Malaysia’s social media election is already over
Since the last general election in 2008, Malaysia’s Internet penetration has risen by over 300 per cent in 2012. Total Internet penetration had increased from 1,718,500 in 2008 to 5,839,600 in 2012, an increase of as much as 4,121,100.
James Gomez, TMI
The upcoming general election is not a “social media election”. The so-called “social media election” is already over. Observers are just waiting for the results. Let me explain.
Social media in Malaysia has been influential in keeping important political issues in the forefront in the last five years. Hence, when evaluating the social media-related outcomes of the next general election, it is the net impact of social media’s political influence in the last five years and not just the campaign period that analysts need to consider.
In Malaysia, broadcast media, like elsewhere, has over the years evolved into a fragmented viewership base. Viewers switch easily between free-to-air, subscription TV and videos on-demand mostly for their entertainment needs, leaving those interested in alternative local political news to look elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Malaysian newspapers, particular the Malay- and English-medium ones that have traditionally reported on local political news, have seen a drastic drop in circulation since the last general election held in 2008.
The two main Malay-language newspapers, which are Berita Harian (weekend edition Berita Minggu) and Utusan Malaysia (weekend edition Mingguan Malaysia), have suffered a decline in circulation from 1,147,126 in 2008 to 890,446 in 2012. Similarly, English-language newspapers such as the New Straits Times, The Star and The Edge saw their combined circulation drop from 936,664 in 2008 to 813,994 in 2012.
But this fragmentation in broadcast media and slack in print media circulation is being taken up by the Internet.
Since the last general election in 2008, Malaysia’s Internet penetration has risen by over 300 per cent in 2012. Total Internet penetration had increased from 1,718,500 in 2008 to 5,839,600 in 2012, an increase of as much as 4,121,100.
According to the Malaysian Digital Association’s (MDA) February 2012 report, websites of the mainstream media, such as thestar.com.my, utusan.com.my and bharian.com.my, attracted 2,221,763, 1,171,578 and 769,772 unique browsers respectively. Alternative news websites such as malaysiakini.com and themalaysianinsider.com attracted 1,858,649 and 1,117,124 unique browsers respectively in the same period, demonstrating strongly their comparative strength.
However access to social media sites is the highest according to the same MDA report. Sites such as facebook.com and youtube.com attracted 6,467,257 and 4,238,824 unique browsers while twitter.com attracted 926,874 unique browsers in the same period from Malaysia.
