Bhubaneswar, May 25: The higher education department today directed all government colleges to set up Facebook pages and Twitter handles.

Principals of all junior, degree, autonomous, vocational and Sanskrit colleges have been directed to open these pages. The department has also asked all its officials and college students to "like" its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dheodisha and follow the Twitter handle https:/witter.com/dheodisha to help them keep tabs on all the government initiatives, apart from details on e-admission and e-administration.

With this, the department became the first government body in the state to use social media to reach out to the students' community.

On May 21, chief minister Naveen Patnaik asked his ministers to improve the use of social media in every sphere of his governance.

"As you know, social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have reached every corner of the state and are mainly used by youth and students. So, the department is planning to reach out to students, parents, common citizens and colleges through social media to apprise them of government initiatives and updates on the student academic management system (SAMS) as well," said the department's additional secretary Prasanta Das.

With the commencement of admission into the junior colleges, the initiative is believed to help the students choose their college.

"These days, almost all students have got a Facebook account. It would be good if there is a Facebook page for the colleges where we can check the kind of events they hold on the campus and other student related activities. However, the pages should be updated regularly," said Renuka Mohanty, a first-year student of BJB Junior College.

The department has already launched a mobile application to assist students during the Plus Two admissions.

"The SAMS application, developed by the Odisha Computer Application Centre, for android phones has come in handy for many students. It contains information related to 1,523 junior colleges and 712 degree colleges," said an official.

"It also helps students know about their form status, college information and seat vacancies. Students can download the app from Google Playstore after it is activated," he added.