India's Foreign Policy A Big Draw On New And Social Media

Colourful photographs on the latest diplomatic events are constantly uploaded as are interesting photo features and articles on any major event. It has seen a more than doubling of visitors since Modi came to power, with the figure at present standing at more than 26 million.

Its section on documentaries is gaining in popularity, with a new documentary uploaded every week by the Public Diplomacy Division of the ministry. The current documentary 'Bridging Worlds: A Meeting of Minds: The Story of Indians in The United Kingdom' has got over 1,400 views on its YouTube channel.

"Social media has added to the conventional utility of the website, the links posted on Twitter and Facebook have expanded our outreach," Akbaruddin said.

During Prime Minister Modi's major visit to the U.S, the spokesperson's Twitter handle was a constant source of news and updates of what the prime minister was doing or who he was meeting. The twitter handle and the website saw a huge number of visitors during this time.

"Whenever we cover the prime minister's events on social media, we get a huge number of hits, including from people not interested in foreign policy," he added.

The MEA page has a section devoted to its flagship magazine, India Perspectives, with the latest issue on Durga Puja, while there is another section 'Distinguished Lectures' where lectures by retired diplomats are posted.

It has a separate section on Minister Sushma Swaraj and also links to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest 'Make in India' campaign, Swachch Bharat and not forgetting the most important Consular, Passport and Visa division of the ministry.

The MEA has from earlier this year also started issuing all its press releases in different regional languages - Assamese, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam - to meet the demands of a growing band of regional language media personnel who cover the briefing.

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