The term "chronically online" has
become a feature in the popular
lexicon.
As a nation, regardless of age
Singaporeans appear to be
chronically online, given that the
internet penetration rate was 96
per cent as at early 2024, and that
in January 2024, around 85 per
cent of the population were social
media users.
It's no surprise, then, that
politicians and political parties are
increasingly focusing on growing
their social media presence
In the 2023 Presidential
Election, we saw the candidates' heavy usage of online platforms
for their campaigns. Mr Ng Kok
Song, in particular, focused most
of his resources on digital
outreach.
All three candidates also went
beyond just putting up social
media posts on their official
accounts to interacting with other
influencers, giving podcast
interviews and engaging with
popular local social media
personalities.
In the realm of partisan politics
social media has become an
increasingly important part of the
playbook in recent years.
It is apparent from both Senior
Minister Lee Hsien Loong's outgoing interview and Prime
Minister Lawrence Wong's
handover interview that the
People's Action Party (PAP)
leadership sees social media
engagement as a necessary part of
the new political playing field.
The PAP has been engaging
social media influencers and MPs
have taken to social media as part
of their outreach.
Opposition parties such as the
Workers' Party, Progress Singapore
Party and the Singapore
Democratic Party have been
regularly
updating their
social media
accounts on their
walkabouts and
updates.
It is not just in
Singapore that we see
this trend of using social
media to reach out to the
electorate and for election
campaigning.
In the recently concluded
Indian general election
political parties actively posted
updates and engaged with one
another online. Meanwhile, the
2024 Indonesian presidential
candidates used TikTok
extensively to connect with the
electorate, especially younger
voters. The same platform is also
being utilised in the US
presidential election campaigns - despite both President Joe Biden
and nominee Donald Trump
calling for it to be shut down.
On the receiving end, we see
that electorates are leveraging
social media as a source of
information on politics.
Indian social media users made
use of the internet to engage with
election proceedings, with various
posts going viral, including an
Al-generated video of PM
Narendra Modi dancing.
In the US, a recent Pew
report noted that most users of X
(formerly known as Twitter) say
keeping up with the news is one of
the reasons they use the platform.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR
SINGAPORE ELECTIONS?
In Singapore, the 2020 General
Election was fought completely
online in the midst of the Covid-19
pandemic. While that was a
practical decision rather than a
strategic one, it is clear social
media is now an important aspect
of political campaigning strategy, rather than a peripheral one.
But how effective has social
media been in helping political
parties' election campaigns here?
And how receptive is the local
electorate when it comes to
politicians using social media
channels to broadcast their
message in creative ways?
According to the Institute of
Policy Studies' Survey on Internet
and Media Use during GE2020, led
by my colleague Dr Carol Soon, it
was clear that compared with
GE2015, people made more use of
online sources to obtain
information.
But the importance of social
media should not be overstated.
While people used social media
the most to learn and interact with
political parties and candidates, it was a slightly different story when it came to seeking information. Social networking sites and
instant messaging platforms were
still used less frequently compared
with online websites of Singapore
mainstream media, television
and online-only news and
information websites
reporting on Singapore.
The same IPS Survey on
Internet and Media Use
revealed that primary reasons
for voting - which included
factors like whether they were
steadfast voters who always
voted for the same party or
satisfaction with policy issues - were the strongest predictor of how people voted, rather than
social media use.
Hence, while engagement on
these sites appears important for
voter outreach, the electorate is
unlikely to depend solely on social
media to make their voting
decision.
In the 2023 Presidential
Election, Mr Ng, the candidate
with the most online-intensive
campaign, eventually earned just
16 per cent of the vote, a far cry
from President Tharman
Shanmugaratnam's 70 per cent. One may argue that this comparison is unfair, given the
large disparity in the candidates' popularity levels going into the
race. But I would argue that his
campaign is a case where we can
see clearly the power - and limits
- of social media.
With minimal offline
campaigning, Mr Ng still managed
to garner a 16 per cent vote share, despite there being a third
candidate who was better known
than he was, Mr Tan Kin Lian.
At the same time, this result also
shows the limits of social media in terms of reach. There is still a
portion of the electorate who do
not spend that much time online. Anecdotal accounts had suggested
that some voters, many of them
older, did not know Mr Ng
because they had not seen him or
his posters around, as opposed to
President Tharman and Mr Tan.
OVERALL STRATEGY WILL MATTER
Social media is likely to feature
prominently in the upcoming GE
campaigning.
Major political parties have
already been quite consistent in
maintaining their official accounts
and reach. But there are several
considerations they have to make
for effective social media
outreach.
The prerequisite to reaching a
wide audience lies in the social
media account being known in the
first place. Public awareness will
be key, whether offline or online.
Post content is also crucial. Viral
posts may help candidates get
their name out, but they are
unlikely to change the minds of
decided voters. In fact, viral posts
can backfire. If the posts showcase
a side of the party or candidate
they do not want to highlight, it
might even worsen public
perceptions.
The use of social media
influencers might also be a
double-edged sword, given that
their business model is to generate
revenue out of their posts. Content
clearly supportive of one party
could invite questions of
authenticity or whether they are
sponsored posts.
Just as with any other campaign
tool, candidates will have to
consider the target audience of
each post. As SM Lee has said, his
photography or "jalan-jalan" posts
usually receive better responses
than posts about his official
engagements. But like counts may
not present the full picture, because the audience for these
posts likely differs.
If the idea is to expand reach,
then posts will also have to be
more public-friendly and take the
form of introducing the candidate
or issue to people with zero
knowledge. Effort will also have to be taken to reach those who do
not browse political content,
rather than being caught up in a
social media echo chamber.
However, if the objective is
instead to reinforce a message or entrench existing support, the
crafted message will likely have to
take a different tone, with reach
less of a priority.
Age is also a likely factor in the
platforms people use. Hence,
analysis of user demographics will
have to be conducted before
deciding on the style of
engagement on each platform
for example, modifying the
language of posts to make them
more accessible to the target age
group.
Social media is definitely a
convenient tool. But at the end of
the day, the message still matters.
Just as with any other
campaigning tool, it will help a
candidate only if used in the right
way.
This article was first published in
The Straits Times on 4 July 2024.