We are living in a world where anything and everything is available instantly, with a tap of the keyboard or a touch of the screen. So, why not use online platforms to address and resolve public grievances instantly?
With social media's power to reach the mass population in no time, it is high time leveraged it to address public grievances and to provide a transparent and viable solution.
"Twitter Seva" is one such initiative by Twitter India.
What is Twitter Seva?
Twitter Seva helps an ordinary citizen to post his/her grievances/problems online and get it to the direct notice of the relevant officials who can resolve the issue as soon as possible.
The Twitter team realized that as a live platform it could help societies enable and establish quick transparent governance systems. An early partnership between the Bengaluru Police (@BlrCityPolice) and Twitter India in 2014 was the first step in this direction.
How does Twitter Seva work?
As Twitter's customized live customer service delivery solution, Twitter Seva offers a mechanism to respond to public queries and grievances by helping process large volumes of Tweets, converting them into resolvable tickets, and assigning them to the relevant authority for real-time resolution.
As an India-first innovation, Twitter Seva is currently being used by the Ministry of Commerce (@DIPPGOI), Ministry of External Affairs (@MEAIndia), the Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia), Department of Telecommunications (@Dot_India) under the Ministry of Communication, as well as the Bengaluru Police (@BlrCityPolice).
Benefits of Twitter Seva
The implementation of Twitter Seva by ministries has taken digital governance to the next level. Just in a month's time, the Commerce Ministry (@DIPPGOI) processed 750 cases, out of which they solved 735 using #Mociseva. The Indian Railways are processing close to 7000 tweets on a daily basis. The Bengaluru Police have also resolved about 5000 complaints via this system.
Each tweet stacks up as a metric of the government's and police departments' intent to deliver effective and transparent service.
The Twitter Seva solution is now being adopted by thousands of official government accounts on Twitter and processing approximately 4,25,000 tweets per month. Each tweet stacks up as a metric of the government's and police departments' intent to deliver effective and transparent service. No other medium offers this advantage. Twitter Seva promises governance delivery in real-time and supports a citizen-first strategy. The objective is to support the partners in providing transparent and timely service to citizens across the country.
Who's using it?
Prominent users of Twitter Seva include:
Ministry of Commerce (@DIPPGOI)
Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia)
Department of Telecommunications (@Dot_India)
Bengaluru Police (@BlrCityPolice)
UP Police (@Uppolice) has deployed Twitter across its entire constabulary. With this adoption, more than 120 verified accounts of the UP Police across districts and zones will be accessible to the public on Twitter.
These ministries have changed how the government and citizens interact and have introduced a customer service culture in their respective public sectors. Along with the personal accounts of ministers, the ministries are also providing live assistance via a range of official handles (@CimGOI, @ctopassportseva, @eesl_india) and hashtags (#mociseva, #passportseva, #DOTSeva, #BSNLSeva, #MTNLSeva, and #PostalSeva).
India's Twitter team is exploring the expansion of this service with more ministries, state governments and government departments across the country.
They are currently working with the Ministry of Human Resource & Development (@HRDMinistry), Health Ministry (@MoHFW_INDIA), Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice), Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice), Karnataka, Punjab and UP governments for getting them aboard the Twitter Seva service. The ministries of Home (@HMOIndia) and Power (@MinOfPower) are already testing the service in the beta stage.
For the latest updates on Twitter Seva, follow Raheel Khursheed (@Raheelk)—India's Twitter Head (News, Politics, Govt, Gov/Civ Tech).
Have your ever used Twitter Seva before? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below.