British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday celebrated his growing popularity on the micro-blogging site Twitter by meeting one of his online followers in person and offering his fan a tour in the century-old British Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) building.

The netizen Gopal Rao, who described himself as an MBA candidate at the University of Cambridge, was hand-picked by Hague as the winner of a "Meet the Foreign Secretary" Twitter competition, and invited to meet the foreign secretary in the historic FCO building in Whitehall of London.

Earlier this year, Hague marked his 200,000th follower on Twitter by asking his followers to answer "what is the biggest contribution UK foreign policy can make to the world."

The winning entry from Rao turned out to be "UK foreign policy should focus on emancipation of girls and women through enterprise, supported by vibrant SocEnt (social entrepreneurship) culture within UK."

The FCO did not provide details on why Hague favored the answer, but the entry seems to be in line with one of Britain's claimed diplomatic priorities about ending sexual violence.

"Seeing the passion and dedication both of the Foreign Secretary and his team was incredible," Rao said at the end of his FCO tour.

"The building is imposing but the people I met in the FCO are friendly and welcoming. I hope digital diplomacy reaps rewards," the netizen added.

Hague, who has posted more than 3,600 tweets and attracted 215,000 followers so far, was one of the most active British politicians on the micro-blogging site.