Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Delhi Police to perk up Twitter, Facebook feeds

- Ananya Bhardwaj letters@hindustant­imes.com n

@MumbaiPoli­ce: “Joey doesn’t share food, least you can do is not share personal informatio­n online. Love your password like your pizza #AFriendsAd­vice” @DelhiPolic­e: “Same passwords across accounts is a disaster in waiting #cybersafet­y.” Which tweet are you likely to share? The Delhi Police now plan to catch up with their Mumbai counterpar­ts, who have made witty tweets, hilarious posts and pun filled campaigns their forte over the last few months.

To make its social media handles more “quirky, trendy” yet relevant, Delhi police will hire profession­al social media watchers, who will manage their otherwise dull content. “Rationale is to use social media as a medium of broadcast for larger reach. If the content is interestin­g and trendy, it will have a wider reach. The purpose is to make sure it is read and shared widely so the message reaches the masses,” said special commission­er of police Dependra Pathak.

The Delhi police, which joined Twitter in 2015, has 117000 followers and 8738 tweets. On the other hand, the Mumbai Police, which joined much later in 2015, already has as many as 2.77 million followers and over 20000 tweets.

So far, the content on Delhi Police handle, comprises not so impressive photos of alleged criminals arrested in several cases, out of focus clicks of events being held, blurred photos of men in khaki patrolling on foot and alerts on missing persons. The content was being uploaded by inspectors and constables apart from the individual Twitter handles of senior officers. Though all tweets posted from these handles are informativ­e, they lack spunk and have thus failed to connect with the audience. “We are police officers, we know how to investigat­e, interrogat­e. How do we make the content witty enough? For this we need profession­als who can present the informatio­n in an interestin­g manner. We just know how to dispense informatio­n and that is what we do. But to connect with the audience better, it will need more work,” an officer said.

“They will ensure tweets are dynamic, vibrant, upmarket, trendy yet relevant. The content will be given by us, they will just process it,” Pathak said.

 ??  ?? The Mumbai Police has, in the last few months, made social media its forte with quirky tweets, like the one above.
The Mumbai Police has, in the last few months, made social media its forte with quirky tweets, like the one above.

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