Bhubaneswar, May 4: Social media and messaging platforms are proving to be a huge attraction for politicians, bureaucrats and government departments in the state.

An increasing number of politicians are joining Facebook and Twitter to connect and interact with public, the latest entrant to the virtual world of Facebook being none other than chief minister Naveen Patnaik on May 2.

After joining Twitter last year, Naveen, who has a whopping 37,600 followers on the site, seems to be finding the tool helpful in being in touch with the public.

At a party meeting on March 27, Naveen ensured that all the participating MLAs of the BJD get an account opened on either Twitter or Facebook. Around 60 members joined social media at the meeting, while more than 100 BJD politicians are present on social media, claimed a party source.

"The social networking platforms provide forums to interact with public, especially the youth. The followers can even be kept informed about various development initiatives taken by the government. Since the MLAs and ministers keep busy, they have been advised to give the responsibility (of opening and managing their social media profiles) to social media managers if they can't find time or find the things technologically difficult," said BJD general secretary Bijay Nayak.

Only a few BJD politicians, such as, Baijayant Panda, Arun Sahoo, Akash Das Nayak, had Twitter handles earlier. Now, some more BJD leaders have made themselves available online. But, the new entrants are yet to acquaint themselves well with the virtual world. Their inactive social profiles indicate that they are not yet ready, technologically or otherwise, to make their presence felt on the social media. Information technology minister Pranab Prakash Das' tweets largely consist of retweets of the CM's posts, while there are several profiles of veteran politician Damodar Rout, some of them being fake.

The Congress and the BJP also claim to have acknowledged the importance and power of social networking. "We are not yet forcing our party members to use the social media. But, the Congress gives importance to social networking and we have profiles of our party's state office. Also, our senior leaders, such as Narasingha Mishra, Prasad Harichandan and Ranjib Biswal, are active on social media," said state Congress general secretary Sulochana Das.

Taking inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter presence, some of the state BJP members have also become active on social media. "We are present on applications, such as Twitter and Facebook. Not only our state unit, but our youth and women's units also have accounts on social networking sites," said Samir Mohanty, state BJP vice-president. BJP leaders K.V. Singh Deo, Basant Panda and Union ministers from the state, such as Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, are active on Twitter.

WhatsApp boon

In another development, the water resources department is preparing a booklet of WhatsApp conversations among its officers which reportedly helped the department in working effectively in the 2015-16 financial year. Fast and effective communication through WhatsApp among officials of the water resources department helped in monitoring and completing projects in 2015-16, said a department official.

"We have various WhatsApp groups to discuss various aspects of our works. Engineers at the sites, no matter from which district they are, convey to us their technical difficulties through pictures and messages. We guide them instantly on WhatsApp. The junior-level employees keep in touch with their seniors through other groups on WhatsApp and so the network of communication among department employees has become stronger. Now, work is being done more effectively than ever," said engineer-in-chief of water resources department J.B. Mohapatra.

The department has various WhatsApp groups for drainage, minor irrigation, lower Mahanadi basin, mega lift and so on. Each group will submit their conversations of the last financial year for the upcoming booklet.

The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police is also present on various social media platforms to interact with the residents of the twin cities.