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Social Media and Politics Online Social Networking and Political Communication in Asia SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS Online Social Networking and Political Communication in Asia EDITED BY PHILIP BEHNKE Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Singapore Media Programme Asia Social Media and Politics Online Social Networking and Political Communication in Asia Edited by Philip Behnke Copyright © 2010 by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Singapore Publisher Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 34 Bukit Pasoh Road Singapore 089848 Tel: +65 6603 6181 Fax: +65 6603 6180 Email: [email protected] www.kas.de/mediaasia All rights reserved Manuscript offers, review copies, exchange journals, and requests for subscription are to be sent to the publisher. The responsibility for facts, opinions and cross references to external sources in this publication rests exclusively with the author and his interpretation do not necessarily reflect the views of the policy of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Layout and Design Hotfusion 7 Kallang Place #04-02 Singapore 339153 www.hotfusion.com.sg Foreword 7 Chapter 1 Facebook and Twitter — Democratising participation 11 in the Philippines by Justine Espina-Letargo Chapter 2 Thaksin’s Twitter revolution — How the Red Shirts protests 23 increase the use of social media in Thailand by Alastair Carthew Chapter 3 India unwired — Why new media is not (yet) the message 39 for political communication by Anisha Bhaduri Chapter 4 Social networking in Cambodia in early stages 51 by Ky Soklim Chapter 5 The power of the blog in Vietnam 55 by Stephen Quinn Chapter 6 Hip or hype? Twitter and Australia’s 2010 federal election 67 by Stephen Quinn Chapter 7 From citizens to netizens — Social media and politics in Malaysia 79 by PA Fama and CM Tam Chapter 8 Social websites’ political benefits still far-off in Pakistan 87 by Taseer Dhuddi Chapter 9 The Internet has long arrived in Indonesia 97 by Max Lane Chapter 10 Microblogs in China — Micro-changing a society 107 by Zhai Zheng Chapter 11 Social outlet Twitter and its political impact in South Korea 119 by Ji-hyun Cho Chapter 12 Japan — The chattering nation 127 by Martin Kölling Chapter 13 Singapore, Politics, Freedom & New Media: A Personal Reflection 135 by Kirpal Singh Foreword At any gathering of communicators, journalists and marketers these days, the impacts and possibilities of social media and social networking are some of the most vigorously talked about topics. Not only since Barack Obama’s successful use of online communication, but also among politicians of all persuasions and ages. Although there’s still a wide range of different opinions about the right use of these tools and their real impacts, one thing is clear: “Why” is no longer the question. It’s just “How”! Social media is here to stay. Facebook with its already more than 500 million users is the third biggest ‘country’ in the world! When Paul Linnarz, Director Media Programme Asia of the Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung, and I met for the first time to talk about a new publication, we both agreed at the outset that social media and its use in political communication in Asia should be our topic. A look at the pure numbers and facts underscored our decision: 90 per cent of Malaysia’s youth are on Facebook, Indonesia has some 22 million people using social networking on a daily basis, and the Philippines is rightly known as ‘the social networking capital of the world’. Not to mention China and India, with low penetration rates so far but with impressively enormous growth rates. As occurs with so many topics regarding Asia, a general overview or somehow lumping together the development, would not have been the right choice. Asia is too diverse, especially when it comes to politics. Furthermore, we had different political agendas in the countries in 2010: Elections in the Philippines, Australia (included because of its unique use of Twitter) and South Korea; revolts and revolution in Thailand; plus the usual re-orientation and reorganisation of political parties in between general elections. In addition, the uncontested rise of social media has had its own impacts and led itself to changes in the behaviour of politicians, journalist and voters. Social Media and Politics — Online Social Networking and Political Communi- cation in Asia is a comprehensive and highly topical overview of current developments throughout the region. This book is more than a snapshot of the situation in Asia as at the end of 2010. It is also a well-compiled summary of the stages of development in various Asian countries. Each of the 13 chapters covers the situation and progress in one of 13 Asian countries. The authors are all media experts, and/or journalists, professors and writers with a range of experiences in the fields of social media and/or political communication. My sincere thanks go to all of the authors who not only analysed and described the current situations, but also made great use of the opportunity to choose their own angle on the topic! Social Media and Politics 7 We have 13 highly topical articles, each covering one or more case studies on the use of social media in political communication, giving a broad overview of the use of online networking tools in a specific country, or providing a personal reflection enhanced with poetry. Each of the pieces itself, and especially all articles together, provide a significant representation of the progress that has been made in the use of online social networking tools for political reasons. Isn’t that what social media is all about? The little stories, one-to-one communications, personal recommendations which have increasing influence, bloggers speaking on behalf of small groups that suddenly become a powerful voice through numerous ‘retweets’? This book is a collection of those ‘little’ stories, and that is exactly where it is getting its pace from. Is Facebook really becoming an emerging campaign tool? Chapter one of this book deals exactly with this question. I don’t want to give too much away, but in the case of the latest elections in the Philippines, the answer is ‘Yes’. President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III made good use of this tool, and so did his comrades-in-arms. The author delivers some nice insights and background information. How about Twitter? No other social networking tool has received so much attention in recent months. Four chapters of this book deal with the use and impact of Twitter, each with a different focus. In Thailand, Twitter became the most important information source for journalists and people during the Red Shirts’ agitations. The pure numbers prove this fact. In addition, the author of the Thailand chapter managed to get some ‘real voices’ that are underlining the partly dramatic importance of Twitter for journalists and political activists. On the other hand, Twitter has also proved that it is the tool of choice for quickly mobilising masses. Actively intended or not, in South Korea, Twitter led to a change in the results of a nationwide election, when a huge group of young ‘afternoon voters’, encouraged by the tweets of their friends, helped to snatch a promising victory from the conservative party. One quote in this chapter might say it all: “I voted around 5 pm by sparing some time while on the job,” said Mi- jin Kim, a 28-year-old company worker living in the capital Seoul. “It would have slipped my mind if it wasn’t for Twitter.” The author of the Australia chapter even quotes people speaking from the ‘twitterised’ unscheduled Australian federal election in June this year. Hip or hype? — find out in Chapter Six. Known as scarf, or ‘weibo’, microblogging has made its way into China’s mainstream culture. The author of the chapter on China finds evidence that microblogs have already started to micro-change the society. Another continually popular social media tool in Asia is blogs. In Vietnam, for example, despite having 174 newspapers and 470 magazines, blogs are having a huge acceptance and impact with their number exploding in the past few years. Celebrity-blogger, Joe Ruelle, says about the beginning of this persistent era: 8 Social Media and Politics “And it was all blogs. It wasn’t Facebook, it wasn’t Twitter, it was all blogs at the same time.” Unfortunately it is a risk in Vietnam to have a different political opinion, and detentions of bloggers are still happening. Essays with a more general view on the use of Internet and social media in various countries complete this book — with some surprising insights. Who would have believed that in India, despite being highly respected for its IT expertise, Internet and social media are not the mediums of political communication? The article gives us some very interesting facts and figures on this. Kind of similar is the situation in Japan. Although one of the most advanced broadband nations, due to legal restrictions in elections campaigns, Internet and social media do not play a significant role in the public discourse. Certainly, less surprising is the limited development in countries like Pakistan and Cambodia, although both countries are catching up. In line with the rapid development of mobile phone devices and their abilities for audio-visual content, social media has the potential to play an increasing role in these countries. How long it will take to draw level with Indonesia and Malaysia is hard to say. In both these countries Internet and social media have long arrived, especially in Malaysia where investments in the knowledge economy and infrastructure made almost 20 years ago, are now paying off. There’s not much more to add about a really wired country with citizens already transformed into netizens. Whether this is the right way, is of course another question. And maybe a very good one.
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