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The number of followers for the Ministry of Interior’s (MoI) Twitter Arabic account as well as likes for the Facebook English account have crossed the 100,000-mark each, a source in the ministry has revealed. |
Speaking to Gulf Times, a senior official of the MoI Public Relations Department said: “We have 116,000 followers for the Twitter Arabic account while the Facebook English account is liked by 107,602 people. Besides, the Facebook Arabic account has 79,748 likes and the Twitter English account is followed by 38,700 (people).”
The social media accounts of MoI were started in 2011. Initially, MoI opened the Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts and later joined Instagram.
The social media accounts were opened after a detailed study, the official explained. “It provides a direct contact between the ministry and the people and gives a platform for the public. They can express their ideas and suggestions and contribute to the relationship. The websites aim to highlight security issues to the public as well as create public awareness on many topics.”
The social media accounts are available in six languages, he said. “There are two accounts for each social media — one in Arabic and another in English. While the Arabic version is available only in that language, the other version is available in Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu and Nepalese, in addition to English. We are also planning to add French and Tagalog soon,” the official said.
“According to the needs of the public, we develop content on the social media. As per the emerging situations, we add or change the content. We monitor the reactions of people and accordingly respond to their needs. We also provide clarifications if needed,” he added.
The MoI official stressed that the social media accounts are very helpful tools. “Through these accounts, we are disseminating a lot of information on a daily basis. Generally, the updates for the day are done early in the morning, between 7am and 8am. These include traffic updates, flash news and weather updates. We update information in case of accidents or fire. This helps the people take necessary action in case of an emergency,” he explained.
According to the official, the social media accounts of MoI help people interact with the ministry on many counts.
“The common issues raised by residents on social media sites are traffic-related issues such as traffic jams and violations, payment of wages and more. As for Traffic Department issues, we advise the followers to contact the department through Metrash II ” he added.
The MoI Facebook page won the best interactive platform award in 2012 and innovative design award in 2013 in the region.
The MoI social media links are http://www.facebook.com/moigovqatar.en (English, Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Nepalese), http://www.facebook.com/moigovqatar (Arabic), Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/moi_qatar (Arabic) and http://twitter.com/#!/moi_qataren (English).
