Mark Zuckerberg did not make something new. He just made is sexy. And better, in many ways. Orkut has always been more popular in this part of the world – in fact, after Brazil, India had the most members on Orkut. But Google lost interest, and lost the march. Lately having woken up, they are trying to do a tweak here and a tad there, but Facebook is on a home run. So, Google has gone to the next big thing – Google Plus. Time will tell what happens there.

Back in India, many government entities have woken up to this beautiful medium. Scores of FB accounts have been made by govt. organisations. Last month I came across the Northen Railway FB account at the New Delhi Railway Station. Scores of updates by the Foreign Service batchmates, who don’t seem to be having much to do apart from attending parties and tennis matches, post links to Embassy and Consulate accounts on FB. On these accounts, they post photos of more parties and more matches. Speeches on indi chini bhai bhai. Idli and Sushi side by side. It’s a perfect picture of Valhalla, a soothing relief from the low and dry of life out here. Umm…

Digs apart, FB is going a good thing about showcasing us, and what we do in the Government. Much of what most of us do is worse than boring. It should be comic to post photos of lousy fat files mounted on our tables like a wretched Zenga, or potbellied peons on attendance – nothing sexy there. Thankfully, governance is a large conglomerate, and many people do many things that verge on the sexy. Almost [well, certainly in GovSpeak]. Here’s why FB can be a good tool in the hands of the Government:

1. Govt. is lazy. Adding some photos that you take with your digicam is as lazy as it gets. All you need to do is just add some description of what is happening, and you got a photo, and a page. You don’t have to put up a PUC and proceed – Here, Supdt saab, take this PUC. Ask DPRO to send someone to get a photograph, print it, scan it, give it to DIO, put up for a description, and make a draft, and send to NIC for upload….wah wah wah. With FB, it’s like this – Here, DPRO saab, post some photos of the CM visit to Drang, willya.
2. Govt. is nuts. Posting some photos does not require much apart from nuts – northern hemisphere may lack some mass, but just some nuts would do [wherever they be]. So, it’s easy. So, same as above.
3. FB is sexy. Now, if you have ever visited a Govt. website, you would seldom want to revisit. Unless, you again have some work there. Just like our offices. One wonders why the Govt. cannot hire a web designer and programmer do redesign their websites. I do [wonder]. But we do a shabby job at presentation – it’s just not our forte. Enter FB. You just cannot mess it up. It’s easy, it displays well on anything – from computers to iPads to the Android phones. Better still, it looks the same for everyone – so here, I can compete with NDTV or Tata. Just do your spellcheck well. And ta ta. Level playing field. No designer, no programmer. Thankfully, no NIC.
4. What we do in the Government is slow. Tedious. Thankless. More often you get the idea that more things change, more they remain the same. But the Anganwadi worker does go to the field, and looks after the nutritional needs of the kids. The Female Health Worker in the Sub Centres visits every pregnant woman, and looks after the primary health of the village. The Patwari visits field to field – well, almost. Camps, numerous in kind, are held daily by all departments. The Police catch hold of the charsi, the wifebeater, the crooked. This is the little work that keeps society going, this oiling and preventive maintenance on a tight budget and in strained conditions, is what keeps much of India moving. It’s not a happy situation, it’s not worthy of passing on to our next generation, but there it sits. So, till such time as Anna babaji sits for another dieting, we have to make do with what we have. This non-sexy face of Govt. is missing on NDTV. We need to fight our case in the court of the public perception. And this is where FB enters. It’s the best PR agent we can hire. Just post pictures baby.

Unfortunately, there is a perception that Govt. has to be a Netnanny. Since FB is fun and sexy, it must be banned inside its portals. So, FB does not run on the NIC network, and it does not run on our HIMSWAN. It may be true that many people just keep FBing during work hours, and so it had to be banned. Most corporate environments also have banned it. That may be correct. But what we need to do certainly is create our presence on FB. Maybe, we should put our HODs to maintain our FB accounts – best prize to the best FB account. What say?