There was a time when people used to shiver in fear if the Kerala police followed them. The scene has changed now. Ordinary netizens now follow the cops regularly. With a widely popular Facebook profile that boasts of one million likes, Kerala Police is the new social media celebrity in the state.
Kerala police have been desperately trying to reach out to the GenNext citizens by conquering latter's shared online-spaces with social criticism and cyber-language. They used their Facebook profile to circulate trolls and funny memes which conveyed socially relevant messages and traffic rules.
The cops have gone a step further now. They have now started a TikTok handle. The cops posted their first TikTok video on August 1 and it took the internet by storm. The video in which a cop enlightens a youngster about the importance of wearing helmets received 65,000 likes within 12 hours. The video was also widely circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.
TikTok seeks collaboration
If you think it is the police who took initiative to start a TikTok profile and start publishing videos, you are wrong. It was the TikTok officials who approached the state police chief with a request for collaboration. The company urged the top cop that the department's stardom in social media is irreplaceable.
“It has been quite a while since Kerala Police threw away the mask of firmness,” said Santhosh PS, a civil police officer who is a member of Kerala Police's core social media team. “In order to effectively communicate with a particular generation, we need to learn and master their language and platforms. Youngsters of our state has left behind Facebook and Twitter. They moved on to TikTok, Instagram, Sharechat etc. Police should also move on with them to maintain the rapport we have already created,” he said.
There is a four-member committee in state police's social media cell, which guides the TikTok video production. Senior CPOs Bimal VS, Kamalnath KR and CPOs Arun BS and Santhosh PS are the masterminds behind Kerala Police's TikTok presence.
The team also made it clear that the two videos, which went viral on social media in the past two weeks in the name of Kerala police, are not from them. Santhosh PS said those two videos were done by a movie crew as part of film production. “Kerala police have released only one video so far and that is the one we released on August 1,” he said.
Cops to tie up with Fukru, other TikTok stars
Elaborating their expansion strategy, Kerala Police said they are planning to join hands with TikTok celebrities to make their content reach more audience. “We plan to tap the follower base of existing TikTok celebs by sharing our space with them. We have approached Fukru, a super star in TikTok, and some other TikTok celebrities for the purpose,” Santhosh said.
The cops are already busy with the production of their second TikTok video.