Singabloodypore

Lets all start throwing statistics at each other.

Here are two that I found...

Among a representative sample of 16–54 regular (use everyday / every other day) Singapore users of the Internet (Universal McCann, 2007)
75% of Singaporeans had read a blog in the previous 6 months (Universal McCann, 2007) and at least 35% had written a blog in the same period (Universal McCann, 2007).

The key stat for me being the second one.

Last time I looked there were thousands of blogs focusing on Singaporean issues, Tens of Thousands.

The Online Citizen also reports on the forum. It seems to have focused on a call for 'professionalisation' of the political blogosphere. For me that would be the final nail in the coffin for the potential of the Singapore blogosphere to shape a sphere for open public debate. The very same forces and mechanisms that undermined the 18th century public sphere that Habermas recorded are the same forces that those attending are calling for.

The lack of professionalisation is not an obstacle to creating space for 'public' voices. In an authoritarian state, it is the very property that creates that space.

Despite progression of blogs, Institute of Policy Studies researchers say Singaporean still prefer mainstream media as news sources

The Straits Times
Wednesday, March 4, 2009

By Clarissa Oon

SINGAPORE'S sociopolitical blogs have grown in the level of citizen journalism in the last two years and this is a "qualitative leap" for the blogosphere, two Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) researchers said in a presentation this morning.

However, their chief limitation is that their readership was small and most Singaporeans still rely heavily on traditional media for news and views, said IPS senior research fellow Tan Tarn How, who spoke at a seminar with his colleague Ms Tan Simin.

He compared the several thousand readers who tune in to sociopolitical web sites The Online Citizen (TOC) and The Wayang Party Club, to The Straits Times' circulation of nearly 400,000 and its readership of 1.3 million.

He also cited a Gallup poll conducted in 2005 and 2006, in which 69 per cent of Singaporeans said they had confidence in their mainstream media compared to 32 per cent in the United States.

Mr Tan and Ms Tan were charting the evolution of Singapore's blogsphere in a seminar with some 60 bloggers, academics and media professionals, held at the Bukit Timah campus of the National University of Singapore.

He said websites like TOC and The Wayang Party Club perform a variety of functions that make their role closer to that of citizen journalists and activists. He cited the example of TOC which publicly released a 10-page report with recommendations to improve the public transport system last September.

Date Posted: 3/4/2009