RECENTLY, almost all TV channels confused people by first airing the news that Iqbal Day (Nov 9) would be a public holiday, but later on claimed that there would be no public holiday.

People were so confused that they started sharing infographics, images on Facebook and Twitter regarding this.

The interior ministry announces public holidays through notifications. I was wondering why it is not using its Twitter account properly to announce holidays. It will be great if Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali takes notice of this and launches the ministry’s Facebook page and make announcements through it. This will help public in getting authentic official information about holidays.

Interior ministry notifications can be seen on their website at the bottom of the website but are not easily visible to everyone. Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus buttons are also on the website but not integrated with their respective accounts.

Over 15 million Pakistanis are on Facebook, which means if the interior ministry announces a holiday on its page, this will surely go viral and there will be no ambiguity. The interior ministry must also use Twitter on its website and all other platforms to announce their decisions.

I hope all government institutions which deals with the public use these social media platforms so that people get official information and are not dependent on the media which often confuses people.

Mubashir Mahmood
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015