James Cox
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has utilised social media as well as anyone in Irish politics, and he has now taken the plunge and made a TikTok account.
Mr Harris racked up just under 40,000 followers just hours after setting up the account.
In his first video on the social media platform, he said he has “finally taken the plunge” to join TikTok.
“I'm not quite sure what I've let myself in for yet but looking forward to learning how to use this and use it as another tool to keep in touch with you and up to date and share a few insights and views.
“So hope you're having a good day and talk to you later.”
Mr Harris has gained a large following on Instagram with daily updates on the fight against Covid-19.
In a previous interview with BreakingNews.ie, Kirsty Park, who has done research on politicians and social media at DCU, said: “With Simon Harris' videos, we know he was Minister for Health in the early days of the pandemic, we know he has a strong interest and part of what makes his videos so successful is that they don't seem fake.
“It seems like he genuinely has a strong interest in how we're doing with Covid and how the health system is doing in Ireland. There's definitely an aspect of that, that it seems very authentic and genuine, it's not just him putting up a video to get more likes.
“Realistically, we all do this. We all use social media and try to project a certain version of ourselves and how we want others to see us. So it makes sense that politicians will try and do the same thing as well.”
