JeDEM 7(1): 23-45, 2015 ISSN 2075-9517 http://www.jedem.org Individualized and Depoliticized: A Study of Chinese Blogosphere in Singapore Carol Soon*, Jui Liang Sim** *Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore, 1C Cluny Road House 5 Singapore 259599,
[email protected], +65 6516 8372, **Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore, 1C Cluny Road House 5 Singapore 259599,
[email protected], +65 6516 5603 Abstract: Research on new media such as blogs examines users’ motivations and gratifications, and how individuals and organizations use them for political participation. In Singapore, political blogs have attracted much public scrutiny due to the bloggers’ online and offline challenges of official discourse. While previous research has established the political significance of these blogs, extant scholarship is limited to blogs written in the English language. Little is known about blogs maintained by the Chinese community, the largest ethnic group in multiracial Singapore. This study is a first to examine this community and the space they inhabit online. Through web crawling, we identified 201 Chinese-language blogs and through content analysis, we analysed if Chinese bloggers contributed to public debates and used their blogs for civic engagement. Their content, motivations for blogging in the language, hyperlinking practices and use of badges indicated that Chinese bloggers in Singapore do not use blogs for political participation and mobilization, but are individualized and a-politicized. We discuss possible reasons and implications in this paper. Keywords: new media, blogs, Chinese, Singapore, civic engagement Acknowledgement: This study is part of a research project by the Institute of Policy Studies on blogs written in three different vernacular languages (Chinese, Bahasa Malayu and Tamil).