The 27-year-old, who resigned from the Southern District Council to join the government seven weeks ago, was dubbed by his colleagues as the 'director of new media' soon after he joined the office.

The first project he participated in was the Act Now campaign, in which Tsang and all of his politically appointed officials went to the people to promote the 2012 electoral reform package. A webpage was created on Facebook to publish Tsang's messages in the forms of videos, photos and articles.

'The Act Now campaign is historic. It suggests that senior government officials will no longer promote a policy purely in the form of press releases, press conferences and townhall meetings,' said the Stanford graduate, who returned to Hong Kong four years ago and co-founded the Savantas Policy Institute with former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee. 'They will of course continue to be integral parts of the government's consultation process and the policy promotion process, but I think we are more and more in line with what politicians in other democratic countries are doing, which is, we have to speak to the people face to face.'

Earning a salary of more than HK$70,000 per month, Chan describes his main duty as political communication. He will be in charge of a standing Facebook account of the Chief Executive's Office, to be launched this month.

He said he saw online and street campaigning as a rising trend because the city's move towards universal suffrage in 2017 would mean officials had to give more weight to direct communication with the people.

'It is very clear that as Hong Kong becomes increasingly democratic, we not only have to redesign our political institutions, but also there is no escaping that ultimately Hong Kong's leader will be a political leader as opposed to simply [being] a civil servant. In a democracy, people look up to the government for political leadership.'

As part of his job, Chan accompanies the chief executive on district visits and other events, helps in the drafting of Tsang's speeches, and 'maintains good relationships with legislators, the media and other stakeholder groups'.

His predecessor, Gary Chan Hak-kan, the first person to hold the position of special assistant when it was created in 2006, quit in 2008 to run in the Legislative Council election and is now a lawmaker.

Appointed at the age of 29, Gary Chan had also been a district councillor and was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Ronald Chan said he had not yet considered any future plan for his political career, such as whether to run for district council or the Legislative Council. Noting a lack of people willing to participate in elections in Hong Kong, he said: 'It is one of the aspects we need to work on in the medium term, to encourage young people to take part in elections.'