“I can only shake my head”

Six Instagram officials have been deployed to the federal government for three days. You ensure the presence of the Federal Council on social media. The goal: to bring government work closer to younger citizens.

They have hardly started their work when some MPs criticize the work of the social media managers in the service of the Federal Council.

SVP National Councilor Diana Gutjahr (38) posted the screenshot of a message from Insta officials on Twitter, with the comment: “For this message and the all-important question you need ten messages! I can only shake my head.”

In all four national languages

Gutjahr is right about the ten positions – the Instagram officials are expanded to this number. However, they should not only fill the Instagram account, but also take care of the social media communication of the Federal Council at different levels. And in all four national languages.

That doesn’t stop MPs from offering decent criticism: “Imagine the exact same thing offline,” replies the St. Gallen FDP National Councilor and Digitec founder Marcel Dobler (42) – explaining what he means by that: “The Federal Council is hiring people to talk to people at train stations, unbelievable as a taxpayer!”

Already more followers than officials

But maybe it’s just jealousy of the politicians: Although the Federal Council’s Instagram account (@gov.ch) only went online on Monday, it already had more than 41,000 followers by Wednesday.

Diana Gutjahr on the other hand has 2127 followers and Dobler has 2332 followers. However, the federal government also has nearly 40,000 employees — it’s quite possible that many officials will follow their new Instagram colleagues. (sf)