New Delhi, Jan 30 : In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 18th National e-Governance Conference via Twitter on Friday.

The live Twitter address revolved around his vision for a Digital India and to take e-Governance and mobile governance to the next level.

He also hoped the conference would become a focal point for the innovation of ideas to help the nation.

This was yet another innovative approach that has become characteristic of the Prime Minister. Such innovations were seen before. It was also seen during U. S. President Barack Obama's recent visit to India.

In fact, President Obama's visit for this year's Republic Day celebrations started and culminated in the virtual world of Twitter.

It was on social media that Prime Minister Modi broke the news of President Obama's visit, and it was through social media that he also bid farewell.

"This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over... invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest," Prime Minister Modi tweeted on November 21, last year.

Like his earlier foreign visits and visits by foreign leaders, the Prime Minister kept the nation updated about the visit through social media.

"POTUS: I want to express my profound gratitude to @NarendraModi and the people of #India for the incredible hospitality shown to me and Michelle," tweeted President Obama's National Security Council (NSC) after the visit.

Prime Minister Modi even took to Twitter and replied back to @WhiteHouse.

"Farewell @WhiteHouse! Your visit has taken India-USA ties to a new level and opened a new chapter. Wish you a safe journey," he tweeted.

This gesture of Prime Minister Modi replying back was appreciated across social media.

The farewell tweet to @WhiteHouse got an incredible response in the world of Twitter.

It did not stop there. Prime Minister Modi joined SoundCloud just before the Republic Day. He shared a special edition of 'Mann Ki Baat' between him and U. S. President Barack Obama via SoundCloud.

Within days of becoming active on SoundCloud, the Prime Minister was followed by over 1,500 fans, which is an impressive number. The number of plays is nearing 300,000!

There were thousands of downloads and 'Mann Ki Baat' was played on by lakhs of people on SoundCloud alone. There were millions who listened to this month's 'Mann Ki Baat' on various online mediums.

Prime Minister Modi became the world's first leader to send out an audio-video tweet, when he shared an excerpt from his speech at the NCC Parade. The excerpt from his NCC speech was also shared on Facebook as a native video, which was an instant hit.

@TwitterIndia too recognised Prime Minister Modi's innovation.

"Another @narendramodi #TwitterFirst Audio and Video Tweets from the PM," tweeted Twitter India.

Last November, the Prime Minister joined Instagram and was given a wonderful welcome. He has been posting a few photographs over there for quite some time.

The Instagram post that was made by him on January 26 was a fabulous hit. The post saw over 35,000 likes and over 700 comments.

Also, with just ten updates in the recent week, the Prime Minister's Facebook page noticed a substantial rise in traffic.

Prime Minister Modi's photo of welcoming President Obama and Michelle Obama created ripples across social media platforms and received the highest number of likes, shares and comments on Facebook.

The reach of the photo stands at over 28,400,000. The moment was such that even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg 'liked' it.

Apart from this, Prime Minister Modi's photo with President Obama at Hyderabad House received over a million likes.

Prime Minister Modi's album, 'A cup of tea with President Obama' was a great hit too. The album was the most clicked post and received over 14 lakh likes and a reach of 11,000,000.

The record numbers were seen on other digital properties as well. On the Prime Minister's YouTube channel, the total number of subscribers on his channel rose significantly.

Prime Minister Modi receiving President Obama and then holding the joint press conference with him turned out to be one of the most appreciated videos.

The website of Prime Minister Modi -www. narendramodi. in - too witnessed a surge in numbers.

The special 'Mann Ki Baat' page on the website: www. narendramodi. in/mannkibaat noted over 1, 70,000 visits.

The Prime Minister is truly a believer in the power of social media and technology to communicate with people across the globe.

With that kind of reach, Prime Minister Modi has taken a giant leap in the domain. (ANI)