Singapore's blog-happy teenagers

Media Development Authority of Singapore's new Internet study finds half of teens have online blogs or podcast

Straits Times
Friday, November 10, 2006

By Chua Hian Hou

Half of all teens in Singapore aged 15 to 19 are on the Internet, blogging or podcasting, and this figure is set to grow.

This means there are 120,000 or so blogs by these youngsters online.

The figures come from a new study on Internet literacy published by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) yesterday.

No similar study has been done elsewhere, but a Pew Internet group survey put teen blogging rates in the United States at just 19per cent.

Singaporeans' love of communicating via online journals and podcasts falls only slightly with age.

Among those aged 20 to 24, just under half, or 46 per cent, do so. And 18 per cent of those in the 39-49 age group are bloggers.

The biggest reasons for the popularity of blogging among the young, said the dean of Nanyang Technological University's School of Communication and Information, Dr Ang Peng Hwa, are probably self-expression and peer pressure.

"It's a place for them to say something about an issue they feel strongly about," he said. "And, of course, if everybody around them is doing it then..."

Dr Ang said the numbers, while relatively high, could go up even further if social trends support the pastime - for example, if blogging becomes the de-facto medium of communication among teens.

Teens here post their thoughts and photos online for a variety of reasons.

Nur Sakinah, a 14-year-old secondary school student, maintains her blog to update her former primary school classmates on her life.

Others, like 18-year-old photography buff Jonathan Loh, keep a picture blog of their daily activities so friends can "see" what they have been doing.

But it is not just fun and games for Jonathan: he also hopes visitors will like his photos enough to hire him for freelance work.

Another reason blogs are popular, Jonathan says, tongue not quite firmly in cheek: "A lot of people -- but not me -- keep blogs to complain about things."

The MDA commissioned the 60-question poll of over 1,000 Singaporeans aged 15 to 49 to gauge how well people in this group were able to use the Internet. Are they, for example, able to identify and avoid online scams or create content like podcasts.

The results, said MDA deputy chief executive officer Michael Yap, will allow the agency to better "fine-tune our outreach strategies to increase (people's) sophistication in the use and creation of media content."

Internet literacy, like the ability to quickly and competently use search features to identify credible online data, is fast becoming a "competitive advantage" for individuals, he said.

Besides savvy Internet content consumers, Singapore also needs digital content creators: the government wants to double the economic contribution of interactive and digital media companies which make video games and animated films, from 1.6per cent to 3per cent by 2015. Success will create 10,000 new jobs.

Worldwide, poor Internet literacy has led to many users falling victim to online scams, con artists and fraudsters. In July, an unknown scammer conned an accountant here out of $4,000 using a "phishing" e-mail.

However, over half of those polled say they are too discerning to be lured by get-rich-quick scams or urban legends.

Sakinah, for one, knows not to forward any of many chain letters she receives, or act on any of the "lame" get-rich-quick messages.

Enthusiastic Internet evangelists like Sakinah, who has inspired and helped friends to create blogs, make up one-fifth of the population, says the study, ensuring that the number of bloggers can only go up.

Date Posted: 11/10/2006