Social media
The Federal Council is on Instagram and is measured there with videos of eggs and cats
As probably one of the last governments in the world, the Federal Council is now also represented on social media. This is intended to appeal to “young people”. The first post leaves even the oldest semesters a little perplexed.
What exactly Karin Keller-Sutter is showing Alain Berset is not known here. One thing is certain: from today the Federal Council is also present on Instagram.
It’s not a cat video: the Federal Council is now also on Instagram. Together with around four million Swiss, the state government is now also present. And as a first hit on the photo and video platform, the generously expanded social media team put together a video. You can see the magistrates talking on the phone (Maurer), shaking hands (Parmelin, Berset) and, above all, walking around (Cassis). A piano jingle and all kinds of strings provide the pathos. Ah.
“Warning: this is important,” says it all about this 55-second video. “Energy, climate, Europe, health, retirement provision, security – on these and many other issues, the Federal Council makes life-changing decisions in Switzerland every week,” says the meaningful description. Even before a cheeky face winks at readers. “Follow us so as not to miss anything.”
For now only on Instagram
The Federal Council justifies the need for the switch to post on Instagram, among other things, that “in 2018, more than 80 percent of the governments represented at the UN were on Instagram”. That’s right: the Swiss government actually refers to a five-year study, according to which everyone else participated at the time. But perhaps there was still social media neutrality in Switzerland at the time: either on all platforms or none, the state government still doesn’t publish anything on Facebook. And certainly no cat videos.
Federal Councilor Berset welcomes the official Federal Council account on Instagram.
But there is still a cat to see in Alain Berset’s welcome post. In its Insta story, the SP Federal Council publishes a black and white image of a group of graying men, one of whom appears to easily jump over a fence. The (colorful) meme characters cheer. The not unassuming Freiburg native has obviously been on Instagram for a long time (respectable 118,000 followers). Colleagues Sommaruga (34,6000 followers), Cassis (16,000 followers) and Parmelin (9,000 followers) also give an insight into their working life (very rarely in more private areas).
Even from the official press release it is not clear what exactly the official Federal Council account wants to do. “Real communication should be channel-specific, ie audiovisual, attractive and interactive,” says the Federal Chancellery in the best language of advertising agencies. By the way, the target group is “young people”. It remains to be seen whether they actually want to be informed in a “factual” and “appropriate channel” manner. The snappy Federal Council video (one reel is entirely correct, but is only mentioned here for “factual” reasons) was played 6,000 times in the first two hours.
Now it might seem like a lot. In the world of social media driven by the same, however, these are crumbs at best. By the way, one of the most successful photos on Instagram is the image of an egg. The only goal of the poster was to see if it could actually set a new like record (spoiler: it worked with over 56 million virtual hearts). Sure enough not “object oriented” but sure enough “channel appropriate”. We look forward to the other click boosters from federal cuisine.
