Yam Ah Mee

When you think about the elections, whether it is Nicole Seah or Tin Pei Ling. The loss of George Yeo or getting Show Mao into parliament, if you are following the trends of social media online, you suddenly will know about this man.

YAM Ah Mee.





Not only is he an unknown before the election, this man now has a fanpage, that will exceed 15,000 fans soon.

In time to come, when you start to recall the election and what exactly happened, you will probably remember the 2011 elections as the year of Yam Ah Mee.

And now we know that he is:
The People's Association (PA) Chief executive director (CED) The Harvard Club of Singapore's Volunteer program and the President of the Harvard Club BG (NS)

He is one of the most unlikely social media superstar!

He is here to stay!

-- Robin Low

Social Media vs Controlled Media.

Today is the day for Singapore election.

Social Media vs Controlled Media.

The PAP does not engage on social media. They have their fans write good things about them, and delete negative posts. For their YouTube Pages, no "likes" or comments are allowed.

The PAP does very well on the controlled media, as reports after reports, focused on their leaders and agenda, even on "cooling day" The rest of the opposition is covered much less than the PAP.

On social media front, the new candidates like Nicole Seah seemed to be fantastic! She has more than 60k fans on Facebook, and she replies to feedback and comments.

For most parts, Angry Singaporeans numbering thousands bashed PAP online, and the sites theonlinecitizen became a very popular source of info.

Most dormant Singaporeans share their stories and blog about their thoughts freely. The PAP indeed lost out on the social media front.

So the big question is, will social media affect the results of the election? How much of a role will social media play to determine the results?

Only the results will tell!

-- Robin Low

Dirty Politics may back fire.

Vivian Balakrishnan is playing the gay card, and yet all the media in Singapore, the controlled media is printing Gutter news like this as headlines.

Dr Vivian's involvement in this fear-mongering and hate-mongering attack on Dr Vincent's character and political "motives" is simply "Dirty Politics". To condemn homophobia and the wild and false conflation of homosexuality into "sex with boys" is wrong like this video.



Well, in the news yesterday, the carefully edited video posted by an Astroturfer who just registered the account and posted 1 video was shown.

Here is the full video and it does not show that Dr Vincent was a homosexual nor did it show he has an agenda. (YoutubeUser: JohnTan88888 joined 1 week ago and uploaded only 1 video.)

Vincent Wijeysingha clearly does not take a stand on either these two issues!

This smear campaign is not done right as there seems to be not much engagement on social media end of the PAP, just broadcasting.

What's worse, there is more Astroturfing on the PAP site.

Is this how "fans" are manufactured to support your point of view?

It is indeed sad to see the incumbent party doing such low brow tactics to try to gain support in their losing social media battle.

This is not how you engage, things will only get worse if you do not plan and do it the wrong way.

-- Robin Low

More links.

SINGAPOREANS OUTRAGED BY VIVIAN’S DIRTY TRICKS

Vivian Balakrishnan and the video that cannot be named

What's your douchebag agenda, Dr Vivian?

PAP's statement on Wijeysingha disappointing

Vivian’s bomb goes boo boo

Build trust! Don't Astroturf.

Engagement is crucial

The government of Singapore is doing many things well. Great transportation system, relatively good education system, great financial system. The political system is stable, and for 30 years, it has brought much progress.

Since the popularity of social media where people can share their opinions and feedback, many aired their views freely online.

With the government not willing to engage as shown in their actions on their YouTube channel, and Facebook page, it is very hard to win people over when you are not willing to hear them out.

Feedback is crucial, taking in the good, and fixing the failures, it is all in a days work to build trust and relationship. Obama was very good at using the crowd to create awareness, and luckily for the PAP, the opposition was not able to be as influential, however, there are a few sites which are very popular, no thanks to the government trying to Gazette it as a political website.

The online citizen is now an official political website and it has since drawn much crowds to its Facebook and Webpage. The conversations are genuine and people are allowed to share views about their likes and dislikes. Some of the posts do not hit the mark, and some do, and through feedbacks and comments, they are able to learn and carve out views which most of their viewers would like and share.

The current situation, the Internet is a big enemy. Nearly all posts about "PAP" online, whether it is on their official news site, on YouTube or on Facebook, you get to read about some very negative comments and after the heavy monitoring, a lot of the comments are deleted.

If this continues, I would think the opposition has a strong chance of getting angry votes.

Please do the right thing, enable comments and listen to our feedback. You need to engage!

-- Robin Low

Power of Social Media

Social Media can do a lot of things, it can empower those without voices, connect those in need, enable you to reach a wide audience without a big budget.

Recently, Carlos the founder of Relief 2.0, went on a mission to Japan, and I helped in the engagement and creating awareness of the situation, leveraging on social media.

Within a short period of 1 week, we are able to use social media to form a team to go to Japan, and raise funds. Through social media, I tell the story from the ground from the perspective of an independent unit with the goal to use local capacity, and empower the survivors to rebuild their businesses.

You can learn more about social media and use it for more than just a marketing tool.

There is a class on 7 & 8 April (Thur & Friday) 2011 at Aventis on "Social Media Marketing Professional Certification program"

Please join us, and understand how social media can help your cause or business.

-- Robin Low

Poem FTW!

I recently came across this article 'Jalan Besar facelift will happen if PAP MPs 'have the chance''

Sort of an outrage to force people to vote for PAP, but to my surprise, I came across this poem which is pure genius:

Recently, my white MP,
nok on my door, and very kek ki..
Say ‘I’ve worked so hard, so vote for me’,
‘Or rubbish won’t be cleared, in your vicinty’..

I said ‘Dear MP of my GRC’,
‘Dun remember u, so please pardon me’..
‘I only saw you on TV’,
‘Dozing off and jiak liao bee’..

Last GE I voted for thee,
2% up in GST..
Cut CPF and up utility,
Are still very clear in my memory..

5 years later, then you come to me,
Fresh from your slumber of ivory..
Say that only, you can help me,
Escape from a life of poverty..

Just take a drive on CTE,
Count the number, of all the gantries..
Or squeeze a ride on the MRT,
That has not been cleared for me

My life since the last GE,
Has been downhill though I voted PAP..
If I vote the same for your sleeping spree,
I can expect the same misery..

So! this time round, I vote for somebody,
Who will kachiao you, to productivity..
Forms fill wrong, no big deal to me,
If there’s someone to speak up for ah bee..

So dear MP of GRC,
If life no improve, vote u cho simi?

Who says Singaporeans are not creative?

-- Robin Low

Social Media -- Good for Entrepreneurs.

Social Media is a great way to engage your customers, getting a good feel of what the market wants, needs, and thinks about your brand. For an Entrepreneur in a startup, time must be spent smartly, however, it is also very important to engage with your customers. Besides creating awareness, Social Media can help in branding, product development, customer service and much more.

LinkedIn -- LinkedIn can be used to create awareness, finding B2B sales leads, and network with other professionals in the industry.

Facebook -- Facebook has more than 500 million users, and FB pages are getting better by the day, providing analytics, and allowing your fans a place to share and discuss about your products and services.

Twitter -- Twitter is a fast way to share information and get information. You can follow a lot of people at the same time and get lots of information as well.

Quora -- If you have some questions you need the answer of or answers to questions with your products or services, this is the place to be.

YouTube -- Sharing videos of your products and services, how to guide, etc -- fantastic way to create awareness and possibly go viral.

Flickr -- Sharing photos go a long way.

Blogging -- Your blogs containing keywords can drive traffic to your Facebook pages, YouTube account and homepage. It is asynchronous and can generate traffic even after years.

Foursquare/Gowalla -- If you have a restaurant or shop, you may be interested to increase the stakes of giving more rewards to the "Mayor" -- Make it fun and interesting.

Don't forget -- GroupOn

There are many other social media / social tools to look at. The social media sphere is filled with opportunities, however it may be different from your personal usage.

There are always short courses and tips which you have not learn, and keep an open mind. Read blogs and be in touch of the latest happenings, by following influencers on Twitter.

-- Robin Low