Social media is not a dirty phrase. It is a technology solution that is staring at the face of government to effectively utilise it to reach out to its constituents. Yet, instead of doing just that, the government has often resorted to using its powers to limit the growth of social media. If earlier it were Web groups or forums, a couple of weeks ago it was Facebook, Twitter and few blogs that faced the wrath of ministers and bureaucrats who could not fathom how to “control” this beast with information, so they just banned or blocked them.

It is heartening to hear, therefore, that the Union government has issued directives to several state governments to get on to social media and use it for information dissemination. It is a no-brainer that both the government and the general public would benefit as a consequence.