Authors : Azma Asnawishah Abd Hakim, Shamila Mohamed Shuhidan, Husain Hashim and Shuhaida Mohamed Shuhidan
Abstract: Interactive blogging activities have revolutionised the means of exchanging and disseminating political information, insights and opinions on an everyday basis and have enabled the emergence of social networks among the bloggers. This study shows how and why Malaysians are using political blogs. Malaysia has been experiencing significant change in political communication. The research is grounded in theory which argues that democracy is best served by a public sphere where competing visions of the future can be expressed and subjected to debate without skewing or censorship to fit the agendas of dominating parties. This research involved interviews with political blog writers in Malaysia from both government and opposition parties. These interviews highlighted the information sharing, social networking, political agenda setting and political development within Malaysian politics that has resulted from blogging. Blogs are playing a role in changing the traditional political landscape and fostering social networks based on political activism, resulting in increasing participation. From this a modified theory of citizen communication mediation is proposed. These modifications incorporate the added value of web 2.0 applications attracting more people to political interest and activism and incorporate the development of the use of social networking in interactive civic messaging. Both, it is argued here have contributed to increased participatory political activism in Malaysia.
Azma Asnawishah Abd Hakim, Shamila Mohamed Shuhidan, Husain Hashim and Shuhaida Mohamed Shuhidan, 2017. An Exploratory Study on the Impact of Political Blogs on Citizen’s Participation in Malaysia Political Activism. The Social Sciences, 12: 20-24.