Archive for November, 2007

I’ve been taking longer than I planned researching a section on Conversation and Democracy for my bookproject, New Trends in International Public Relations. What I’ve been finding fascinating is the different attitudes that the East and the West have to social media in the world of politics.

Western politicians and social media

The main presidential candidates in the US are all embracing blogs, YouTube and Twitter and many observers say that this is the first presidential race where social media is playing a major role. The televised debate between the Democratic candidates, for example, included questions posted on YouTube by members of the public - these videos were played on a giant screen in the hall where the debate took place and the candidates took it in turn to answer the questions. Critics of this have said that this does not truly show political leaders “embracing” social media in its truest form ie as a free-for-all, open dialogues between equals and peers. The questions were carefully vetted and chosen beforehand instead of being an open, forum where anyone can take part (in the way that people can add their comments more freely on a blog, say). I think it’s very naive to think that politicians will ever hand over that level of control - they might be willing and comfortable having a “town hall” meeting where they roll up their sleeves and have an impromptu chat with the audience (who are no doubt carefully selected by invitation in the first place) of several hundred but it’s a different matter of scale where anyone in a population of several hundred thousand could send in a video. There will always be a hierarchical structure of some kind even in the most modern of democracies and those hierarchies will always seek to manage the flow of information. To me, what is significant is that they are using this medium at all and making an attempt to engage with their constituents in as open a way as they are able, given those hierarchical constraints.

Asia’s discomfort with social media

This attitude of acceptance - that social media is a force to be reckoned with and a new medium to reach out to voters - is all the more striking when I look at the attitude towards social media in Asian nations. Awhile back I researched an article on Blogging in Malaysia, with the input of Kevin Anderson, the Blogs Editor at The Guardian, UK and Asohan Aryaduray, the New Media Editor at The Star, Malaysia on the issue of political blogs there. Many outspoken political critics who blog their views find themselves arrested. There is a general anxiety and unease about this new medium that allows ordinary people to voice their opinions freely. For examples of more repressive and authoritarian Asian nations’s attitudes to bloggers, we only have to look at China, which routinely censors blogs and most recently, Burma, which restricted internet access during this summer’s protests.

West v. East

The cultural and political roots go much deeper than a mere suspicion of social media on the part of Asian authorities. There has been a much longer history of citizen protest and action being tolerated in the West and every year, there are marches and demonstrations in London and major American and European cities for all manner of causes. I remember as a student taking part in a march through the streets of Oxford in solidarity with my co-students. Although I did not feel very strongly about the cause they were protesting about, I wanted to see what it was like to be part of a protest march. It felt dangerous and rebellious and anarchic for me, coming from Malaysia where such protests were banned. In reality, it was rather tame and boring as we strolled down the High Street and various student leaders ranted through their megaphones.

So in the last few weeks as I’ve been researching this topic, I found myself getting side-tracked thinking about the cultural roots of Western political discourse and engagement versus the cultural roots of Asian nations who generally seem more comfortable with authoritarian government, and also authoritarian versions of democracy. That’s a whole separate book in itself, I expect, but I’d be interested to know your thoughts about these two differing political heritages.

To see my research in detail, check out my book wiki where I have posted my research online in the Conversation and Democracy section.

Do you know any Asian politicians who blog?

I am not aware of any politician in the ruling party in Malaysia who blogs - if you know of anyone, can you please correct me and let me know the URL of their blog? I’d also like to know if any politician in a ruling party in any other Asian country blogs or engages in social media eg via videocasts or podcasts. I want to ask them why they blog and what benefits they see coming from engaging in social media. And what might be some of the disadvantages.

From those Asian politicians who don’t blog, I’m curious to know why they don’t and what they think about their citizens using social media for political commentary.

If you are a professional communicator in Asia, what are the issues around politics and social media if you are advising politicians or business leaders about their communications strategy.

You can add a comment or email me using the Contact form above. If you prefer to remain anonymous, I can understand and respect that and I will not publish your name or email address* on my blog or in the book (or book wiki).

*The email address is a required field but it is not visible to visitors to this blog. As a matter of policy, I do not disclose email addresses from comments or emails to me in any event.

Photo: thanks to pietroizzo from flickr.com (CCL)

I set up my International Public Relations bookproject wiki a few weeks back but I’ve been hesitating about announcing it on my blogs. I finally blogged about it a few days ago and invited comments and input - and I hope very much that you will help me with my research by getting involved in this project. But the reason I hesitated is that having set up the wiki online, I found that I have a strong streak of “command and control” in my character.

I wrote my two novels all by myself and did not show them to anyone until I had finished typing “The End” on the last page. I did invite input from experts on some of the background information that I needed to create a real world for my characters to inhabit and I did occasionally discuss motivation and plot points with my writer friends. But I kept the bulk of the story and text to myself during the 18 months or so that each book took to write. And I felt very much in control as the author and creator.

So while the “social media”, open and transparent part of me is all for having a go with writing a book via a wiki online, the old-fashioned author in me has been feeling somewhat uncomfortable about this new way of doing things. Will people nick my ideas/ thesis? Will people give me unsupportive criticism? Will I feel pushed and pulled by others’ input? Will I no longer feel like the author of the work?

My worries took me by surprise as I had always considered myself an open and trusting sort of person. (Though perhaps my years of training as a lawyer has overlayed that with an armoury of suspicion…?) Friends and colleagues gave me differing views. Some advised, no way should I put it up online as people might steal my work. Others were more of the attitude: well, try it and see. The advantage is that I can invite the help of others who may have more expertise of a particular issue than I have and I always liked the saying, “two (or more) heads are better than one”. And since I may be approaching experts with whom I have no personal connection, I can refer them to the work online for them to get a sense of what the book is about and whether they feel comfortable contributing to it. Also, as I would like to include a strong cross-cultural focus, having an online presence accessible from all over the world can only be a good thing.

A number of much more well-known authors than me have shared their books online while they’ve been work in progress. Chris Anderson blogged his book The Long Tail and developed it with readers’ input. Marc Wright over at simply-communicate.com is also using a wiki for his book Handbook for Internal Communication, due for publication in March 2008. So I reckon, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

So far, I’ve put out a few feelers to a number of experts and I hope to speak to an Italian writer next week and also a Korean social media / tech CEO based in Japan.

Do go and check out the bookproject wiki - and let me know if you have any thoughts on any of the issues I’m researching. Drop me an email via the Contact form above or add a comment.

Photo: thanks to smackfu from flickr.com (CCL)

My associate Silvia Cambie has asked me to pass on an invitation to an event that she is speaking at. Because of the wonders of modern global communications, you can attend this conference no matter where you are in the world.

She will be speaking at “A Brand You World”, the Global Telesummit that will be held later this week on Thursday November 8th from 3pm local time in the form of a free Teleconference that is expected to draw more than 100,000 professionals from throughout the world.

Silvia writes:

“I will share the lessons I learned from my years in post-communist Eastern Europe where I had to tune into a complex society. Working as a reporter in a place where speaking openly to foreigners had been tabu for 50 years, I had to learn to listen very carefully instead of asking questions.

I still use the ‘tricks’ I learned then every time I have to operate in a culture I am not so familiar with.

In my session I will cover how to:

* Develop the kind of sensibility needed to operate in a cross-cultural context
* Identify and nurture the skills required to build an international career
* Relate to the needs of employers/clients/investors/etc. in the global village
* Use international networks, both on-line and off-line, to promote your personal brand, jump-start your career or grow your business

I am delighted to be able to contribute to an event that is encouraging participants to make a donation to Kiva, an organisation that provides microfinance loans to enterpreneurs in developing countries.

Join me at the Global Telesummit!”

I’ll certainly be phoning in so maybe I’ll see/ hear you there.