Ministry of External Affairs takes citizen engagement global with ‘Twitter Seva’

The Ministry of External Affairs (@MEAIndia) today deployed Twitter India’s live customer service resolution solution, Twitter Seva to help Indians here and abroad, tourists and business travelers with speedy resolution to their visa and passport queries. Twitter Seva will enable the MEA (@MEAIndia) to strengthen its primary relationship with Indian citizens by providing fast, efficient and real-time public service. This comprehensive global roll-out of Twitter Seva will enable timely, transparent and large scale response to citizen Tweets in real-time, thus, enhancing scalability and expediting the process of dealing with requests by Indian and global citizens.

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/MEAIndia/status/812256171272744960

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) with 6.8 million followers has been extremely active on Twitter to extend help and support to Indian and global citizens through her official Twitter account. With the deployment of Twitter Seva, the Ministry aims to establish a systematic and scalable process to use the public, live nature of Tweets to ensure public service redressal in the most effective manner.

To boost the vision of the Government, GEN. (DR) V.K. SINGH (RETD), Minister of State for External Affairs today launched ‘Twitter Seva’ to provide real-time service delivery and user interaction. The Seva service roll out will be supported by 198 Twitter accounts of Missions and High Commissions across the world and 29 Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in India. Both Indians and non-Indians can simply Tweet with their query relevant MEA Twitter account – be it from a couple having trouble getting their child a passport, cry for help by migrant workers who have claims for unpaid wages, someone trying to get their relative’s dead body home or simply a person seeking help with passport and visa documentation. The request will activate the concerned office nationally or across the world.

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/ajairavikesavan/status/807806564497137664

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/adilrazakhan/status/807486825430401024

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/sandeep96462786/status/806060040943603716

Speaking at the launch, GEN. (DR) V.K. SINGH (RETD) said, “Over time, Twitter has proved to be a powerful tool for communicating and exchanging information especially in times of need. Our action-reaction process has witnessed a real time boost. With the adoption of Twitter Seva today, our commitment to serve our people in India and across the globe in an enhanced, timely and transparent manner will take a new leap forward.”

Commenting on this partnership, Raheel Khursheed (@Raheelk), Head of News and Government Partnerships, Twitter India, said, “We are happy that the Ministry of External Affairs is incorporating Twitter as a key platform for digital diplomacy. The Ministry has been doing incredible work responding to queries in various instances. By deploying Twitter Seva, which is a citizen-first approach, we will proudly witness the MEA take digital governance to the next level in India and around the world.”

Here is a snapshot of how the MEA (@MEAIndia) has been using Twitter for citizen engagement:

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/listenmsaying/status/564289464491466752

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/Arpitkumarjain/status/702517956736110592

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/prashantkpradha/status/631290162828304384

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/SushmaSwaraj/status/766214255427264512

How does Twitter Seva work?

Twitter Seva, Twitter’s customised live customer service delivery solution, is an effective mechanism to respond to public queries and grievances that helps process large volumes of Tweets, converts them into resolvable tickets, and assigns them to the relevant authority for real-time resolution.

UP Police is a notable example of how a large public-service organisation smartly uses Twitter Seva solution. The UP Police is able to monitor citizen queries and customer service requests from Indians across the state to take quick action in a time-bound, accountable manner. The service is driving efficient and effective customer service as well as collation of real-time citizen feedback. Twitter has evolved as a utility tool for citizens as accounts offer services related to FIR complaint filing, query updates, and news updates from police officials and departments. Police officials keep updating users with issues relating to law and order. Twitter also serves as a medium to provide real-time advisories, alerts and general information to the public at large.

The Seva ecosystem tracks more than 750,000 Tweets across 11 large government partners in two countries with more than 7,500 Twitter handles supporting the live delivery of services.

As an India-first innovation, Twitter Seva is currently being used for citizen engagement by the Ministry of Commerce (@DIPPGOI), the Ministry of External Affairs (@MEAIndia), the Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia), the Department of Telecommunications (@Dot_India), Department of Posts, MTNL, BSNL  under the Ministry of Communication, the UP Police (@Uppolice) as well as the Bengaluru Police (@BlrCityPolice). The other police departments that are set to adopt this Twitter innovation are the Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice), Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) and Hyderabad Police (@hydcitypolice). Internationally, Twitter Seva is in use at the Central Java province in Indonesia.