The Ministry of External Affairs has launched a new platform for customer service solution to provide real-time service delivery and user interaction globally. Dubbed as Twitter Seva, the service will enable Indians here and abroad, tourists and business travellers to tweet for speedy resolution to their visa and passport queries.
Twitter 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. The service is aimed at offering timely, transparent and large scale response to citizen tweets in real-time thereby enhancing scalability and expediting the process of dealing with requests by Indian and global citizens.
Citizens of India and Non-Indians can simply tweet their query with relevant MEA Twitter account. The queries can be anything ranging from a couple having trouble getting their child a passport, cry for help by migrant workers who have claims for unpaid wages to 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.
Twitter Seva, according to the micro blogging site is a customized live customer service delivery solution which is an effective mechanism to respond to public queries and grievances. It helps process large volumes of tweets, converts them into resolvable tickets, and assigns them to the relevant authority for real-time resolution.
GEN. (DR) V.K. Singh (Retd) said in a statement,
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.
Raheel Khursheed Head of News and Government Partnerships, Twitter India, said in a blog post,
Twitter is pleased to support the Ministry of External Affairs as a key platform for digital diplomacy. The Twitter Seva system is now tracking more than 750,000 Tweets across 11 large government partners in two countries with more than 7500 Twitter handles supporting the live delivery of services. Each Tweet stacks up as a metric of the Government’s intent to deliver effective and transparent service.
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.
The latest initiative looks like an extension of the Twitter Seva service that was launched this year wherein citizens can lodge complaints against their telecom and postal services by tweeting @manojsinhabj.