A fortnight ago, the Director of Australian National University (ANU) Malaysia Institute, Ross Tapsell, said that Barisan Nasional is now winning the social media war, as it has improved its social media presence since Election 2013 and now has a stronger presence online compared to the opposition.

Tapsell said that BN had recognised its shortcomings in previous elections and has since effectively mobilised its resources to take on the opposition in cyberspace.

He said: “They have a far stronger presence on social media and on digital media in general in a variety of ways. There are far more pro-government blogs, websites, social media messaging in short there is a clear increase of volume compared to the 2013 elections.

“They know what they are doing this time around, they recognise the importance of new media and are engaged in a big way. Even the Prime Minister Najib has public said they had ‘lost’ the social media front in 2008 and 2013.”

Tapsell said: “The social media content coming out of the opposition camp is not as fiery as it used to be and is not gaining traction as compared to what is being put out by the government,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »