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T ODAY Wednesday April 16, 2008

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Voices
Hop on the bandwagon
Govt should consider new media for better interactivity with Singaporeans
Letter from NICHOLAS GUAN YONG SHENG

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CORRECTION
In the article, Boardroom controversy at Swissco (April 15), we reported that Swissco independent director Kwah Thiam Hock sits on the boards of six listed companies. His sixth directorship is at ECICS Ltd, which is not a listed company but a wholly-owned subsidiary of mainboard-listed IFS International. We are sorry for the error.

I REFER to the article, PM Lee on Internet lessons (April 14). I applaud Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs statement that Singapores laws should evolve to keep up with new media as this is extremely necessary for the growth of our modern nation. The Government has always advocated change to bring about improvement. It has always shown support in promoting this need of change. However, I find the Government lacking in one aspect of change with regard to new media. I do agree that the Government must be careful with the use of the Internet as a communication channel. However, their willingness to adopt new media as an alternative communication channel seems to be overly cautious. I find this a pity as new media has so much to offer. We have been fortunate enough to observe several examples of political figures in other countries leveraging on new media to aid their political campaigns. One good example would be Barack Obamas extensive use of new media such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace to drive his campaign. In addition to his strong new media utilisation, he implements the use of a Customer Relationship Management software to track online activities related to his web campaigns. His sleek and effective use of new media has gained him much popularity amongst voters in America.

FAIZAL

Malaysias Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi conceded that his partys ignorance of the Internet has contributed to its poor showing in the recent elections. On the opposition side, Mr Anwar Ibrahim was sharp enough to harness the power of new media. He maintains a blog and even a Facebook account to allow him to connect with Malaysians on a more personal level. This has won him many supporters around Malaysia. The Singapore Government could perhaps draw lessons from these campaigns that employed new media as an effective communication tool to interact with the public. The reason why new media is so effective is because of its ability to allow users to interact with the content creators and each other. More people are turning to the Internet to gather information from blogs and even social

networks. They do so because they have developed a trusting relationship with bloggers and their friends on social networks. Facebook, for instance, allows an organisation to create a business page on which the organisation can post related content and interact with users on a more personal basis. It often costs little or nothing to create a presence on new media. Furthermore, the potential of free viral marketing is superlative in new media because of its high-trust interactivity. The key to engaging users on new media is a development of trust by catering and interacting sincerely. It would be a pity if the Singapore Government does not hop on this new media bandwagon to interact with Singaporeans in a more personal and effective manner.