Online Self-Regulation in Singapore

I’m opening this topic of discussion to the floor.

The recent case of Yio Chu Kang Member of Parliament (MP) Seng Han Thong being set on fire last month, triggered a mixed reactions from the netizens of Singapore. Senior Minister of State Lui Tuck Yew was quoted saying this

It was disappointing, and my impression is that I do not think the community itself have done enough to rebut some of these unhelpful comments delivered by fellow netizens.

This led to a trigger reaction from both netizens wondering if stricter internet regulation was about to occur in Singapore.However, Minister Liu immediately rectified that by claiming the following

They seem to have misconstrued my remarks as “a desire for more regulation on the Internet”. Let me say clearly that I am not advocating this position

This story was picked up by  The Straits Times which published an article here and  Today which published an article here.

The online discussion was abuzz with comments and you can check out such an example here.

But my 2 cents worth on all this boils down to 3 points

1) Self-regulation is already present. To want self regulation on the internet is to expect a few folks to rebut every negative or non-positive comment being made.But why do that when the basic rules of engaging in a group conversation applies to online comments on blogs and forums as well.

Going back to basics of engagement from a personal level, you will notice people who make useless or negative comments which have no value add to the conversation. These people tend to be ignored. Negative comments which do open up possibilities of a way to improve or stimulate discussion, eventually benefits the community. Hence, the community is already self regulatory in that way. I sincerely believe the Singapore community is mature enough to be able to differentiate “Noise” and true conversations occurring online.

2) Engagement by the government. Basics of communications demands that you answer your relevant stakeholders using the most effective medium to ensure that your medium is put across. I thought this was  an excellent opportunity for the government to have engaged the conversation where it was at, to provide thought leadership on a medium which is still in a development phase.

Even carrying the conversation offline by engaging influences in a dialogue discussion would have been an excellent step forward.

3) Opportunity for Singapore to take the lead in online conversations. Obama has already shown successful use of social tools to engage Gen Y during his campaign to become president. It would be interesting to see, for the rest of his term, how he manages to carry on that engagement. It would be a lot to ask for us to move in that direction, but the idealist in me sincerely believes that the leaders we have could bring us to that same level of communications.

This topic is still open for discussion and any feedback to stimulate discussion is greatly appreciated. I leave it to you to dictate how this goes!

Edelman’s Trust Barometer 2009

Edelman recently released it’s annual Edelman Trust Barometer for 2009. With trust being the key focus to restore consumer confidence in many countries across various industries, this study would prove insightful. (Disclaimer: I’m an Edelman Client executive)

Pay close attention to the developing countries and the increased, rather than decreased, level of trust. Have a good read!

China’s censorship and communications problem

China needs to learn to communicate. It needs to learn that it can’t protect its’ people forever and instill ideals which might not be accepted by the masses.

I applaud China’s communications efforts in the Sichun earthquake and the Olympics was an excellent way of showing the world that China was ready to move on.

However, the Sanlu incident showed that the communications efforts by the Chinese company did not address any stakeholders’ concerns until pressure caved in.

Now, we have a censored Obama speech!! You can read the article here.

This was the part which was censored,

“Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions,”Mr Obama said in his speech.

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist,” Mr Obama said. This excerpt was also censored.

What annoys me is that not only did traditional media attempt to cover up the truth, but also 2 of China’s largest internet portals censored this information from the speech.

However, the beauty of web2.0 is that there are many alternative tools which can be used to spread the news and this is just a classic example of China’s unsuccessful attempt to filter out the information.

It would be interesting to see what happens over the next few days as the ‘original uncut’ speech spreads around. How would the Chinese people react?

Real Time News

Tomorrow will mark Obama’s inauguration into the white house. A significant event befitting the memory of Dr Martin Luther King. However, it is also a landmark in a convergence of traditional and online media.

CNN will be showcasing the event by live streaming and Facebook status updates. You can watch the video to understand more about what CNN is doing.

Why is this significant? It shows that a traditional media outlet has recognized the importance of real time news. We’ve all seen the effects of these ‘status updates’ by Twitter users on the Mumbai attacks, the Sichuan earthquake, Obama being elected as the 44th President of U.S. etc.

And yes, the debate has alwasy been that social media outlets provide faster BUT inaccurate news while traditional media provides slower BUT more reliable news. CNN has merged the 2 benefits and canceled out the kimks which the 2 mediums have to cover.

It will be interesting to see how this works out for the community using Facebook. How will CNN control spam? How about negative messages? Will the community self regulate or will CNN have to step in to cancel out certain comments?

Will interactivity amongst the FB community propel viewership of the event, especially among the younger GEN Y and below crowd?

What do you think?

1)FB community needs regulation?

2) Interactivity to enhance viewer’s experience and increase viewership?

3) Would Singapore or any Asian country ever allow an event like this to be covered the way CNN has done?

I would love to hear your thoughts! Do share!!

Oh, and you can join the FB event invitation here. Have a good inauguration experience!

DBS to improve customer service via web2.0?

DBS has been having a terrible time settling its highnote case. It’s reputation has taken a huge blow because of the way it has reacted to this incident coupled with the fact that this quarter’s earnings have been the worst since 2005.

They have responded to the highnote incident by reporting some of their relationship managers to the MAS, by going through consumer profile to see if the product fits the consumer and willing to turn some away and internally retrenching its workers.

Whilst Michael is amused by the struggles DBS faces in communications on the differences in announcing the layoffs and handling the highnotes issue, there is another concern which is the way DBS has. It has a very very poor customer service or front line office people to handle any situation.

You can see the details of one customer who had problems just signing up for a  credit card. As of last week, investors still had not heard from the bank about the mini bonds issue and were clearly unhappy by holding protest talks at the speaker’s square. While the MAS has been trying to calm these investors, DBS has taken a backseat by focusing its communications on the layoffs.

Internally, the relationship managers are mulling over selling. They are wondering if the new policy of going though consumers profile would prove to have less commission for them.

It’s a sticky situation they find themselves in now and I’m wondering if any earlier social media attempts to allow open communications to the public and any internal social media communications within the company would work for a bank?

I know the various arguments about banks using such tools. Not professional enough, company secrets leaked, etc. But the fact that it has branded itself as the people’s bank, shouldn’t there be a medium to improve its crappy customer service?

I’m sure many of us have heard of dell hell and how it transformed its customer service with the use of twitter and blogs. Yet would this same approach work for a bank?

Yet i have my reservations due to 2 issues.

1. The consumer profile of the investors (Some include the elderly who are clearly not computer savvy enough)
2. The value of the mini bonds which can run up to hundreds of thousands and are people’s life saving (Not a laptop)

Yet would it not have been great if there was a common platform to trash this out. Given that the MAS has responded much more openly than before and that consumers need a better customer service to register their complains via twitter groups or blog posts (I’m sure there are common issues and these can be grouped together)

While i know Kim would argue about setting up a ‘dark site’ in times of a crisis, I’m wondering if any social media attempts prior to the highnotes incident would have made this crisis more bearable? Or because of the nature of the banking industry and the nature of the crisis victims (The elderly), would this not work?

Comments and feedback are welcome!

Looking at MAS response

It’s always interesting to see how a regulatory body will respond in the midst of a crisis given that they are the ones who pretty much dictate everything within an economy admist the harsh external environmental factors.

MAS finally responded on the 17th of Oct to complaining investors who had funds tied up in Lehman Brother’s and were sold to them by local banks.

Local banks have responded to the call of MAS, DBS being one of the banks.DBS has already started compensating investors.

The response that MAS has given to the financial crisis can be summarized as follows:

• Said that it was changing tack by giving the public more information on what has been done behind-the-scenes;
• • Identified those investors (lowly-educated retirees) who needed immediate attention
• Cracked the whip publicly on the financial institutions that sold the structured products to the common man, by telling them not to be “overly legalistic” in their approach;

Yet the responses have been varied amongst the media. Looking at Today, its general impression was that of MAS taking a progressive step forward from passive to active.  (Like a regulatory body is suppose to do).

You can read more about the article here on what it had to say and quotes from experts on the subject. Yet, there are others who think MAS can do more with the power vested in them in such turbulent times.

A post on MAS being a headless chicken and taking cues from Hong Kong are such an example.

Action is being taken by MAS, despite is quiet initial start. It has worked with its main stakeholders, the banks, to pacify the public. This can be seen when the banks have each set up a a panal.

“…to headed by an independent person, respected individuals, so as to make sure this is a fair and serious process,’

I’m sitting on the side of the fence that the MAS has done a pretty good job in stepping forward. There are of course a whole host of external factors to take into consideration but the communications implicates a change in the way of thinking.

I’m now thinking of how the different panels of the banks can be collaborating online with secure firewalls to protect the flow of information. To address the employees on the progress so they don’t start self promoting themselves to being the head of corp comms and rubbish out rumors to media and other stakeholders.

This is a great opportunity for internal social media to come into the works. Considering how bank departments are so used to working in silos.

It would also be a great stepping stone to see if the demands MAS has placed on the banks are reasonable and effective. Then it would be easier to address the shareholders, investors, potential customers, the media and general public. We could even take this approach overseas and see how the US or Europe if it works!

I’m sure the Investor Relations guys will welcome this idea.

What other suggestions can you think of to use social media in this context? Do share!

Looking for Asian websites with marcomms news

Sorry for the lack of updates, just eformatted my com and it’s a lot faster and smoother now. Amazing stuff.

Anyhows, I was wondering if it would be possible to share some sites you might know which would contain Asian Marcomms campaigns, be it digital or offline media. I wanna update my Google reader with more Asian campaigns.

I have the usual Marketing VOX, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, etc.

I was wondering if there were any others which i should be taking note of. I’m aware of Marketing Interactive, but is there anywhere else i can find out more campaigns ongoing in Asia? Do share!!

Solving poverty with Web2.0 in Singapore

This post is in line with thus year’s blog action’s day theme of poverty. So how can social media or web 2.0 solve poverty?

Although i had images of homeless people living on the street, kids searching through piles of trash and beggars and tramps roaming around as poverty. But first, let’s define poverty. You can see the various definitions here and for convenience sake, I’ll pick 1.

The state of living on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. Poverty can also represent a lack of opportunity and empowerment, and bad quality of life in general.

Now let’s head back into Singapore then, apparently our Population below poverty line is NA%. And its been said that the poverty level is measured by a monthly household income of $600 or less per household to be considered poor.

But what this doesn’t address is per head in the household, whats the income they’re receiving? So if i have one guy in the house earning $500 monthly, he’s poor and gets help. But if i have a guy earning $900, and has to support 5 ppl, each person gets $180 monthly… Now tell me, who’s worse off?

I’m not blaming the government here because i think they’re doing everything they can with their limited manpower. But shouldn’t we review this poverty level?

So back to the question, how can we use web 2.0 to solve poverty? Being a medium which is able to generate feedback, the one obvious way address the issue would be raising it in blogs like this and through campaigns like blog action day.

I chanced upon Andrew Tan (Soical Worker) and his post on poverty in Singapore and who’s responsible?

He proposes minimum wage guidelines due to ever increasing cost, just another way to solve the poverty issue in Singapore. Some comments included cause and effect scenarios whereby each individual is responsible for their own actions. The post itself includes links to other areas of discussion.

So with suggestions being thrown around, it might not be imposed, but the one thing that is going on is that it can help to address the issue in a real and direct way. Quite honestly, I’m sick of fund raisers on tv and while Edelman’s trust barometer points towards growing trust in NGOs, NKF and other NGOs frauds over the last couple of years have put a dent on the trust people have in these organizations. While i love a campaign with a good CSR dose, some of it is being overdone…

But what ppl forget is that these organizations are not THE ISSUE. They represent an issue which they believe in and ppl have to remember that at the end of the day, it’s the issue that they have to deal with. And in this case, poverty needs to be dealt with and not get caught up in the media hyped sensationalized news of frauds…

I propose web 2.0 to be a platform to raise awareness of the issue and allow a healthy discussion of solutions. 10 brains are better than 1 and the more people are aware, the more we can do something to help with the issue of poverty in Singapore.

What do you think social media evangelist? How else can we use web2.0 to help poverty in Singapore?

Crappy Economy=Tighter budgets

Not the best way to end the year for 2008 and to start 2009 with job cuts expected in December, it’s gonna be a sad x’mas (especially for a graduating student like me…)

With that said, i get the sense in the market that marketing budgets are shrinking. There’ve been several posts on the shrinking marketing budget and the rise of digital media being the cheaper alternative. I’ve just picked 2 of those posts to discuss. Leslie Postpon did a post on Is social Advertising a safe haven for marketing budgets? It’s a great post which brings out one of the 2 critical issues which i find essential to a campaign. She brought out the issue of ROI and i blogged about it here and here.

In addition, the issue of transparency when using social media was mentioned which I found crucial to communicating with your stakeholders online. There’s an interesting experiment that was done on this transparency issue and was blogged by John Butman and it was called 90 days. Beautiful process, I’ve just read through the first few posts and I’m looking forward to reading more after this.

Walter Lim shared a post on Marketing Strategies in a downturn and provided some awesome examples of what some companies have done and can do with their marketing efforts in this economy downturn. While Walter thinks of this as a back to basic approach, I’m inclined to agree to some extent.

Looking at points 9,

which is Agencies must also get into the act together with their clients

and

10 which is Customer analytics gains primary importance

I think these 2 points allow a flourish and  rise of digital media, not only because it’s cheaper, but also because the fact that with point 9, i see a better chance of online and instant collaboration without having 10,000 emails flying about causing great miscomms which can happen. In addition, customer analytics for online behavior can be tracked, but involving yourself in your brand’s community can also lead to behavioral patterns offline. (What they like to do with your brand, where do they get it, what do they use it with etc.)

I now agree that the downturn will have folks tightening their budgets and turning towards cheaper forms of media. However, it will also mean that it will force them to stop just spamming banner ads and force them to start getting involved with the consumers. After all, isn’t it better to target a behavioral group of people then just plain demographics?

To answer Daryl’s post on Where are the corporates taking the lead? I don’t know the where, but i think the when is coming really soon. Therefore, social media evangelists, is this the time we have been waiting for where companies finally have to get their hands dirty? I sure hope so….

JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY!!

Gratz on making it pass what i call the worst day of the week! For all Muslim readers, Happy Hari Raya and for all Singaporeans, enjoy the hol tmr (while i’ll be mugging in sch for ethics…)

Anyhows, today’s post will be short cause I just finished doing some work and i’m pretty beat…

But I can’t contain my excitement and I wanna share 2 sites with you. Remember how is tot there were 2 industries whereby web2.0 can be used perfectly because of the community spirit within these industries?

Well, I’ve been given a chance to view them and let’s start with the pet industry!

Vivian has shown me this social networking site for pets! I remember saying on my post on Pet Industry and social media in Singapore and how i tot web 2.0 would fit in perfectly!

Well, the social networking site is called wuffstaff for dog owners and it’s a pretty cool site whereby dog owners come together and share photos, stories, swap discussions on a social networking site! Neat huh?

Thank Vivian!

Next, i wanna share a social networking site on the sports industry. Oscar stumbled upon my post on Sports and Web2.0=Sports 2.0, Should Asia Embrace it? He’s got an interesting sports social networking site called sporting connections he’s set up for sports people to gather and not only discuss, but arrange team matches, training sessions etc.

However, his comments on my post were that while his target market were for Asians to join in, he’s getting more and more European based members.

I’ve asked him how has he engaged the Asian audience but he has yet to reply. While I haven’t seen any efforts to push the site out to Asians, I believe that by posting it on relevant sporting sites (soccer’s pretty big here in South East Asia, basketball’s huge in China) and engaging people who are on those sites to come and join his site.

I really hope to see his site take off cause its got so much potential! So does Wuffstaff, great examples of how industries have leveraged on the community spirit of the industry and used a medium which leverages on precisely the same thing!

Knock yourselves over those sites and have a good holiday as you read this. To the readers who don’t celebrate Hari Raya, its Wednesday, hang in there, we’re reaching the weekend!