Bo Kia, Bo Kia
May 4th, 2007
Uncategorized
It started off with Vernon’s post(-mortem) on the local blogosphere. [Self: Eh? Nevermind, read it again, later.]
Then, I saw Gecko’s. [Self: What did I miss?]
And Elia’s.
Then Mr Wang’s.
Finally, I saw Legal Janitor’s piece. [Self: Orrrh...]
Aiya, Bo Kia! Nothing is happening to the blogosphere. It’s seasonal.
A. Mr Wang is right – more people are reading blogs on local news. More are thinking closely about our political future – or at least, keeping this in mind. I would say the ST played a part. While most articles are (still) idiotic but the paper is taking a more questioning stand, interviewing local bloggers and their views. It helps in keeping our political future in the agenda.
B. Gecko is right. Even then, when there was Pico, people come and go. It’s not going to change just because we’ve moved on to blogging. It’s the internet! Besides, when someone has blogged online, person is doomed never to leave it – no matter how enthuasiatic they are of their life off line.
C. There isn’t that much political news in Singapore that we can talk about – unlike UK or US where there is a press release every other day. Naturally, the intensity of discussion would have declined after election day.
D. There isn’t that much other news in Singapore even if we want to talk about it intelligently. With one newspaper, there isn’t a lot of talk about. With so little fresh news to talk about, it’s hardly surprising that fresh content dwindles.
E. Some bloggers blog with the impression that with discourse, there would be changes. NATO works slowly and change is a snail. Bloggers get disappointed with the snail and decide it’s not worth the effort and move on to other things. I think that’s okay. There will be others who have longer lasting interest in politics.
F. If really, there is nothing remotely resembling politics to write about, there is always economic and financial news around the world that impact this village, because these influence the local politics more than any political idealogy.
G. More Singaporeans overseas (studying/working) = lively interest in logging in and reading stuff about Singapore, talking about Singapore, complaining about Singapore, even when they are not here!
