The social media team under the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has archived the official Twitter account of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and has made a new account.
The official Twitter account of PMO was created in September 2018. It regularly informed its followers about the latest developments emanating from the PM Office. However, it has now been archived and the new Prime Minister is seen mostly using his personal account for official purposes.
Contrary to democratic norms in the 21st century, the social media team of the incumbent PM is also using his personal account into the official account of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. PM Shehbaz even thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for congratulating him on becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister using his personal account.
Under the prevailing official practices in Pakistan, verified social media accounts of heads of state, ministers, and state institutions are never archived. Instead, these accounts continue to operate as usual.
For instance, the official Twitter account of the DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) was first created in December 2016. Since then, the office has been held by three officials but the official account continues to operate irrespective of who holds the office.
Moreover, the official Twitter account of the Office of Deputy Commissioner Islamabad (@dcislamabad) was created in June 2010. The Federal Capital has seen several DCs over the years but the official account has remained the same. The incumbent DC Islamabad, Hamza Shafqaat, has maintained a separate Twitter account to interact with his followers.
As for international practice, the official Twitter account of the UK’s Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) was created in March 2008. Since then, four politicians have held the office but the official account has remained the same. Although the incumbent British premier has a separate Twitter account that was made in April 2015, he is using the official ‘@10DowningStreet’ account for official communication.
Although the incumbent PM’s social media team was quick to archive the official account of PMO and issue PM’s official statements from Shehbaz Sharif’s personal account, they forgot to change his username which is still ‘@CMShehbaz,’ referring to his Chief Minister days.
The management should consider changing the username of the incumbent Prime Minister’s account to ‘PMShehbaz’—subject to availability obviously— to give the account a semblance of the PM Office’s official account.
The absurd development has taken place within hours after Shehbaz Sharif took the oath as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The former ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had set up the DMW in 2020. DMW serves as a strategic unit of the state to highlight the initiatives taken by the Federal Government. DMW also manages all official social media accounts of the Federal Government.
If this one example is anything to go by, the future of the Digital Media Wing (DMW) appears dark.
Oh bhai puri duniya main aisa hi hota hai POTUS ka dekh lo. Aik intahayi less important cheez pay article chaap diya.
do you guys have any sense how the official accounts work around the world? They are archived for public records after each admin change.