Carol Soon

The Internet and Online Political Communities in Singapore

The emergence and the widespread adoption of the Internet have brought about many dramatic changes on different levels. Due to its inherent characteristics, the Internet has become an engine of political mobilization and participation, and has led to the proliferation of online communities. Few studies examine how political groups use the Internet to build communities and forge alliances in cyberspace, and this study attempts to bridge this gap. Registered political parties and political expression groups in Singapore were selected for this study. Through hyperlink analysis, the study shows that reciprocity and similarity, two main characteristics observed in online communities, were found in the groupings formed by these political groups. Interestingly, most of the online affiliations that exist among these groups reflect those offline.

Flows of Relations and Communication among Singapore Political Bloggers and Organizations: The Networked Public Sphere Approach

Adopting Friedland, Hove, and Rojass (2006) concept of the networked public sphere, we set out to achieve two key objectives: identify the key players concerned with Singapore politics in the cyberspace and examine the nature of the social network comprising these players. In spite of Singapores recognized success in deploying information communication technologies for economic progress, the liberalizing effects of the Internet have been limited. Using a descriptive social network analysis approach, we explore the dynamics that are taking place online and argue for their implications on the evolving political discourse. The study reveals that political bloggers and political parties dominate the cyberspace, while issue-based advocacy groups and media agencies are relegated to less important positions. In addition, high levels of interactivity are observed among political bloggers. These findings are of significant relevance to countries where media systems are stringently regulated by the government, as they point to the existence of possible networking structures that may exist in the online world. There lies a potential for the creation of an alternative and viable sphere of discourse for individuals and marginalized groups to circumvent offline media regulations and disseminate their perspectives online.

Engagement@web 2.0 between the government and citizens in Singapore: dialogic communication on Facebook?

Responding to the rapid adoption of new technologies, political parties, both incumbent parties and minor ones, have been quick to leverage web 2.0 technologies for party communication and mobilization. A coterie of work addressed how social media such as Facebook are used as political tools for the promotion of candidate and party campaign platforms. However, a present bias is observed as current literature focus on western democracies. To bridge the gap, this study examines the gradual, yet significant, evolution in technology deployment by the ruling elite in Singapore. This paper traces the developments in e-engagement to bridge the affective gap between the ruling elite and an increasingly IT-savvy population, one which has demonstrated its astuteness in using new media to articulate its disenchantment. Developments in the last five years indicate that the governments earlier endeavor to centralize and streamline its political engagement via a single portal, REACH, is insufficient to say the least. Between the general election in 2006 and the watershed election in May 2011, the repertoire of media tools deployed by the political elite has broadened, with the inclusion of personal blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. In this paper, we apply Kent and Taylors public relations dialogic communication framework to examine how Facebook fosters greater mutuality, propinquity, and empathy between the government and the electorate. However, problems arising from new technologies themselves inadvertently create risks and challenge the governments ability to commit to dialogic communication.