The use of social media in bettering governance is a relatively new concept for our government but those few departments who have tried it are not only very happy with the experience they want to expand its use to the maximum.

Participating in a panel discussion, on Friday, PN Ranjitkumar, director of India Post, said how two years ago the department tried to use the social media to reach out to those who were not using the postal services. One year later, it led to developing a grievances redressal mechanism with remarkable results. Now he plans to develop a blog for “deeper and more meaningful engagement” with the people.

Same with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It opened a facebook account to involve citizens in its effort to keep Delhi clean. In a matter of months, more than 2,000 designated garbage collection points are now being monitored with the help of this platform. As additional commissioner of MCD Anshu Prakash said, the civic body would start monitoring cleanliness of the public urinals from May.

The Delhi Traffic Police is yet another government agency which had a pleasant experience. Started in the run-up to the CWG 2010, the department wanted to use the social media to elicit suggestions, share thoughts and report traffic violations but such was the success that soon the department wanted to inform people about the traffic conditions of the day. Joint commissioner Satyendra Garg commented that going by his experience, use of social media in improving governance would succeed only if the department was committed to transparency and committed to take people’s point of view into its functioning.

The ministry of external affairs is another one to use social media to great use, especially in organizing evacuation of stranded Indians in Libya. Under secretary Abhay Kumar noted that the ministry was planning to create a rapid response team given the huge response it was getting from people.

The planning commission too began using facebook a few months ago to bring in “participatory planning” by eliciting and incorporating ideas thrown up by the civil society and ordinary citizens. Harsh Srivastava, a consultant to the planning commission, said there had been a flood of suggestions and the plan body was now trying to figure out how to use them while preparing the approach paper top the 12th plan.

Rodrigo Beccera Mizuno, MD of Microsoft’s e-government worldwide project, had the last word. He said how governments in the Middle East had described the social media as a passing fad when he approached them over a year ago, adding how he hoped they had not dismissed it thus.