• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

Anyone here want to poke George Yeo ?

bigbossman

Alfrescian
Loyal
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_269018.html

Go on, poke George Yeo


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>The minister is one of at least nine local politicians who are now on Facebook

By Debbie Yong

</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
ST_IMAGES_DYFACEBOOK_8.jpg

</TD><TD width=10>
c.gif
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
c.gif

MP Zaqy Mohamad with his laptop, showing his Facebook profile. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Last month, regular Facebook user Aresha Gopala Krishnan had a surprise: George Yeo wants to be your friend, the e-mail alert said.

The George Yeo, as in Singapore's Foreign Minister?

'I thought it was a hoax,' said Ms Krishnan, 24, a DJ and communications agency owner.

She then scrutinised Mr Yeo's online profile carefully. It has, among other things, a black and white family photo with Mr Yeo as a baby in his father's arms. There are 33 other photos: family portraits, as well as of Mr Yeo himself.

His Facebook 'wall', or virtual notice board, has his correspondences with other users. He has about 350 Facebook friends, among them DJ Sheikh Haikel.

Curious, Ms Krishnan wrote back and soon received Mr Yeo's reply. They were now Facebook friends.

She found out later that it was a mutual friend who had told Mr Yeo that she was a very active youth volunteer.

A week later, she casually mentioned to Mr Yeo during a Facebook correspondence that she had difficulty finding autism resources in Singapore for her 21-year-old brother. He told her to send him an e-mail, which he referred to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Counsellors from the Disability Information and Referral Centre have since contacted her family.

When contacted, Mr Yeo told The Sunday Times in an e-mail that he created his Facebook profile in June this year. He logs in nearly every day and replies to messages himself.

With 533,000 local users, Facebook is, after Friendster, the most popular online social networking website here.

Besides Mr Yeo, at least eight other politicians are now on Facebook.

They include Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development Youth and Sports Teo Ser Luck, and Members of Parliament Zaqy Mohamed, Lim Wee Kiak and Penny Low.

The latter four are also among the 12 younger politicians who maintain blogs at the PAP's P65 blogsite, launched in October 2006.

Because serious blogsites enable posters to express their views and get responses, few now bat an eyelid when politicians reach out to the young, Internet-savvy generation using this new medium.

But social networking sites like Facebook have a more hip image.

Users, apart from getting to know friends of friends, also upload pictures or videos, leave drawings, send virtual gifts, and even 'poke' one another with teasing electronic alerts.

Still, at least three of the seven MPs The Sunday Times spoke to felt that Facebook can be tapped to rally people, especially around social events or causes.

Ms Low, an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, uses Facebook to keep members of two non-profit groups that she is involved with - Social Innovation Park, and Pop and Talent Hub - in the loop with one another.

Sembawang GRC MP Lim Wee Kiak said plans are afoot to start a Canberra constituency group on Facebook, to update residents on improvement works and community activities.

Mr Teo is pleased that the 'Support Singapore's Youth Olympic Games 2010 bid' group went to Facebook last September.

The group attracted more than 5,300 registered members who shared videos and updates in the run-up to the announcement of Singapore's winning bid in February.

Mr Teo himself has seen his list of friends snowball to more than 600 names since setting up his Facebook profile early this year.

Of the seven MPs interviewed, though, only Mr Yeo and Mr Zaqy have kept their profiles 'open'. The other five said that, for now, they prefer to keep their profiles private - that is, out of view of the public unless authorisation is given.

A Sunday Times check showed that most of the MPs approved 'friend requests' instantly.

Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong said he joined Facebook earlier this year and now has 277 friends on his list. But he still prefers to use e-mail for most contacts while also communicating his thoughts through his personal blog.

Agreeing, Mr Zaqy, an MP for Hong Kah GRC, said: 'I'm not campaigning anything on Facebook. There are other mass platforms like political websites for that.'

He now has 430 friends, mostly colleagues and ex-schoolmates.

'Facebook has revived my long-lost social network overnight,' he said. 'And the last thing I want to do is lose friends by politicising everything.'

[email protected]
 
Top