If you thought Facebook is only an excuse to idle away the hours, labour minister Shibu Baby John would give you a lesson or two on good uses of the social media platform.
Having joined Facebook barely three months ago, Mr Shibu yielded to public pressure on Friday and used the social media platform to take complaints and interact with people on various issues.
“I will be online for chat from 04.30 pm today for some hours and would expect you to be there for healthy debates and discussions on topics of social relevance,” the minister posted on his Facebook wall in the early hours of Friday.
As promised, Mr Shibu was online at 4.30 pm sharp, and interacted with nearly 350 people via chat till 6.40 pm, when he went offline.
When this reporter pinged him midway through the session to learn about the progress, Mr Shibu replied, “Amazing response, difficult to handle.”
Later, he told this newspaper over phone, “It’s a nice experience, and I am looking forward to meet new people and redress their issues through Facebook.” He said most queries related to the nurses’ strike and demands for modifying facilities at the employment exchange.
“I was amazed by the response, and reconnected with many old friends. (Even) my children’s friends were online,” he added.