A study of political blogs in Singapore: Characteristics, interactivities, and relational maintenance

Abstract

This study investigates characteristics, interactivity, and relational maintenance of political blogs in Singapore. Six popular political blogs were selected from three identified political blog categories (i.e., political caricature blogs, political commentary blogs, and party-affiliated political blogs) for content analysis. The findings show Singapore political bloggers usually offer personal opinions with sources. National issues are discussed most by these political blogs and majority of comments is in favour of bloggers` viewpoints. Under the control of censonship, "political caricature blogs" appeal to lots of readers because the authors use satire and humorous ways to express their opinions indirectly. Overall Singapore`s politica blogs emphasize navigational features. Highly popular "political caricature blogs" is professional, offering original perspectives with relevant links, but they have the lowest level of interactivity. Besides, the three categories of political blogs which employ different relational maintenance strategies have a high level of openness towards readers for the purpose of maintaining credibility.