After winning over fans for their innovative use of memes on social media, the city police seems to have adopted more traditional means of reaching out to the city’s residents.
Gaining fame and recognition for their memes centered on popular shows like Game of Thrones , Narcos and even featuring actors like Irrfan Khan, the Twitter and Facebook pages of the Bengaluru City Police had gained a dedicated fan following which is now disappointed with the new change in tactics.
The Twitter account at @blrcitypolice is back to retweets, standard replies, complaint forwarding and road safety posters. While the old memes still exist on its Facebook page, it is not possible to find them on Twitter any more.
“It was the first time I saw a police force keep up with the times in India on social media. Other police forces globally are trying hard to raise awareness about the law while keeping their sense of humour intact and I think it is unfortunate for the city police to go back to the old methods,” said Deepthi S., a resident of Indiranagar.
According to police officials, the reason is a relook at the social media team responsible for posting awareness messages. Sources said that while the memes were welcomed almost universally, it was felt that there was not much focus on generating content in Kannada.
There was also too much focus on some issues while others were left out, a police officer said.
In terms of branding themselves as a police force ‘in tune’ with the new generation, this might not be a good move opines brand strategy expert Harish Bijoor.
“In a city like Bengaluru where the number of young residents under the age of 35 is high, it is important to keep them engaged on social media. Maybe they are thinking of other means of reaching out to the public and have put these memes and other popular posts on the backburner for now. I hope it returns soon.”
Meanwhile, the other major city police force to adopt the meme route to spread awareness, the Mumbai Police, is continuing with the plan and the Game of Thrones hashtags.
In case you want to catch up on Bengaluru police’s old posts, they are still available on their Facebook page at BlrCityTraffic in their archived photos and videos section.
