After the poor performance online, lack of understanding the ground and the inability to control the conversation, the government decided that they need to do better in engagement.
"You need, basically, two people just to maintain one site, and typically, the respondents come (online, sometime after dinner). " "So it's not trivial," "Facebook is not owned by any Singapore entity; it's an entirely foreign entity and putting in the resources online in this foreign entity, it could shut off Singapore," Says the "experts"
It seems like the government experts have much fear of social media because they do not understand the medium and are unwilling to engage.
I hope they get real training and learn to listen to the public and not just censor comments and negative feedback. It is a whole mindset change and there needs to be proper policies that encourage engagement and empowering everyone to participate, so the responsibility is not on a "team" and hopefully they do not need to get permission to answer the questions raised.
I hope the executives would be willing to learn and create policies that support social media. Hopefully we can see a more vibrant Singapore in the near future.
-- Robin Low
