I&B Ministry drafts social media ad policy guidelines

In an attempt to improve and standardise social media outreach of ministries and government departments, a draft policy has been released by the I&B Ministry.

In a document titled 'Policy Guidelines for Empanelment of Social Media Platforms with Bureau of Outreach and Communication', the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has released a draft of social media ad policy guidelines. The objective for creating the draft policy is to improve social media outreach of various ministries and government departments.

The policy framework will enable the ministries and Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) to engage with social media platforms on the basis of various criteria, T&C and processes stipulated in these guidelines. The BOC will be the nodal agency to handle the outreach efforts.

BOC will determine which platforms are relevant for the outreach activity based on the needs of the ministry/department and the target audience, theme, content of the proposed activity, budget and duration of the campaign. In doing so, preference may be given to social media platforms that are based in India without affecting the desired outcomes from the campaign activities.

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The draft defines a social media platform as a 'web-based and mobile-based Internet Application that allows the creation, access and exchange of user-generated content. The content on the social media platform may be in the form of text, audio-visual, graphics, animation or any other form prescribed by BOC from time to time'.

It is important for platforms to have 25 million unique users from India per month. A unique user has been defined as the number of distinct individuals visiting a given social media platform over a specified period of time. If a particular user visits the given social media platform, a number of times over a specified period of time, the number of unique users will be counted as one.

An important criterion is that the platform must possess an online panel with demonstrated credibility through which the space or inventory for advertisement can be booked. "The access of such online panel should be provided to BOC along with requisite training if any. All other advertisers/advertising agencies must have access to the same panel as the one provided to BOC," the document reads.

You can access the entire policy draft here.