SINCE yesterday morning, tweets by the Defence Ministry have entered cyberspace, after the ministry opened its first account on the social media Twitter.
The ministry’s first tweet, at 11.04am yesterday morning, featured a welcoming note from the Defence Minister Demetris Eliades to the public and signalled the launch of the ministry’s new website.
Eliades said that the ministry’s presence in social media was a tremendous step in enhancing its relationship with society.
“A window of communication and transparency now opens for our recruited youth, the military and civil personnel of the National Guard and the citizens’ society,” Eliades said.
The twitter account, which was opened in collaboration with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta), will be updated continuously and will feature news relating to the ministry’s activities.
The public will also be able to voice concerns, comment and ask questions, including contentious queries such as officer’s selections and recruitment.
It is thought that some of the ministry’s younger officers will be handed the task of responding to the questions and related tweets, with the ministry’s spokeswoman Aliki Stylianou explaining that it was of the essence that tweets were replied as soon as possible.
“Most importantly, the ministry’s positions will now reach the public easier, and will immediately be open for scrutiny,” Eliades said, who hailed the move as groundbreaking action for Cyprus’ state service.
Cyprus’ Defence Ministry is one of the first of its kind from EU’s 27 member states to have a twitter account, along with the British defence ministry.
Alex Christoforou, the ministry’s scientific associate for social media said that in recent years there has been a “historic shift in technology”, with social media and specifically twitter being the norm of communication nowadays.
“With approximately 200 million users worldwide and over 230 million tweets per day, twitter is by far the best tool of communication,” said Christoforou.
With mobile applications and blogs underway and the growing “cloud technology”, where data is stored online rather than on devices themselves, Christoforou quashed any qualms over the security of the data posted online.
“We have followed the exact same procedure used by the US State and Defence Departments, so as long as they are secure, we are,” Christoforou said.
The ministry also launched its new website, where relevant legislation, news, policies, job openings, tender agreements and archived press releases and images will be displayed.
Follow the Cyprus Defence Ministry at @DefenceCyprus or visit the new website at www.mod.gov.cy
