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Social Media & Youth in Politics

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Social Media & Youth in Politics
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Youth, New Media and Political Y th N M di d P liti l Participation in the Election
Trisha T. C. Lin
Assistant Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Information Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Trishalin@ntu.edu.sg

Alice, Yah-Huei Hong YahProfessor, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan Alicehong0323@gmail.com

GE2011: Watershed Election

PM said vote swing is because…  greater proportion of critical young voters
 Out of 2.21 million voters in 2011 GE, about 25% of all voters are between ages of 21-35 (Singapore Elections Department 2011)

 proliferation of new media

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Models of digital youth’s political participation
Engaged vs. Disengaged

Dutiful Citizen
‐ obligation in political ‐ participation & voting, ‐ participation in civil society organisations

Actualising Citizen
‐ less government obligation ‐ no meaning in voting ‐ no tr st in mass no trust in mass media

(Coleman, 2008)

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Singapore Youths: DC or AC Type?
• Mixed views about whether they are more engaged or more disengaged over the years or more disengaged over the years • Mixed phenomenon:
– Increase in political parties’ youth membership eg: PAP recruited 1,000 young members in 2009 and opposition parties increased theirs by as much as 50% (Lim 2010)

– Tan, Chung & Zhang (2011):Singaporean youths are generally more politically active than their older counterparts, and are more active in the consumption of political content primarily through online channels – Doubts credibility of government and mass media
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Singapore Youths: AC Type
• Less obliged to vote The New Paper Survey

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Youth’s Media Use in Singapore: The New Paper Survey
Doubts credibility of government and mass media

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What do we want to find?
• Youth’s political participation & voting behaviour • Youth’s media use (Old & New): Youth s media use (Old & New): – How

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