To find out what the public is thinking, British civil servants will use Facebook while on duty.
![Using Facebook To Find Out What People Think: UK Bureaucrats Using Facebook To Find Out What People Think: UK Bureaucrats](https://www.medindia.net/health-images/facebook-security.jpg)
But the "active consultation" plans have been met with incredulity by senior officials, who believe the move will simply encourage civil servants to spend time idly contacting their friends on Facebook.
Kerslake has given departments until September to adjust their computer firewalls to allow access to Facebook, which is currently banned by most of them.
The civil service boss believes the plan will help the government interact with voters.
Kerslake's memo will lead to thousands of mandarins and junior civil servants getting access to Facebook for up to three months at a time.
A source close to Kerslake said: "He has sent a letter to permanent secretaries. Kerslake believes we have got to be much better at using social media to engage the public".
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But one senior official said: "This is totally mad. It's a licence for civil servants to mess about all day on Facebook.If everyone does personal Facebooking for just 10 minutes a day, that will cost taxpayers millions of pounds a year in lost man hours," the official added.
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Source-ANI