Social media part of life in Singapore, especially among the young: Nielsen

Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia 3 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : Social media has become a big part of life in Singapore, especially among the younger set.

A recent study by The Nielsen Company, found that 52 per cent of the Singapore population are participating in at least one social networking website, with the most popular being Facebook - at 42 per cent.

Trailing behind as the second-most accessed community or social networking website is YouTube at 35 per cent, while Friendster takes a distant third spot with one in 10 locals using it.

The company's recent study involved 1,000 Singaporeans, aged 15 and above.

Why social media is the next big thing

Business Times 20 Jan 10;

Panellists from NTU's Nanyang Business School:

• Dr Vijay Sethi, Professor, Division of Information Technology and Operations & Director, International Business Competitions, Nanyang Business School (NBS)
• Dr Kanapaty Pelly Periasamy, Assistant Dean (Business) & Associate Professor, Division of Information Technology and Operations, NBS
• Dr Damien Joseph, Assistant Professor, Division of Information Technology and Operations, NBS
• Dr Goh Kim Huat, Assistant Professor, Division of Information Technology and Operations, NBS

Moderator and writer: Narendra Aggarwal, Director, Public Affairs, NBS

OVERVIEW

SOCIAL media is the new buzzword as we enter the new decade. Already it is making huge inroads into the space previously occupied by the mass media and things more traditional. As information technology becomes even more pervasive, social media initially embraced by the youth is spreading rapidly into various sectors of business and society.

Face up to people power

7 Days 10 Jan 10;

The social networking site is being used for a host of causes. But are the campaigns making any difference?

Your boss probably snarls every time they catch you on it, while certain colleagues appear to fill every single hour of their working day on it.

But 350 million people can’t be wrong, and social networking site Facebook could well be of some serious value in the modern age.

More government bodies listen to views online

The aim is to start taking public sentiment into account in policy-making
Alicia Wong, Today Online 4 Nov 09;

IN A move that seems to give more attention to online voices, some government bodies are experimenting with what has become a growing practice among private companies - monitoring online chatter and applying appropriate feedback to policy-making.

From as early as June, ministries and agencies have been seeking social media intelligence services, as tenders on the official e-procurement portal, Gebiz, show.

The latest are the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which put up tenders for a three-month trial to monitor online sentiment in various areas related to their ministries last month.

Wherever the Web is heading, it's going there fast

James Skinner, Senior Advisor, MobJet.com
Business Times 26 Oct 09;

The most important trend in Web 2.5 is 'externalization'. It is no longer about driving traffic to your site, it is about driving traffic to your message and having your message in many places!

Web 2.0 is so old school!

Web 1.0 is the world of home pages and information. Most companies are still there. They have a company page that has information on the company and its products. Just because you use the Internet in 2009, does not mean you are in the Web 2.0 world. The biggest impact of Web 1.0 was to allow information on various computers around the world to be shared and indexed in a common format - usually HTML.

How to change the world

Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 24 Oct 09;

Technology is changing the way individuals and companies give to social causes, and it is changing the way social enterprises reach out to beneficiaries and donors.

By holding a "run" on three-dimensional virtual world Second Life to mirror its real-life event, the Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society raised over US$270,000 ($376,000) this year. Various support groups in the United States also utilise Second Life to counsel members.

Newspaper readership holds firm in Singapore

Survey also finds use of Internet on the rise among adults
Felda Chay, Business Times 23 Oct 09;

NEWSPAPERS and other print media may be in decline in the West, but they continue to do well in Singapore, according to the 2009 Nielsen Media Index survey.

The study, conducted from July last year to June this year, surveyed 4,687 adults aged 15 and over. It found that print readership held firm from last year, with 75.3 per cent of respondents having read a newspaper the previous day - the same as in the 2008 survey.

High-Speed 'Other' Internet Goes Global

Robert Roy Britt, livescience.com 16 Oct 09;

A super high-speed global Internet devoted solely to science and education has just expanded to include half the countries of the world, and yes, you at home can be jealous.

The Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing U.S. network links with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.

iPod in sync with schools

Applications include teaching maths, making music and taking students' attendance
Amelia Tan, Straits Times 1 Oct 09;

PRIMARY 1 pupils at CHIJ Kellock used to lug boxes of marbles and ice cream sticks to school to help measure objects during mathematics classes. But now, all they have to do is 'touch' to learn.

The school in Telok Blangah started using Apple's iPod touch portable media player earlier this year to teach units of measurement. Applications on the touch-screen device help the girls measure objects, such as leaves, window panes and table tops, around their school and during field trips.