Nick Clegg's new job at Facebook.

Nick Clegg's new job at Facebook.

It's hard to know what to make of today's news that Nick Clegg, he of the coalition government with David Cameron before Theresa May, has been appointed as Facebook's global affairs and communication team. He will be responsible for the welfare of an internationally famous corporation whose image has been ever so slightly tainted by data protection violations and is still reeling from the bad publicity and fall out which followed the revelations.

But now Facebook, that vast global social media empire whose influence can be felt in every corner of the planet, is now entrusting its affairs to  a man who used to be the assistant to the Prime Minister, a man who, had he known it at the time, would probably have run for the hills. Now that assistant has been headhunted by an organisation that has truly become a world wide phenomenon, a quiet and mild mannered man who essentially did nothing wrong at all apart from being the Deputy Prime Minister.

The image of Clegg remains warmly enshrined in the memory. On the day after David Cameron became the official Prime Minister, Clegg and Cameron stood side by side rather like Morecambe and Wise, Flanagan and Allen or Abbot and Costello, all cheesy smiles and heartfelt respect for each other. And yet we all knew that there was a deeper undercurrent of suspicion and simple tolerance of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

The truth is that Clegg didn't really want to be there because he knew that he was just the lengthening shadow behind Cameron, the reluctant deputy who would much rather have been in 10 Downing Street as the leader of the country. Yet there he stood in the pretty garden in Downing Street, ambitions fulfilled to some extent but not entirely happy to be second in command.

The trouble with politicians is that when they drop out of the limelight they tend to either lose their way or find themselves at the House of Commons bar with nobody to talk to. Undoubtedly, Clegg is probably too nice and polite to upset any apple cart but you suspect that an admittedly impressive position with Facebook will hardly fill him with the joys of spring. But then it might have occurred to him that Facebook is immensely popular and it would have been silly to turn his nose up at the opportunity.

Why, you may wonder, was he overlooked by Twitter or Instagram, Snap Chat or any other respectable social media think tank? In the general scheme of things Clegg could have pursued a worthy career in some very high profile role with a bank or found himself considered for any other thriving dotcom company who would have willingly accepted him.

Still it is Nick Clegg that Facebook have turned to for his media savvy connections, his natural leadership qualities and his ability to communicate which as the nature of the job implies, would have to be one of his most outstanding qualities. So what else will Clegg bring to Facebook? Will he change the format of Facebook, will he enhance the profile of Candy Crush Saga, Farmville or those immensely amusing thumbs up and down which quite clearly determine your mood on any given day.

For as long as anybody can remember Facebook has established a seemingly lasting place in our everyday consciousness. Facebook reminds us quite frequently that it remains the only place where you can accumulate roughly 250, 000 friends and family without feeling totally bewildered by the absurdity of this knowledge. Facebook gives you emojis which is the new buzz word for human emotions naturally. It asks you to smile, wishes you well effusively, compiles impromptu friendship stories with any of your long term friends and generally drives up your ego to the highest level.

Facebook gives you up to date information of all the latest trends and developments in art, sport, fashion and the current news agenda. It is the source of an intriguing news feed which tells you all about the things you might have been interested to know but were not entirely sure why it was necessary to know in the first place.

Of course Facebook, according to those in the know has sharply divided opinion among both the chattering classes and those who simply despise it as a wretched nuisance which should have just gone away for ever because they can't stand it.  Besides, what are we to benefit from a service that leaves most of us in some kind of weird parallel universe where the only reality is not reality?

Why should be subjected to this constant bombardment of information, this blizzard of friend requests from people we've never heard of let alone seen and that barrage of chat. It's enough to drive you round the twist - and yet does it actually reduce us to a quivering rage? We know that Facebook is perhaps one of the finest of all creations because it does have an undoubted capacity to bring people together. to re-unite old acquaintances and find out much more than they'd bargained for.

Perversely Facebook has opened itself to shocking abuse and misuse, an exploitation of the way in which  loved ones seem to send perfectly harmless messages only to find that they've gone missing.  Clegg is the man who has been snatched up by Facebook, the man to fix the ongoing behind the scene problems which refuse to go away for Facebook. Clegg is proactive, hands on, ready to step up to the plate as and when required, motivating those who may not be pulling their weight and geeing up those who might be accused of being lackadaisical.

So here we are in this whirling, whizzing high tech world of mass communication where social interaction has become a social imperative. Facebook commands a huge audience and a mind blowing set of high tech dynamics that can hardly be understood by any of us. Naturally it encompasses everything and everybody in its worldwide reach and  hugely captive audience. Its revolutionary, controversial, provocative, annoying, troublesome at times but ultimately captivating and charismatic.

For what seems like an age many of us have taken Facebook to our heart because we really do love the way it keeps un in touch, living in that pretend world where everybody is our friend and nobody is an enemy.  You can be sure that by the end of today Clegg will be fully acquainted with the minutiae of Facebook, its funky downloaded videos, its funny animals, our triumphant birthday parties, our moments in the sun, our tales of woe and success, our grievances and our satisfied customers.

Iti is important to point that some of us have to be careful what we say in case Facebook decides to ban us for an indefinite amount of time. We live in an age where a huge majority of our innermost thoughts are  invariably analysed and intensely monitored in case we overstep the boundaries. This could well be interpreted as the age of censorship, heavily edited criticism that could re-bound on us almost accidentally.

But Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat with a heart of gold has come to the rescue of one of the foremost forces in the social media community. Here we have a man who thought he'd blown it in in political circles only to discover that there was somebody out there who genuinely cared about him- apart that is from his wife, children and family who have always believed that he was the best dad in the world.

Nick Clegg has been given yet another crack, another chance to prove his pedigree, really find out quite literally who his real friends are. When he walks into work on Monday morning it may be that he'll greeted by a company who knew everything there was to know about his credentials, who knows his mind and will make the kind of decisions that he must have felt had been taken out of his hands when he was Deputy Prime Minister.

Clegg you feel sure must still keep a keen eye on the incredible turn of events in Brussels. For Clegg Brexit and its never ending whys and wherefores, this must be a continuous source of merriment and mirth at late night dinner gatherings. How on earth did his partner David Cameron manage to get it so disastrously wrong, completely misjudging his Britain and then perhaps regretting his decisions in the process?

 But Mr Clegg is now back in harness with a job that detaches himself dramatically from confrontational politics and places him back much closer to the public he'd always secretly trusted. Facebook is backing Clegg and it's time to find out whether Candy Crush really is the answer to the Brexit puzzle.

Meanwhile we shall allow the children in the playground to create their mischievous mayhem, insulting each other profusely and verbally attacking each other with cold, calculating jibes laced with personal put downs. We are now in poison pen letter territory and maybe we should take our lead from that very pleasant man who used to be our Deputy Prime Minister. Stand up Nick Clegg. Facebook needs you.