West Champaran, Rohtas, Saran, Samastipur, Khagaria, Darbhanga, Lakhisarai, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Purnea and Buxar.

Madhepura lost 100 followers in April, down from 5,100 followers in March, while Begusarai, despite adding eight new ones, did not yet have its total number of followers in double digits.

Patna stood at the top here again, with 2,000 additions in April, followed by Gopalganj (1,000) and Vaishali (1,000).

According to the minutes, district officials concerned have also been asked to make a list of "social media influencers" of their respective areas and send it to the IPRD headquarters.

Senior IPRD officials were not available for comments despite repeated attempts. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)