Tweeting gives a sense of mission: Nirupama Rao

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao says she feels "a sense of mission" to post responses to public queries on the microblogging website Twitter, a growing trend that she thinks is good for the system and the country.

Rao has been tweeting since Feb 11 and has earned wide praise and support for breaking the communication barriers between the Ministry of External Affairs and ordinary people by replying to anxious relatives of those stranded in Libya and of Indian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates.

Asked by NDTV how she decided to join Twitter when her ministry is said to work under a veil of secrecy, Rao said the times had changed and there was a need to address the constituency of young tech savvy people in the era of round-the-clock news channels and social media like Facebook and Twitter.

"We live in an age where communication has to be done in real time and we should be able to, in a sense, put our word out. It's distinctly different from the time I joined the foreign service three decades ago," she said.

"So I just felt that getting your word out and putting things in perspective is so important. I feel a sense of mission for this because I think it is good for the system. It is good for the country," Rao pointed out.

She was also asked if External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had changed his mind about the Twitter, given the fact he was unhappy with his former junior colleague Shashi Tharoor's Twitter comments.

She said: "I think it is about the message you put out. I've just stuck to foreign policy issues and I try to use the language that people use. In an instant, in a flash your message gets out. It is a very powerful medium if used judiciously."