GE14 set to be a 'Facebook Election'
KUALA LUMPUR: The upcoming 14th General Election (GE14) will be a “Facebook Election” due to the social media platform's popularity in sharing information on the developments in the country's political landscape compared with other platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
World Internet Stats states that the Malaysian population is breaching the 31 million mark with 20 million of them being Facebook users. This shows almost two thirds of our population use Facebook to channel or share information online and during election the use of this media will increase manyfold.
Its popularity is also closely related to the myriad of contents that could be shared through the platform compared with the others, including the online mainstream media, private media, personal blogs, interactive videos or personal videos uploaded by netizens and other elements uploaded and shared many times over.
The United States was the first to witness an ‘Internet election' in 2004 where information was predominately communicated through emails by the campaign workers of the presidential candidates to get across to the voters in different areas.
In the subsequent presidential election, in 2008, the ‘social media election' phrase first appeared with former president Barack Obama's campaign volunteers getting on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon.
Malaysia too cannot avoid the Facebook Election impact due to the high number of users of the social media platform in the country.
I have been carrying out studies on the Internet election trends in Asia and the West since 2008, and it is obvious that there are several factors that has to be taken into consideration in identifying whether or not an election has been influenced by the Internet.
Among the main elements taken into consideration are the effective development of technology and the ‘creation of a technological society' at a particular nation, the number of people involved in online participation (the number of hours spent over the Internet, the usage skills, the post upload momentum), the scope of the information uploaded, the website type, the evolving trend from the political communication, and how far the political discourse takes place over the Internet.
With greater Internet penetration in the country, the Internet plays a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the General Election in Malaysia as the issues and political campaigns are increasingly carried out through the online and electronic media.
Today, the Internet is used to influence public opinion and Malaysian netizens are well aware of the power of the Internet that could influence the voting trends. Media mogul Rupert Murdock opines that by 2050, there will only be online and electronic media with the print media relegated to the footnote of history.
Amidst the backdrop of rising social media abuse and fake news, the social media remains the main choice to highlight the political activities of the country's politicians.
The question here is whether the politicians are ready to get further into the cyber realm as the Industri 4.0 paradigm will digitalise every aspect of our life.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had pointed out the level of preparedness for Industri 4.0 that would underscore the success of the 2050 National Transformation programme.
Industri 4.0 will unleash drastic changes among them in the traditional media realm where people use the electronic gadgets to read news and no longer the newspapers.
The mainstream media players not only have to compete among them but also the social media that easily draws the attention of the people.
IT illiterate leaders will be left out in the digital world where every social media platforms are being used to direct the political agendas in the upcoming GE14.
It is no longer the posters and buntings like seen in GE12 and GE13 that will influence the outcome, now it is the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, video clips and other smartphone apps that will.
In Malaysia, Facebook is in the forefront as it could include all online apps from Twitter to Instagram and even WhatsApp screens shots.
Communication with the masses has become much easier especially in winning over the young voters who are often Internet savvy and the fence sitters who will help decide on the winners and losers.
The prime minister's effort to adopt the social media in reaching out to the masses should be emulated by other politicians.
Every announcement of government policies and the issues are explained using social media like Facebook and Twitter, and even YouTube and videos. We can see how the people communicate with the country's top leaders with their commentaries and proposals made by netizens.
The voters are able to read his latest postings, watch his video and continue with the links related to his message.
Among the good examples are the video uploaded by Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin during the recent contention over the fish symbol used for Chinese New Year that witnessed 500,000 hits. Khairy has been known for his “political branding” over the Internet from the start and has 2.3 million followers on Twitter.
The online presence and online discourse of leaders are important in touching base with the grassroots.
In dealing with fake news in social media, the speed in countering them is crucial.
Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will certainly dominate the campaign trail during the upcoming GE14.
(The commentary is the writer's personal view and does not necessarily reflect BERNAMA's stand on what has been said by the writer) - Bernama