The PM's Own App

<div>&nbsp;<em>Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on his Twitter status that he had launched an app that was available on the Play Store</em><br><br><br>You know how they say “There’s an app for that,” a snide remark on how everything in the world is getting to be an app? Even this phrase has become a little passé because everything actually is an app and it’s no longer surprising or comment-worthy. But when a prime minister launches his own app, it’s time to raise an eyebrow or two.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>On Wednesday (17 June), Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on his Twitter status that he had launched an app that was available on the Play Store: “Come let’s stay connected on the mobile,” he invited Indian citizens.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The PM’s Facebook page echoes the announcement as well. While Twitter has close to a billion users worldwide, the active user base is much smaller as new users create their accounts and promptly disappear from the network, finding the onboarding too overwhelming and the stream of hanging 140-character conversations too chaotic. On Facebook, on the other hand, the engagement is more intense and users are not hesitating to put in long-winded comments and remarks. “We’d like to see you on iOS and Windows next,” says one user, humourously.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The app has clearly been created keeping current design in mind. It’s visual, easy to use, and quite feature-filled. Unlike many bare-bones government apps, it gives the user a lot to do.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>When you sign up with Facebook, Twitter or Google, you swipe into a few introductory screens. Getting past that you see a stream of news, each item topped by a photograph – the developers have obviously keptin mind the fact that visual content draws audiences. You can tap into news items to read the full article and comment. Apart from articles, interviews, his <em>Man Ki Baat </em>video and in general daily prime ministerial activities can all be seen in the app. You can also save items to read later.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>More interestingly perhaps, there’s a platform to interact with the Prime Minister, writing to him with your views and questions. What answers one will get and from whom, remains to be seen. Writing to the PM takes the user out of the app and to pmindia.gov.in website where you first register with your email id. In the app, the user also gets “personal” messages from the PM, possibly in the style of the recent direct message sent out to his followers on Twitter.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>A “To Do Tasks” sections seems currently to hold ebooks about various activities such as the PM’s visit to Germany recently. The Narendra Modi app certainly feels more personal than comments made on Twitter or Facebook. It remains to be seen how Indian citizens take to this new method of connecting with a prime minister.</div>