Yesterday I attended a conference on PR 2.0 in Singapore where the issue of the local culture of citizen journalism and blogging was touched upon.
Citizen journalism as it is known in the west (think individuals such as Jeff Jarvis or collaborative platforms/channels such as OhMyNews or NowPublic) would on the surface rub against the grain of Singapore’s tighly controlled political and media environment.
There are many bloggers in Singapore, though the great bulk of it is personal and conducted on social networks such as Friendster. And high visibility bloggers such as Xiaxue and Sparklette (who told us happily yesterday about sponsorship deals she has been inking with LG and others) are principally about life-style and entertainment rather than politics, society or business.
Nonetheless, Singapore does boast its own interesting stab at citizen journalism in STOMP (or Straits Times Online Mobile Print), which, among other things, encourages locals to tell stories about their community by SMS or MMS-ing in video, photos or plain text. Interestingly, despite contributors not having to reveal their identities on the site, it is video that is gaining most traction (perhaps because Singaporeans appear bashful about voicing their feelings and observations in print, reckons STOMP editor Jennifer Lewis).
By all accounts, STOMP has been a real success, reporting some 300,000+ users a month and giving the venerable Straits Times access to the valuable youth market. But, being Singapore, all is not quite as it seems. You won’t see much there to worry the government, for instance - all contributions are filtered before being uploaded.
On the other hand, the government does appear to be inching its way towards some kind of online engagement with its citizens. This week, it was quietly announced through a tender that five unnamed government agencies would be testing the waters by building online communities comprising blogs, podcasts, photo-sharing, polls etc intended to ‘increase [a] sense of belonging’ and bonding between Singaporeans and their government, and for the government to better understand its citizens’ needs.
If the government is genuine about wanting to engage and listen to its people, this project can only work if senior officials and their political masters are personally involved, prepared for real debate, and committed over the long-term, and that citizens are truly encouraged to voice their opinions and given the sense that they can make a difference.
It will be fascinating to see how this pans out.
