Federal Council spokesperson tweets from the Federal Palace
Federal Council Spokesperson André Simonazzi is now tweeting from the Federal Palace. The government’s official spokesperson will be sharing information from the Federal Council under the handle @BR_Sprecher on the ever-growing microblogging service.
With his first tweet on Wednesday, the Vice-Chancellor announced in French: "My Twitter is open." His aim is to use the additional channel to provide better information about the Federal Council. If possible, he will also seek dialog.Simonazzi sees the Twitter account as an experiment. "I haven't set myself a goal, but want to test whether the exchange with the Twitter community is of any use," Simonazzi told the SDA news agency on Thursday. He is curious to see what the response will be.
Normally, the Vice-Chancellor tweets personally. If it is not him but his team that sends a tweet, a "BK" for Federal Chancellery appears in brackets after the message.
Supplement existing information channels
Twitter is not intended to replace existing information channels such as the homepage, communiqués or Facebook, but rather to explicitly supplement them, said the Valais native. He wants to provide information about "big or very small things" or, for example, link to ongoing events such as a Federal Council press conference. Since the opening tweet, neo-Twitter Simonazzi has reported on an event with the foreign press at the media center in Bern - with a picture. He also thanked the more than 200 followers who have already signed up for his account for their feedback and interest.
With the abbreviation "BR_Sprecher", the Federal Council spokesperson is based not least on his counterpart from Germany: Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) has been tweeting alongside Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel since February 2011. His account has almost 64,000 followers. (SDA)
