Nay Pyi Taw: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, known for his social media prowess, on Wednesday made his debut on Instagram, sharing a picture from the venue of the ASEAN and EAST Asia summits here.
"Hello World! Great being on Instagram. My first photo... this one from the ASEAN Summit, @Nay Pyi Taw," Modi said in a post on his Instagram account.
The photo taken by the Prime Minister was of the giant billboard of the 25th ASEAN Summit and of the golden bordered red carpet leading upto it at the Myanmar International Convention Centre.
Within hours of Modi posting his first image on Instagram, the Prime Minister was flooded with nearly 38,000 followers.
"The photograph itself indicates a red carpet welcome to the summit and to Instagram. We welcome you in to instagram," said one user.
Modi, looking dapper in a dark suit, also posted a picture of himself making the Instagram debut. "At the Summit... captured a glimpse of the venue," Modi tweeted alongside the picture of him taking the photo.
Modi posts messages on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook on a regular basis. He is one of the fourth most followed world leaders.
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos and share them on a variety of social networking platforms, such as Facebook, and Twitter. A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape. The service, launched in October 2010, has gained popularity, with over 100 million active users.
Modi is in Myanamr capital to attend the ASEAN-India and East Asia summits where he is making a debut on the second leg of his three-nation ten-day tour that will also take him to Australia and Fiji.
Updates of Modi's interactions are routinely available on his social media platforms and sometimes even before the completion of his parleys with world and business leaders.
One of the most tech-savvy politicians in the country, Modi has been asking his ministers and officials to join the social media bandwagon.
Just after forming the government, Modi had "suggested" all ministers and the ministries to join social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs to "directly communicate" to the people.
Since formation of the government, not many high profile ministers have joined the virtual world.
A Prime Minister's Office statement said with Modi's Instagram debut, the Prime Minister was taking his interaction with well wishers on social media to the next level.
Prior to Instagram, the Prime Minister had already been reaching out to the masses through some of the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more, the statement said.
With frequent tweets, posts on Facebook and other sites of various events and visits, social media platforms have clearly proved to be useful to connect with millions of his followers and supporters globally, the statement said.
It also said that Modi has been quite active on other social sites like Stumbleupon, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn. He has been sharing photos on Flickr as well, the statement said.
It noted that the Prime Minister has continuously been encouraging the use of this digital platform. The Prime Minster has been making use of social media to showcase the work done by the government as well as inspire people to serve the nation through campaigns like the Swachch Bharat Mission, the statement said, adding that the social media has been helpful in spreading out messages directly from him and build a strong leadership.
"It (social media) has been successful in opening up a direct channel of communication between people and the Prime Minister," it said.
