Online political participation and attitudes: Analyzing election user-generated videos in 2011 Singapore General Election

Abstract

During the 2011 Singapore General Election (GE2011), user-generated videos (UGV) emerged as a new means for online political participation and discussion. This study first employed keyword searches for GE2011 UGVs and observed their content characteristics, and then selected 143 edited videos for textual analysis. Instead of a campaigning tool, GE2011 UGVs were primarily created by voters to share participatory experiences in elections or express their political opinions. In terms of content characteristics, the election UGVs can be categorised into ‘uncut recording UGVs’ and ‘edited UGVs’. The analyses show the former records participation in political events, while the latter reveals strong political attitudes and sensationalism. Sarcastic and controversial edited UGVs such as parodies tend to receive lots of view counts and emotional comments. In the context of one-party ruling and tight mass media control, the majority of active authors and GE2011 UGV content supported opposition parties and comments usually showed strong affirmative attitudes. UGVs, a second-tier alternative media, serve as an echo chamber for impressions and emotions when a small number of enthusiasts selectively expose themselves to like-minded political perspectives, which is likely to increase cynicism towards the government.