MEA ‘engaging’ with influencers from other nations
The initiative has been backed by foreign secretary Vikram Misri and his predecessor Vinay Kwatra.
After engaging with journalists from across the world over the decades, the external affairs ministry recently switched gears and began reaching out to social media influencers who can get the India story to a younger generation more attuned to getting updates from reels and short videos.
The ministry made a start by bringing in a group of 19 influencers and social media content creators from Nepal and Sri Lanka at the end of April, and the second group of about 15 influencers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is visiting the country this week, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The initiative, the brainchild of the ministry’s external publicity (XP) division, has been backed by foreign secretary Vikram Misri and his predecessor Vinay Kwatra, and there are now plans to arrange more visits by influencers every six months or so, the people said.
“The social media content creators get to see a different side of India and we get to engage with people we otherwise would not have. The whole idea is to get the India story, and the soft side of the country, to a larger audience,” one of the people cited above said.
Two other reasons for the outreach to influencers are their huge following of millions on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, and their creation of content in local languages. The group from Nepal and Sri Lanka, for instance, included content creators specialising in travel, tech, food, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment and even news. Among those who were in the first group of influencers were Sri Lankan celebrity chef Charith N Silva, who has 2.2 million followers on Instagram, Sri Lankan actress and singer Shanudrie Priyasad, who has 1.2 million followers on Instagram, and Nepal’s Asmi Shrestha, a former Miss Nepal with a substantial following across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
“This initiative also supplements work being done by other arms of the government, such as the tourism ministry,” the person cited above said.
In addition to briefings from officials in the external affairs ministry dealing with their countries, the influencers from Nepal and Sri Lanka who visited in April-May were taken to the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Akshardham Temple and Dilli Haat in New Delhi, the City Palace, Amer Fort, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar in Jaipur and YouTube India in Gurugram for a session on analytics.
During their eight-day trip, they were also taken to Mumbai where they visited the Gateway of India, Film City and Mannat, the home of film star Shahrukh Khan. The trip also included visits to ReNew Energy, a renewable power company in Gurugram, a startup incubator at IIT-Delhi and the Bombay Stock Exchange, and meet-ups with Indian content creators.
“The programme centres round giving them opportunities to create interesting content, while visits to places such as BSE and IIT-Delhi give them a more rounded overview,” the person said.
Among the places the second batch of influencers from the UAE, a mix of Emiratis and people of Indian origin, will visit is Ladakh, allowing for the showcasing of a part of India that is becoming increasingly popular with foreign tourists.
It was also in the UAE that the external affairs ministry first collaborated with social media influencers, when they were allocated special vantage positions at “Ahlan Modi”, the prime minister’s interaction at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi in February this year. The Indian mission in Abu Dhabi also has its own initiative for reaching out to influencers called “India Majlis”.
The outreach to influencers will continue alongside India’s long-standing programme of engaging with foreign journalists. However, this programme too has undergone changes in recent month, with the external affairs ministry focusing on regions instead of individual countries. For instance the most recent visit this month was by a group of jounalists from countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
The visits by journalists include specialised briefings by senior officials of the ministry and sessions with the foreign secretary and external affairs minister, as well as visits to Mumbai or Bengaluru to showcase the financial and tech sectors.
During 2023- 24, there were 11 visits by journalists from the Maldives, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Israel, Asean states, Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries and African nations. Since January 2023, a total of 158 journalists and editors from West Asian countries, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries and LAC countries visited India.