Shibu Baby John to be more involved on Facebook

By Jisha Surya / ENS - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

13th July 2012 12:06 PM

Shashi Tharoor MP may be the most popular politician on twitter, but nobody could compete with the popularity of Labour Minister Shibu Baby John on Facebook.
Shibu is so popular on Facebook that the number of his friends has touched the maximum limit of 5000 in a month, prompting him to open another account.
The Minister gets hundreds of ‘likes’ for his wall posts, which include announcement of decision to quit smoking as a birthday gift for his mother. Now, the Minister is making another popular move by declaring his decision to spare 2 hours a week for online chat with his Facebook friends.
On Thursday morning, Shibu wrote on the Facebook ‘wall’ that he would dedicate two hours a week for online chatting. After explaining the problems in responding to the chat request, Shibu wrote ‘’to overcome this handicap and to continue to be in touch with you, I’ve promised that I would dedicate two hours a week for online chat as I’m equally keen to have a meaningful two-way communication with my friends on many things of public interest and common good,” he wrote.
When contacted, the minister said he want to discuss serious issues with the people and would allot time for that. ‘’I am fascinated by the whole process. A lot of genuine issues are coming up. However, I cannot discuss all issues at one time as there are a lot of friends. I will announce  the time in advance. People who want to discuss issues can send message in advance,’’ the Minister told ‘Express’.
The cover photo of the Facebook account shows Shibu distributing sweets to the headload workers at Palayam market here as a gift for denying ‘nookkukooli’. He never forgets to share news reports on Labour Department, important functions and even cartoon strips featuring him.
However, the most touching of all is his personal account of his 80-year-old mother he shared with his Facebook friends. In a series of articles titled ‘Oormakalude Vasanthakalam’, Shibu wrote the eventful life of his ‘ammachi’ Annamma, wife of RSP leader late Baby John. Sepia-tinted pictures of family were uploaded along with the memoirs.