Indian Ministries Through Twitter - Citizen Engagement With - CPC Analytics
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Citizen Engagement With Indian Ministries Through Twitter
Contents
What Can Be Expected From Citizen Engagement With
Indian Ministries Through Twitter...........................................................................3
Case Study: Ministry of External Affairs .............................................................. 6
Case Study: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare ............................10
Case Study: Ministry of Communications ......................................................... 14
Case Study: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change ...........17
Case Study: Ministry of Finance...........................................................................20
Case Study: Ministry of Power.............................................................................. 24
Case Study: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare ...........................................28
Case Study: Ministry of Railways......................................................................... 32
Case Study: Ministry of Urban Development ..................................................36
Case Study: Ministry of Tourism ..........................................................................40
Primary Takeaways ................................................................................................ 43
Policy Recommendations .....................................................................................45
Conclusions, Limitations & Steps For The Future .........................................46
Ministry Specific Highlights .................................................................................. 47
Bibliography ...............................................................................................................48
Conceived and compiled by:
Jonathan Rummel
j.rummel@cpc-analytics.com
Sahil Deo
s.deo@cpc-analytics.com
With inputs from:
Abhay Kulkarni
abhay@medianext.in
Acknowledgements
Sanaaya Kurup
Sanjana Krishnan
Anand Agashe
Amit Tekale
Rahul Phuge
What Can Be Expected From
Citizen Engagement With
Indian Ministries
Through Twitter
Objective
The primary purpose of this report is to determine
the behavioral consequences of e-governance
communication strategies used by 10 randomly selected
Indian ministries. The reason for this research is to address
the rise of Twitter accounts in India and the potential
impact that will have on policies and government
administrational habit. As such, the following questions
have been proposed:
What models of civic engagement and
organizational learning are currently in use by the
selected Indian Ministries?
What patterns or trends in Twitter engagement
can be attributed to these models?
What behavior should be expected from citizens
when exposed to such activities?
Each case study will look at these three questions
through a contextual analysis of responsibilities and Twitter
content so as to ensure proper deference towards each
ministries’ unique responsibilities. There will be 3 sections to
the report. The first provides considers the growing Twitter
trends in India and their past impact on Indian politics. It
will then progress into a brief explanation on the theories
and methodology framing the overall analysis. The second
section consists of 10 case studies detailing the findings
from the overall analysis. Finally, the report will conclude
with general observations and recommendations for all
ministries within the Indian government.
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Indian Background & Context
Civic engagement is a central concern of democracies
and the rise of ICTs has not dissuaded that concern.
In fact, e-governance platforms such as social media
accounts that initiate dialogue with citizens are said to
represent an important evolution in that regard.1
Recent studies have shown that such programs can
increase public satisfaction2 with public services and
increase feelings of transparency and accountability.3
This is particularly important for the Indian government
and Modi administration who have made anti-corruption
a central component of their government policies. As
current estimates suggest internet usage will rise to 720
million by 2020, this is an ideal time to develop these
platforms.
At the moment, there are signs that Twitter popularity
is only increasing as Prime Minister Narenda Modi has
increased his Twitter following by 24 million accounts in Table 1
Ministry Classifications
only three years. Recognizing that these platforms could
be utilized to connect to voters and constituents in an Category Definition
entirely new way, the Modi government has even issued
directives for all ministries and Ministers to integrate To understand one or more aspects of
Twitter into their communication strategies.4 As of today, the public and social policy process,
almost every single ministry has achieved this goal, with Policy Oriented including decision making and policy
some taking it a step further by integrating customized formulation, implementation, and
analytics and response programs such as ‘Twitter Seva’ evaluation.
into their day-to-day operating procedures.5 Online
communities and trends have developed around Co-ordination of activities of various
these policies, leading to memes like “10 Ways Sushma Coordination, Central Government Agencies, State
Swaraj Saved The Day.”6 While there are positives to supervision Governments/UTs and the Private
such environments there are also risks that need to be oriented Sector for the development and
considered in order to preserve the public’s engagement promotion of its core activity
and trust.
Responsible for managing and
Methodology and Theory Service delivery delivering a range of quality services
There are three aspects that will be used to define
function to their communities, such as public
how ministries interact with citizens. To begin with,
health, recreational facilities, etc.
the backgrounds of each ministry will be assessed and
classified within one of five possible categories. As seen The core activities of the government
in Table 1, specific definitions enable the classification Support are supported with the assistance
functions of a strong body of support function
1 (Thomas and Streib 2003)
ministries.
2 (Welch, Hinnant, and Moon 2004)
Regulatory agencies serve two
3 (Bertot, Jaeger, and Grimes 2010a)
Regulatory primary functions in the government:
4 (Rajeev Sharma 2014) functions they implement laws and they enforce
5 (Sharma 2016) laws.
6 (Dawood 2015)
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of ministries within these case studies. This will allow for arguably maintains the status quo.13 The second system is
each ministry to be evaluated on its own context, instead known as ‘double-loop’ learning and differs from the former
of purely by comparison to its peers. method by allowing information to flow from a complex
The underlying theory of ‘Social Media Logic’ is what network of sources to better address complex questions.14
provides the initial framework for this entire report. In this form of organizational learning, citizens can engage
According to Djick and Poell, social media represents a with ministries to determine not just what policies they are
dramatic shift in the way that information is conveyed working on but why the ministry behaves in the way that
in societies.7 Whereas in the past, governments and it does; it allows them to question the actual operating
media organizations existed as the proprietary sources of procedures of the government.15
information, social media has allowed for a much more As these systems are adapted, certain models of
complex system in which individuals can now not only citizen interaction fit more apprioriately with certain
impact but dictate information.8 The second principle priorities. This paper will look at ‘Managerial’, ‘Consultative’
of social media logic discusses how the ability to assign and ‘Participatory’ models. The first focuses on one-way
“popularity algorithms”, such as likes and retweets on communication from a government actor to the public.
Twitter, empowers and legitimizes those who can amass The focus is on increasing the efficiency and satisfaction
a large enough volume of interactions.9 Inevitably, this of public services. This most commonly utilizes a ‘single-
allows for individuals and movements to advocate loop’ learning system. The ‘Consultative Model’ moves
government reforms purely through the democratic beyond services and instead aims to engage the public on
legitimacy developed by means of assembling large online a wide array of topics to crowd-source public opinion. This
communities and sentiments.10 information is then utilized in policy making to better match
These communities are not guaranteed products of citizens’ mindsets. This too commonly uses ‘single-loop’
Twitter use, however. They require an environment in learning. Finally, the ‘Participatory Model’ thrives through
which discourse can be encouraged to occur. This is where ‘double-loop’ learning where information originates from
organizational learning theory takes form. The fundamental multiple sources and used by multiple sources to enact
concept behind this theory is that there are two types of government change.
information systems that allow individuals to engage and Each of the ministries analyzed in this report will be
learn about an organization.11 One systems is known as evaluated through these theories. Additionally, tweets
‘single-loop’ learning and revolves around government collected in a proprietary system developed by CPC-
agencies controlling the flow of information in order to ask Analytics will be subset and randomly selected for a
questions such as, “is this service efficient and what could quantitative analysis of likes and retweets. The standard
be improved?”12 This is commonly used by bureaucratic deviation of these ‘popularity’ measures will demonstrate
actors as it does not require dramatic innovation and the consistency of interaction with tweets from the
ministries’ respective Twitter handles.
7 (Van Dijck and Poell 2013)
8 (Reddick, Chatfield, and Ojo 2017) 13 (Argyris 1976)
9 (Bertot, Jaeger, and Grimes 2010a) 14 (Macintosh n.d.)
10 (Bertot, Jaeger, and Grimes 2010a) 15 (Im, Porumbescu, and Lee 2013)
11 (Gilson, Dunleavy, and Tinkler 2009)
12 (Reddick, Chatfield, and Ojo 2017)
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Case Study:
Ministry of
External Affairs
Abstract:
As a cabinet-level agency, the Ministry of External
Affairs maintains two Twitter handles, @MEAIndia and
@SushmaSwaraj. Through an analysis of a random
subset of Tweets, each account will be evaluated within
a specific organizational learning model. This is done by
categorizing their respective tweets to determine the
impact on citizen engagement. Both accounts boast
millions of followers; however, engagement trends
differ leading rise to possible pitfalls in communication
strategies that will be discussed given mathematical
evaluation of Tweet demographic data.
What are the primary responsibilities of
the ministry?
Ministry of External Affairs fulfills this vital role as a
cabinet-level ministry that manages all relationships
with foreign states and fellow commonwealth
nations, while simultaneously maintaining and
increasing ties with the United Nations, specialized
agencies, IGOs and international conferences.16
Additionally, the MEA assists Indian citizens abroad
and domestically in international issues. By acting on
behalf of the nation in these situations it may present
an opportunity for citizens to voice how they believe
India should present itself to the world.
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
Enabling international and cross-governmental
discourse requires an enormous level of coordinative
skill and policy making prowess. However, most policies
require collaborative work within the Cabinet and the
PMO, not purely citizen demand. Programs like aiding
16 (Parliament of India 2014)
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Indian citizens abroad, coordinating international
student programs and passport distribution are more
appropriate in that regard. This is due to the trend
that shows citizens increase demands once effectively
engaged via e-initiatives;17 such an occurrence poses
a high level of risk in international relations. As a result,
the MEA will be evaluated under the policy-oriented
and service-delivery categories.
What model of citizen engagement/organizational
learning would be most appropriate given this
ministry’s responsibilities?
The communication strategies that a ministry
uses with certain demographics sometimes can
and probably should change depending on the
demographic itself. As far as the MEA’s Twitter
engagement with citizens is concerned, attention to
the public services rendered needs to be frequent
and responsive. At first glance, this would suggest a
‘Participatory’ engagement model where citizens can
produce information that the MEA must respond to
and act upon.
In reality, that may not be the most fruitful
method. The primary interaction that citizens
have with the MEA is through services like abroad
assistance, passports and the like which requires vast
amounts of information that citizens normally do not
have the means to collect. As such, it may be in the
best interest of the ministry to utilize a managerial
engagement model, in order to maximize service
delivery and efficiency.
Twitter Analysis: Date
Twitter Handle # of Tweets # of Followers
Joined
There is a distinct different between both MEA Twitter @MEAIndia Dec-11 14.2K 1.32M
handles. Taking office in May of 2014, @SushmaSwaraj
has soared to a following of 7.71 million Twitter accounts. @SushmaSwaraj Nov-10 5,001 7.71M
Meanwhile, @MEAIndia joined the Twitter community in
December 2011 and only has 1.4 million followers, despite Table 2
a longer presence and substantially more tweets. Twitter Demographic Information for the MEA
Looking at Table 1, the Minister seems to be more
popular, but why? To understand this distinction the
Tweets from each account have been categorized per
the framework addressed in the methodology.
The most common types of Tweets from both
accounts are ‘Announcements’ discussing past, present,
or future events. However, the next highest categories
differ. While the Ministry seems to prefer‘Quotes’related to
17 (Reddick, Chatfield, and Ojo 2017)
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Ministry of External Affairs Tweets by Category
Quote
Response
Reminder
Information
Greetings
Feedback
Congratulations
Advocacy
Announcement
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
@MEAIndia @SushmaSwaraj
Table 3
% share of Tweets from each MEA Twitter Handle within certain categories
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their mission or ‘Greeting’ to community members
they’ve interacted with, only the Minister has a substantial
‘Response’ rate. In fact, almost 25% of her tweets could be
considered a direct response to an Indian constituent.
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s Twitter
handles?
As previously mentioned, both of the official accounts
for the MEA share ‘Announcements’ as their most
common type of Tweet (43% - @MEAIndia, 35% - @
SushmaSwaraj). This is consistent with a ‘Managerial
Model’ where information is presented to the public
in a ‘single loop learning’ manner.18 Emphasis isn’t
on whether a certain policy should exist, but how
citizens can best take advantage of such policies.
However, the Minister’s large percentage share
of ‘Response’ tweets displays a ‘Participatory Model’.
Tweets asking for assistance with MEA services such
as repatriation of family remains, lost passport support
and expatriate community aid are asked of the
Minister herself, requiring new internal communication
strategies and prompt policy action.
18 (Reddick, Chatfield, and Ojo 2017)
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What behavior and or perception can this nurture?
Social Media thrives off of the idea that individuals
Managerial Consultative Participatory
can control or, at least, affect the flow of
@MEAIndia Æ Managerial Engagement Model
information.19 @MEAIndia, when compared to @
SushmaSwaraj, is experiencing one of the obstacles
that come with a ‘Managerial Model’: incentivizing
citizen engagement. The statistics of the ministry’s Managerial Consultative Participatory
received likes and retweets shows a consistent level
@SushmaSwaraj Æ Participatory Engagement Model
of engagement due to the low standard errors and
high averages.
The Minister best exemplifies a ‘Participatory Table 4
Engagement Model.’ These types of models allow Civic Engagement Model Slider
citizens to set agendas for government actors to address
and can be seen in the various ‘Response’ Tweets from
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Twitter Handle Likes
Minister Swaraj assisting Indian constituents. STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
However, ‘Participatory Models’ are not fully ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
understood as of yet and it is still unclear what @MEAIndia Low High Low High
specifically facilitates civic engagement and concurrent @SushmaSwaraj Medium Very High Medium High
interaction. This is shown by @SushmaSwaraj’s
larger standard errors of received likes and retweets. Table 5
This shows that Twitter engagement can be more Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
inconsistent.
Summary
In conclusion, the MEA Twitter handles do seem to focus
their efforts on service delivery and policy updates. While
there is some crossover, the @MEAIndia account revolves
more around policy updates through its ‘Managerial Model’
while @SushmaSwaraj manages public services in a larger
volume via its ‘Participatory Model.’ The theoretical pitfalls
of such dels are consistent with the reality of each Twitter
Handle, each experiencing relatively low engagement and
sporadic engagement respectively. This isn’t necessarily
bad but is something to understand and requires analysis
to prepare communication going forward.
19 (Van Dijck and Poell 2013)
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Case Study:
Ministry of Agriculture
and Farmers Welfare
Abstract:
As one of the cabinet-level ministries within India,
the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare boasts
responsibilities ranging from information delivery,
agricultural analytics, economic development/
empowerment and more. As a ministry with two Twitter
handles, both will be evaluated to consider the different
civic engagement styles and their respective yields. This
will be shown through categorizing a subset of tweets
from the last year from each Twitter handle to identify
the trends coming from each account.
What are the primary responsibilities of the ministry?
However, for the purposes of this case study the
primary responsibilities will be referenced via
three principle mandates: policy development and
administration of agricultural produce regulations,
cooperation and implementation of decisions
made at international conferences, and fostering
cooperation between the agricultural sector and
other industries. As of 2010, these activities directly
impacted around 50% of the estimated 500 million
+ Indian work force, thus warranting an analysis on
citizen engagement.20
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
In a sense, it could be argued that this ministry falls
under a service delivery context due to innovative
e-administration platforms like the “Farmers’ Portal.”
This database can empower farmers with information
on crop prices, competitive seasonal indexing and
even local suppliers of capital tools/supplies. Services
like these depict citizens as “consumers of rights”
20 (Gilson, Dunleavy, and Tinkler 2009)
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10 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comwho can claim the, often specific and personalized,
information generated by the government.21
However, this should not overshadow the massive
coordination and policy oriented tasks that enable
such services. As a result, this report shall asses the
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as Policy
Oriented.
What model of citizen engagement/organizational
learning would be appropriate given this ministry’s
responsibilities?
The actions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’
Welfare are felt throughout its stakeholders in very
direct ways. For example, recent action has supplied
the states with over 68,000 crop management units
to aid farmers in preserving, ripening and distributing
products. Policies like this require cooperation from
state governments and engagement by citizens and
other interest groups. This can be achieved through a
‘double-loop learning’ learning model. Such policies
depended on a certain level of transparency and
value-oriented services in the minds of constituents
and it has been shown that direct discourse via social
media platforms like Twitter increase the credibility
of government projects in the eyes of the populous.
As such, one effective communication strategy
that this ministry could utilize is the participatory
engagement model.
Tweet Analysis Twitter Handle Date Joined # of Tweets # of Followers
@AgriGoI May-13 2202 49.5K
Assuming office in May 2014, Minister Singh has
maintained a strong presence on Twitter alongside the @RadhamohanBJP Nov-13 5781 123K
MoAFW. Both the ministry and the Minister officially
joined Twitter in 2013 and have since grown large
Table 6
Twitter Demographic Information for the MoAFW
followings of around 50K and 123K Twitter accounts,
respectively. As seen in Table 5, the Minister boasts the
larger volume of interactions.
A possible reason for the relative gap between
engagement levels can be seen in the types of tweets
that each handle sends out. In Table 6, one can see that
both handles predominantly send ‘Announcement’,
‘Advocacy’, and ‘Information’ tweets. The key difference
comes in the form of ‘Response’ tweets.
Nearly 35% of the analyzed tweets from @
RadhamohanBJP were direct responses, paired with an
almost equally large volume of ‘Announcement’ tweets,
followed by ‘Advocacy’ tweets.
21 (Michel 2005)
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www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 11Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Tweets % by
Category
Response
Reminder
Quote
Information
Greetings
Feedback
Congratulations
Advocacy
Announcement
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
@AgriGoI @RadhamohanBJP
Table 7
% share of Tweets from each MoAFW Twitter Handle within certain categories
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s
Twitter handle?
‘Advocacy’, ‘Announcement’, and ‘Information’ Managerial Consultative Participatory
tweets account for 87% of those from the @AgriGoI @AgriGoI Æ Managerial Engagement Model
handle. The purpose of ‘Advocacy’ and ‘Information’
themed messages is to encourage citizens to adopt
a proposed government policy.22 This could suggest
Managerial Consultative Participatory
a ‘Consultative Model’ in which policy opinions are
@RadhamohanBJP Æ Consultative Engagement Model
actively sought after by the government agency
from the citizens.23 However, due to the low level of
‘Response’ and ‘Feedback’ tweets, it appears that @ Table 8
AgriGoI is using a ‘Managerial Engagement Model.’ Civic Engagement Model Slider
Civic Engagement Model SliderThe Minister’s
Twitter account balances ‘Response’ tweets with all
three of those commonly used by the ministry handle,
with ‘Announcement’ tweets representing roughly
35% of the total number. On their own, the response
rate can suggest a ‘Participatory Model’; however,
roughly 20% of those responses consist of clarifying
policy schemes and thanking constituents. Due to
these facts, the @RadhamohanBJP’s engagement
model fits more closely with the ‘Consultative Model.’
22 (Reddick, Chatfield, and Ojo 2017)
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23 (Macintosh n.d.)
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12 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com What behavior and or perception can this nurture?
As with other ‘Managerial Models’, the primary
obstacle to increasing citizen engagement is
incentivizing the engagement itself, as individuals
themselves are not in control of the information flow.
In the case of @AgriGoI’s communications, tweets
intend to incentivize use of new farming schemes
and e-platforms that can empower farmers. In the
case of @AgriGoI, the standard errors/means of
likes and retweets shows that there is a consistent
engagement but low level of engagement.
The Minister of the MoAFW has a much higher
like average and a low standard error, displaying
more consistency. However, his retweets standard Likes STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
error and mean share the same obstacles as the Twitter Handle ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
ministry’. This fits the pitfalls usually associated with @AgriGoI Low Low Low Low
‘Consultative Models’.
@RadhamohanBJP Low Medium Low Low
Summary Table 9
In conclusion, the MoAFW’s two Twitter accounts Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
predominantly use ‘Announcement’ and ‘Advocacy’
tweets when interacting with the public, staying
consistent with our policy oriented classification.
These handles utilize different engagement models:
‘Managerial’ and ‘Consultative.’ Overall, there are
relatively low volumes of engagements when compared
to other ministries but they are also relatively consistent.
Additionally, it is interesting that the minister’s account
has a much larger following and engagement level, even
though both accounts arose around the same time. This
could possibly be explained due to the high response
rate from Minister Singh, but would need more study.
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www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 13Case Study:
Ministry of
Communications
Abstract
The Ministry of Communications is headed by Manoj
Sinha and is divided into two departments- Department
of Telecommunications and the Department of Posts.
The first step of this case study will be to assess a broad
definition of the MoC’s responsibilities and determine
how to classify them. It will then proceed to see how
the Twitter data would showcase civic engagement with
the ministry. Communication strategies are particularly
essential for ministries such as this and this case study
will seek to identify what civic engagement model it may
be employing on Twitter.
What are the primary responsibilities of the Ministry?
The Ministry of Communications is headed by
Manoj Sinha and is divided into two departments-
Department of Telecommunications and the
Department of Posts. The MoC has a large number of
responsibilities, but for the purpose of simplicity, this
report has condensed them into three major ones.
The first responsibility of the MoC is to formulate
policies, rules and administrate laws related to
various forms of communication and information
technology like telegraphs, the internet, telephones,
and data. The second is the management and
allocation of spectrum to various private or public
players. The third responsibility is to cooperate and
co-ordinate with various international bodies that
deal with telecommunications.24
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
For social media communication to be effective
24 (Parliament of India 2014)
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14 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comand smooth, it is essential to understand the main
functions and responsibilities of the Ministry.
As stated above, the MoC has a large number of
responsibilities that have been condensed into three
major ones. However, this report will classify the
services offered by the MoC within a ‘coordination
and supervision’ oriented role, as a majority of its
responsibilities include cooperating and coordinating
with various state governments and organisational
bodies to promote schemes and programmes related
to telecommunications.
What model of citizen engagement/organisational
learning would be the most appropriate given this
ministry’s responsibilities?
As the MoC has a coordination and supervision’
oriented role, it is important for them to get the
views of various stakeholders to improve the
existing schemes that are being promoted. Thus, the
Consultative model would be the most appropriate
model for citizen engagement as the ministry could
use social media to post information and receive
comments from the stakeholders. The single-looped
method of organisational learning would be the
most appropriate because it would facilitate the
stakeholders to post the questions and views that
they have about the services offered, which would
lead to the overall improvement of the services, if the
ministries uses the feedback provided.25
Tweet Analysis Twitter Handle Date Joined # of Tweets # of Followers
Assuming office in July 2016, Minister Sinha has @manojsinhabjp April-14 5,689 81.9K
maintained a strong presence on Twitter boasting
81.9K followers to date. As the primary source of
Table 10
Twitter Demographic Information for the MEA
citizen communication via Twitter for the Ministry of
Communications, this will be the sole handle evaluated.
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s Twitter
handle?
The vast majority of tweets from @manojsinhabjp
can be classified as ‘Announcement’ tweets, which
detail new policies, program updates and industry
meetings. These alone account for 37% of the total
subset. However, as Table 10 shows, ‘Response’
tweets are the second most frequent with roughly
17% representation.
The majority of these ‘Responses’ are aimed at
25 (Millard and Jeremy 2006)
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www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 15Ministry of Communications Tweets % by Category
Response
Reminder
Quote
Information
Greetings
Feedback
Congratulations
Advocacy
Announcement
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
@manojsinhabjp
Table 11
% share of Tweets from each MoC Twitter Handle within certain categories
solving grievances and complaints. This type of
behavior exemplifies a ‘double-loop learning’ style
Managerial Consultative Participatory
where citizens have the power to dictate information
@manojsinhabjpÆManagerial/Participatory Model
to the government, forcing action. Due to this
context, it would appear that the MoC is utilizing a
‘Participatory Model’ for engagement. However, due
Table 12
Civic Engagement Model Slider
to being the sole Twitter handle for the ministry, it
also contains levels of ‘Managerial Models’ through
its large volume of ‘Announcement’ type tweets. Likes STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
Twitter Handle ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
What behavior and or perception can this nurture? @manojsinhabjp Low Medium Medium High
The MoC is utilizing two engagement models
and will thus need to be prepared for the habits Table 13
Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
associated with both. By employing elements of a
‘Managerial Model’, @manojsinhabjp may limit its
potential engagement by controlling the majority
of poicy information. While this may be bolstered Summary
by the ‘Participatory Model’ elements shown in the
ministry’s ‘Response’ tweets, it also opens up the In conclusion, the MoC is simultaneously using the
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account to inconsistent engagement. This is visible in ‘Managerial’ and ‘Consultative’ models for one Twitter handle.
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the Table 13, where the standard errors of retweets, The thematic % of @manojsinhabjp’s tweets fit alongside
relative to the average, which shows a relatively wide this report’s policy classification as a coordination and
distribution of retweet numbers. The likes are more supervisory role, with over 60% of tweets falling in a role
consistent with a medium average and low standard showcasing policy updates or advocating policy adaption.
error. However, there seems to be a tendency for citizens to reach
out to this handle despite its ‘Managerial Model’ efforts in
order to identifywww.cpc-analytics.com
solutions for |various grievances.
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16 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comCase Study:
Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change
What are the primary responsibilities of the Ministry?
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change is headed by Anil Madhav Dave. The
Ministry has eighty responsibilities which have been
summarised into two major ones in this report. The
primary responsibility of the MoEFCC is to formulate
policies and acts related to forests, environment
and climate change. The second responsibility is to
co-ordinate with the ministries, state governments
and international organisations to implement
schemes related to conservation and sustainable
development.
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
Social Media like Twitter and Facebook can be used
as effective tools of communication by the Ministries.
As stated above, there are two major responsibilities
of the MoEFCC. However, this report will classify
the services offered by the MoEFCC within a ‘Policy’
oriented role, as a majority of its responsibilities
include formulating policies like the National
Environment Policy and implementing schemes
like the Joint Forest Management Programme for
Conservation Management and Afforestation.26
What model of citizen engagement/organisational
learning would be the most appropriate given this
ministry’s responsibilities?
For a policy oriented ministry such as the MoEFCC,
which functions under the mandate to change
social behavior, it is important to determine the
effectiveness and opinion of its actions. In that sense,
citizens can contribute by posting their views and
26 (Parliament of India 2014)
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 17inputs on the certain policies implemented or that
are to be implemented. As the MoEFCC has a policy
oriented role, the Consultative model would be the
most appropriate to gather the views and inputs of
the stakeholders which would then help in shaping
policies. Apart from sharing their inputs, citizens can
announce their level of satisfaction with the policies
implemented, raise questions about the policies and
put across how the processes of the MoEFCC can be
made more efficient.
Part Two:
Two Twitter handles represent the MoEFCC: the
ministry’s official Twitter handle and the minister’s.
Both maintain large follower volumes with 9166 and
14.4K, respectively. Interestingly enough, the Mininster’s
account has produced substantially less tweets overall. Date
Twitter Handle # of Tweets # of Followers
Joined
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s Twitter @anilmdave Feb-11 654 14.4K
handles? @moefcc July-14 1435 9166
The official ministry Twitter handle and the Minister’s
handle are relatively in-sync. ‘Announcement’ tweets Table 14
account for over 40% of @moefcc and @anilmdave’s Twitter Demographic Information for the MoEFCC
overall tweets. Additionally, both share similarly
high percentages in ‘Advocacy’ and ‘Information’
tweets. This behavior coincides with the paramters
of a policy-oriented ministry, such as the MoEFCC as
those three categories are primarily used to convince
citizens to adopt or react to policy-making.
Despite this commonality, however, there is a
distinct difference between the two communication
channels. @moefcc focuses primarily on collecting
and disseminating information either through the
aforementioned tweet themes or through ‘Feedback’
requests and community ‘Greetings’ posts. This
is a clear example of a ‘Consultative Model’ of
engagement, where citizen opinion is sourced from
a single-loop information channel.
@anilmdave shares the preference for
‘Announcement’ and ‘Advocacy’ tweets but lacks the
interactive messages displayed by @moefcc. With less
than 5% of analyzed tweets categorized as ‘Feedback’
or ‘Response’ tweets, it appears that the Minister
approaches civic engagement through a ‘Managerial
Model,’ updating individuals on schemes and policies
through a controlled single-loop information
channel. However, the overwhelming percentage of
categories consistent with the ‘Consultative Model’
demonstrates some behavior between both models.
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
18 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comMinistry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change Tweets %
by Category
Response
Reminder
Quote
Information
Feedback
Greetings
Congratulations
Advocacy
Announcement
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
@moefcc @anilmdave
Table 15
% share of Tweets from each MoEFCC Twitter Handle within certain categories
g g
What behavior and or perception can this nurture?
Each of the Twitter accounts representing the
Managerial Consultative Participatory
MoEFCC exhibit tendencies of ‘Managerial’ and
@moefcc Æ Consultative Engagement Model
‘Consultative’ civic engagement models. As a result,
the engagement in likes and retweets matches the
potential fallouts of such models. However, the likes
and retweets numbers differ in trends that normally Managerial Consultative Participatory
fit one of the models over the other. @anilmdave Æ Managerial/Consultative Engagement Model
As a policy oriented agency, engagement is
essential to encourage adoption of new policies
and societal changes. However, both models Table 16
can potentially suffer from low levels of citizen Civic Engagement Model Slider
engagement. The standard errors of likes show that
the number of likes a tweet receives are relatively
consistent but the average shows very low levels of
engagement. Retweets, however, vary wildly and
seem to showcase inconsistent engagement. Twitter Likes STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
Handle ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
Summary @anilmdave Low Low Medium High
In conclusion, the Twitter accounts of the MoEFCC @moefcc Low Low Low Low
embody two engagement models. This may be what has
led to the varied standard deviations of likes and retweets. Table 17 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com
The Minister’s account has a higher and more varied Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
demographic which can be consistent with the high
percentage of ‘Greetings’ and ‘Congratulations’ tweets.
Overall, this case study showcases how policy oriented
ministries can possess inconsistent engagement levels.
Further studies comparing this data to ‘approval ratings’
could elaborate further.
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com
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www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 19Case Study:
Ministry of Finance
Abstract
As a cabinet-level ministry, the Ministry of Finance has
a deep array of responsibilities and impacts. As a result, this
case study will first clarify which aspects of the Ministry will
be analyzed for the sake of Twitter communication. It will
then seek to categorize the actual tweets from a randomly
sampled subset of tweets and then identify which form of
civic engagement and organizational learning is utilized
by both Twitter handles associated with this agency.
Finally, a clarification on the statistical differences between
both handles will allow for a better understanding of the
communities that follow each, respectively.
What are the primary responsibilities of the Ministry?
The Ministry of Finance has a large number of
responsibilities and is divided into 5 different
departments-The Department of Economic Affairs,
The Department of Expenditure, The Department of
Revenue, The Department of Financial Services, and
The Department of Disinvestment. The most well-
known responsibility of the MoF is the formulation
and presentation of the budget. Apart from this
function, the MoF is also responsible for the
formulation of various fiscal and monetary policies,
and the management of external debt.27
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
The use of Twitter, and other forms of social media
by the various ministries has fastened and improved
its communication with the citizens. The MoF has
presented the budget on a yearly basis and has
implemented various fiscal and monetary policies
which have a direct impact on the citizens. Thus, this
report would classify the services offered by the MoF
within a policy oriented role.
27 (Parliament of India 2014)
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20 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com hat model of citizen engagement/organisational
learning would be the most appropriate given this
ministry’s responsibilities?
All the three models show the various degrees to
which the government encourages the participation
of citizens to better the offered services. The MoF
is primarily responsible for policy formulation and
implementation, which is why the participatory
model would be the most appropriate for citizen
engagement.28 The participatory model facilitates
a multi-directional flow of information between
the government and the stakeholders rather than
a unidirectional one.29 The data collected from
the stakeholders would help in shaping various
policies. Stakeholders would also question why
various policies were implemented, which would
result in an increase in transparency, which lead to
the betterment of the ministry as a whole. Thus, the
most appropriate method of organisational learning
would be a double-looped one.
Part Two:
The MoF boasts two active and largely followed Twitter
handles: @FinMinIndia and @arunjaitley. Respectively,
they maintain 670 thousand and 7.32 million followers
for close to 8 million accounts together. However, as is
the case with many other ministries, the Minister’s handle Twitter Handle Date Joined # of Tweets # of Followers
– with 7.32 million followers – is substantially larger than @FinMinIndia Jul-14 7,217 670K
the ministry’s. Table 17 shows that this has also been
achieved while publishing far fewer tweets overall. It is
@arunjaitley Nov-13 1865 7.32M
important to realize that the audience for @FinMinIndia Table 18
and @arunjaitley are also different, as the former relates Twitter Demographic Information for the MoF
solely to MoF matters and the latter utilizes his account to
publish notices not just on MoF matters but also Ministry
of Defense issues.
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s
Twitter handles?
Overall, both MoF handles tend to prioritize
‘Announcement’ and ‘Information’ tweets. When
combined with the relative lack of ‘Response’ or
‘Feedback’ tweets, it would appear that both accounts
are utilizing a ‘Managerial Model’ of engagement. Any
information brought up in engagement via Twitter is
directed in a single-loop model from the Ministry to
the citizens. @FindMinIndia exemplifies this most of
28 (Kakabadse, Kakabadse, and Kouzmin 2003)
29 (Chadwick and May n.d.)
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 21Ministry of Finance Tweets % by Category
Quote
Response
Reminder
Information
Greetings
Feedback
Congratulatio…
Advocacy
Announcement
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
@FinMinIndia @arunjaitley
Table 19
% share of Tweets from each MoF Twitter Handle within certain categories
all with over 80% of all the analyzed tweets falling
within one of those two categories.
The Minister, however, has a different tendency
that may point towards his much larger twitter
following, despite substantially less overall posts.
While @arunjaitley does employ ‘Announcement’
and ‘Information’ posts quite frequently, ‘Greetings’
Managerial Consultative Participatory
represent nearly 30% of his communication. When
@FinMinIndia ÆManagerial Engagement Model
juxtaposed to @FinMinIndia with less than 5%
‘Greetings’ tweets, this may act as a distinguishing
factor for the handles.
However, despite this difference, both accounts Managerial Consultative Participatory
have little ‘Feedback’ or ‘Response’ themed tweets @arunjaitley Æ Managerial Engagement Model
and instead rely on spreading information in single-
loop systems. This points to a ‘Managerial Model’ of
civic engagement. Table 20
Civic Engagement Model Slider
What behavior and or perception can this nurture?
The issue commonly associated with ‘Managerial
Models’ is low engagement, as individuals feel less
empowered to impact discussions due to not having
all the information available. Despite that, Table 21
shows that @FinMinIndia’s likeswww.cpc-analytics.com
have a relatively | mail@cpc-analytics.com
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22 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comlower standard errors as does its retweets. This points Twitter Likes STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
to a more consistent level of engagement. However, Handle ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
when one considers the averages for each metric, it @FinMinIndia Low Low Low High
would point to a higher performance with retweets.
One possibility for this could have to do with the @arunjaitley High Very High Low High
period of demonetization when @FinMinIndia was
actively engaged in spreading information.
@arunjaitley, however, experiences a far larger Table 21
standard error in liked tweets while having less Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
overall retweets. An explanation for this could be due
to the large number of community-based ‘Greetings’
and ‘Congratulations’ tweets which attract a lot of
attention and had a very high average number of
likes. What this shows, however, is that the standard
error of likes for all tweets from the Minister are
very spread out, pointing to relatively inconsistent
engagement.
Summary
In conclusion, the Twitter accounts employ the
‘Managerial Model’ of civic engagement. Information is
distributed in a single-loop learning model to update
citizens on issues, events and policies from the Ministry.
There is less focus on debating policy with the Twitter
community, instead choosing to merely inform. The
Minister experiences far more engagement overall, but
it is revealed that this may be due to being responsible
for multiple ministries and for the high level of goodwill
tweets sent from his handle.
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 23Case Study:
Ministry of Power
Abstract
The Ministry of Power has a host of responsibilities
that require international, domestic, inter-state and intra-
state communication strategies. The first part of this case
study will be evaluating and defining the roles which will
be assessed for civic engagement via Twitter. The actual
published tweets from both MoP accounts will then
be categorized and evaluated to determine what
organizational learning model and civic engagement
model the MoP may be utilizing in its current
communication. Finally, the statistics of those tweets will
be considered in order to identify distinctions between
both accounts.
What are the primary responsibilities
of the Ministry?
As the main aim of this report is to address the
significance of social media interaction between
citizens and the various ministries in India, it is
important to first get a clear understanding of the
responsibilities of the ministry being studied. The
primary responsibility of the MoP is the formulation
and implementation of policies and projects in
the field of the energy (E.g.-electricity, coal). It also
accepts and reviews policies related to energy.30
How can those responsibilities be classified within
our 5 categories framework?
For social media communication to be effective, it is
important for the citizens to understand the services
provided by a certain ministry. The MoP has fulfilled
its responsibilities by developing and implementing
various schemes and policies like the Electricity Act
(2003) and the Energy Conservation Act (2001) that
aim at energy conservation and energy efficiency.
Thus, this report would classify the services offered
by the MoT within a policy oriented role.
30 (Parliament of India 2014)
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24 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com What model of citizen engagement/organisational
learning would be the most appropriate given this
ministry’s responsibilities?
All the three models show the various degrees as to
which the government encourages the participation
of citizens to better the offered services. In the
Managerial model, the citizens are merely viewed
as customers and there exists a unidirectional flow
of information from the government to the citizens.
Since the MoP has a policy oriented role, it would
require the views and participation of its stakeholders
to help shape the various policies that could further
be implemented. Thus, the ‘Consultative Model’ would
fit best as it would allow stakeholders to engage with
the information posted by the Ministry and provide
useful feedback. In this model, the data collected
from the communication with the stakeholders via
Twitter would be used for policy improvement and
shaping new policies. Hence, the most appropriate
method of organisational learning would be a single-
looped one.
Twitter Analysis: Twitter Handle Date # of # of Followers
Joined Tweets
The MoP maintains two Twitter handles, one for
Minister Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyalOffc) and the other @MinofPower Jun-14 1,446 88.2K
for the Ministry (@MinofPower) itself. Piyush Goyal’s
twitter handle @PiyushGoyalOffc has 16,700 followers. @ PiyushGoyalOffc Apr-16 3490 16.7K
On the other hand, @MinofPower has 88,200 followers
on Twitter, even though the account has lesser tweets Table 22
than the Minister’s account. Twitter Demographic Information for the MoP
Looking at Table 1, the Ministry seems to be more
popular, but why? To understand this distinction the
Tweets from each account have been categorized per
the framework addressed in the methodology.
The most common type of tweet from both the
accounts fits within the ‘Announcement category,
in which the Minister and the Ministry inform the
stakeholders about various schemes and programmes
that are being implemented by the Ministry. The
Ministry and the Minister also have common tweets
under the ‘Information’ category, where they tweet
about various facts pertaining to their responsibilities.
As seen in the graph above, the Ministry seems to prefer
‘Announcements’ related to its tasks, and the Minister
prefers communicating via the ‘Quote’ category of tweets
to stakeholders. However, the two have very low rates of
‘Response’ tweets. Only 1 % of both the Ministry and the
Ministers tweets are in the form of responses.
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 25Ministry of Power Tweets % by Category
Quote
Response
Reminder
Information
Greetings
Feedback
Congratulations
Advocacy
Announcement
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
@MinistryofPower @PiyushGoyalOffc
Table 23
% share of Tweets from each MoP Twitter Handle within certain categories
What model IS being used in the Ministry’s
Twitter handles?
As mentioned above, both the official accounts of the
MoP and Piyush Goyal share ‘’Announcement’ as their
most common type of tweet (26 % @MinofPower and
17% @PiyushGoyalOffc). This is consistent with the
‘Managerial Model’ of citizen engagement in which
the information is presented to the stakeholders
in a ‘single loop learning’ manner. Emphasis isn’t
on whether a certain policy should exist, but how
citizens can best take advantage and be aware of
such policies. The Minister’s largewww.cpc-analytics.com
percentage share of | mail@cpc-analytics.com
‘Quote’ tweets also confirms the Managerial Model.
What behavior and or perception can this nurture?
Social Media thrives off of the idea that individuals
can control or, at least, affect the flow of information.
Both @MinofPower and @ PiyushGoyalOffc, are
experiencing one of the obstacles that come with a
‘Managerial Model’: incentivizing citizen engagement. Table 24
While the standard error of the Ministry’s received Civic Engagement Model Slider
likes and retweets suggests a consistent level
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26 www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.comof engagement the means also show that such Likes STD. Likes Retweets Retweets
engagement is quite low. | Twitter Handle ERROR Mean STD.ERROR Mean
Similarly, the Minister Piyush Goyal exemplifies
@ MinofPower Low Low Low Low
the ‘Managerial Model’ of citizen engagement
and exhibits similar consistent but low overall @ PiyushGoyalOffc Low Low Low Low
engagement, relative to the overall followers. As
this model only allows for the unidirectional flow of Table 25
information from the government to its stakeholders Standard deviation of Tweets’ likes and retweets
it needs to be considered before initiating any
campaigns.
Summary
In conclusion, the MoP focuses on informing their
stakeholders about the various policies it formulates and
implements, and about the various events and meetings
that occur between the minister and other governing
bodies. Both the Minister and Ministry follow the
‘Managerial Model’ of citizen engagement and as noted
above, there exists a constant but low level of citizen
engagement. To improve the communication between
the two, the Consultative Model should be used in which
the inputs and suggestions given by the stakeholders in
comments via Twitter would help the MoP shape policies
and improve the existing policies as well. Thus, a single-
looped method of organisational learning would be the
most appropriate for the MoP.
Berlin | Strasbourg | Pune
www.cpc-analytics.com | mail@cpc-analytics.com 27Case Study:
Ministry of Health
& Family Welfare
Abstract
The Ministry of Health & Family operates under
the mission of improving the health of the 1.3 billion
Indian citizens within the country. This is an enormous
undertaking requiring distinct levels of communication
and outreach. This report will seek to identify the
primary responsibilities most oriented towards citizens
and classify the functions of its mandate. It will then
evaluate a randomly sampled subset of tweets from both
Twitter handles associated with the ministry. The tweets
will be categorized and used to identify the current
engagement model at use. Finally, statistics on likes and
retweets will be compared alongside these categories to
determine the effect that communication may be having
on engagement with the populous.
What are the primary responsibilities of the
Ministry?
The Ministry of Health & Family is headed by Minister
Jagat Prakash Nadda and has been divided into two
departments-The Department of Health and Family
Welfare and the Department of Health Research.
The Ministry has a large number of responsibilities.
However, to make it easier to understand, the
report has condensed all the responsibilities into
3 major ones. The first responsibility of the MoHF
is to promote research in the field of medicine and
nutrition. The second is the implementation of
schemes and programmes related to health like the
National Programme for Control of Blindness. The
last responsibility is to formulate policies and co-
ordinate and form liaisons with international bodies
regarding family welfare and health.31
31 (Parliament of India 2014)
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