Flaming on its own is hardly detrimental to social media, because at most it impacts just the blogger’s online reputation, sometimes even positively. I doubt there was any real impact to Xiaxue’s Xiasuay’s reputation when she flamed Maia Lee or Dawn Yang Yawn Dang, since it would endear Xiasuay to those who dislike the two. As for the other bloggers, if they intend to become noticed by those doing social media in PR companies, intense flaming may draw attention but when overdone, it might also gives a blogger the label of ‘toxic assets’ – i.e. anyone, any site, any brand associated with the blogger will have their own reputation tarnished. Unfortunately, unlike banks which will want to have anything to do with financial toxic assets like CDOs and CDS right now, it may not be true that few or no PR companies will want to deal with bloggers who some may consider ‘toxic’.

Anyway, flaming becomes overdone and detrimental to social media when bloggers take certain actions beyond blogosphere into other parts of cyberspace and / or into real life.

The following a some examples of some of these actions:

All of these actions go beyond just the a blogger’s online reputation. It shows the negative aspects of social media and also the true character of a person. Sadly, some of these bloggers continues to be featured and used and much of the world – other than those who are in the same social circle – remained seemingly unaware of their otherwise ignoble activities.

I wonder, whether one who looked hard enough may actually find certain PR people who claims to be cultivating social media to be close with some of these bloggers. If so, it begs the question, is this still social media? Or just the usual commercialised PR in the guise of social media?

Do we really need yet another class of glitterati, when the current existing celebrities in showbiz or singing are already nothing more but leeches in society feeding off the craving of the masses for tabloid, scandalous and outrageous news so that they can pursue a lifestyle at your expense?

Recommended Reads:
Xtralicious: What’s great about the Top Blogger?
Xtralicious: 9 Tips To Pitch Your Blog Successfully

It is impossible to talk about blogosphere and not about flaming – generally a result of bloggers taking their disagreement online. Originally a phenomenon on discussion boards / forums, in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or even through e-mail, flaming exists before blogging became popular. Flaming has found its way into blogosphere because blogging provided the best platform for voicing one’s own grievances.

In one’s own blog, there is almost absolute freedom compared to IRC channels or forums. Most of the time postings will only be censored / removed either under one’s own volition, or when someone threatens legal action against the blogger and the host. The blogger also have greater reach in terms of an audience compared to emails as everything will be in the public domain visible to anyone who visits the blog. It also provides the one place where the blogger becomes judge, prosecutor and executioner all rolled into one, a cyberspace kangaroo court where the blogger conduct a public trial without giving the opponent the benefit of offering points in defense with the reader as the jury. In most cases the target will always be guilty of whatever charges leveled against them on a blog.

Flaming thus become a part and parcel of blogging. One can find bloggers flaming even their parents or siblings over the most miniscule matters. For e.g. scolding a parent for taking the blogger’s favorite bath towel on a trip, or a brother depriving the blogger time on the Wii. These dramatic personalities may thus bring a lot of attention to themselves but yet they are unwary on the image they are presenting to the general public.

Beyond their immediate family, bloggers have been known to flame their teachers, friends, colleagues, bosses, employers, close associates and even mere acquaintances. It doesn’t matter they have at their disposal, email, sms, instant messaging and mobile phone to settle their differences over the matter, the readers will serve as the jury and determine the guilt of the other party. What is worse, is like the leaders in Beijing, the ‘flamed’ person may not even be aware of the charges laid against him even though the entire world has heard about it. Complete with the sentiment and emotions of the bloggers, the true facts may have been distorted and exaggerated beyond recognition. For e.g. a girl blogging about her work pressures may end up being read as being bullied by her colleagues or boss, triggering a negative reaction from the readers against those people who might otherwise be innocent.

So, when bloggers have no qualms about flaming family and friends in public, neither would strangers be spared. It should never come as a surprise when someone flames out of the blue over a blog post. Flaming may come in the form of a post on another blog, or readers’ comments. Reacting badly to such trolls is often unwise, as many high profile bloggers found their reputation tarnished by doing so. It is the same as Eric Cantona’s drop kick against a Crystal Palace FC fan, and many people today still remember him for this act, and not his brilliance in soccer as evident in the video below.

In fact, it might be true that flaming is especially rampant among Singapore netizens ever since Internet access become availabe in Singapore. After all, Minister George Yeo made the following statement a decade ago:

Is it a surprise why the governmnet gahmen had never given much regard to opinion on the Internet, nor placed very much effort in engaging netizens (especially bloggers)? It is quite laughable whenever I hear accusation of attempts at gahmen control because it has been more than a decade since the gahmen has taken notice of Internet as a new form of media. While it doesn’t mean that they won’t start doing so as the Internet continues to evolve, can the conspiracy theorists at least pinpoint the exact incident(s) that would cause a radical shift in the gahmen’s view, please? After all, even Zeitgeist had something quite convincingly as far as their conspiracy theory is concerned.

It does not take much imagination to surmise that any reputable corporations or organisations will thus also hold our local blogosphere in low regard even though they might have already started engaging bloggers in the U.S. or Europe. That says a lot about the quality of the work produced by local netizens and while some PR people might perhaps even have lamented about the dismal state of social media in Singapore, they are quite mistaken in talking about the alleged (and probably mutual) theft of ideas among proponents of social media and the backstabbing which I wondered whether that may not actually be more of a norm (and a problem?) in their own industry instead.

After all, the public image of local cyberspace as a whole, if not blogosphere itself, already needs a lot of brushing up. That’s not mentioning it is nothing more than talking cock for some of these people promoting social media, when some of them jumps in the bandwagon to flame without amicably resolving conflicts on their own.

Just how could some of these people solve this problem when they are part of the problem themselves is beyond me!

Recommended Reads:
Endoh’s Dungeon: The high expectations required of the association

Quote of the day:
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)

What is the blogosphere? Wikipedia defines it as a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network. ^[1]

The above definition is better understood by non-bloggers or blog stalkers readers and perhaps even most bloggers outside Singapore. It is seemingly lost on some local bloggers, however. And this is especially true for local bloggers who have come to regard only the opinion of their blogger friends who reads and links them as those which matters. They live in a fantasy world, believing that “I am handsome because all my friends said so!” They also expect complete and unquestioning obedience from their friends. Heil Hitler! Anyone?

These bloggers apparently forgot that when they started their blog, it is as good as shouting at the howling winds or whispering in a noisy market. They get no attention then and the truth is, the content on one’s blog is useless without readers. In short, I define the worth of a blog in terms of the effect, usually in the form of reaction from the readers.

Here’s an analogy: In medieval times temple bells may already worth a fortune. But at the same time they are worth much more because people who lives in its vicinity conduct their activities with regard to the tolling of the bells. For e.g. farmers in the fields breaks for meals or call it a day. There is more worth to these bells than its monetary value.

So, consider Rockson’s blog. One might dislike his style of writing or his use of vulgarities, but consider the reaction he gets from those some would consider as ‘beng readers’ (even though they might not be any more or less beng than any of us). Then consider Xiaxue, who would be nothing more than a feisty tart screaming at the top of her voice at the busy streets [泼妇骂街] if not for the reaction she gets from her readers.

Thus, whether the blogger is deep or shallow, pro- or non-pro, in- or out- of my group in the Drunken Masters Bloggers Association doesn’t matter at all. All that really matters is the reaction of readers to the content a blogger produces (preferably regularly).

Based on this, it is my considered opinion when a blogger is a successful social media person, it would manifest in the form of a high level of social interaction on the blog itself – usually in terms of the number of comments and trackbacks one gets, or even when bloggers actively and regularly engage his readers by writing a new blog post in reply.

Therefore, it is my considered opinion that anyone who claims to be a ‘social media guru’ or ‘somebody in social media’ while having negligible level of interaction on their blogs beyond their own social circle, is simply… talking cock [Hokkien: gong jiao wey 《讲鸟话》]. It is a testimony that these ‘social media experts’ have apparently failed to recognise that local readers are also less vocal and less willing to participate other than those they are passionate about. In spite of all the hot air, they have failed quite spectacularly in the department of doing social media.

Thus, it really doesn’t matter just how high profile they are in the traditional media or how many so-called social media events they have attended or organised. All they have really done is hoodwink other bloggers into believing them to be promoting social media, but in reality they are using bloggers to promote themselves!

Now, anyone is free to disagree with this opinion since my blog itself has nothing to show as far as ‘success’ in social media is concerned. We are all entitled to our opinions. Yet there are things that are even worse than self-styled social media gurus, and that is when bloggers commit acts that is detrimental to social media, which I will talk about in my next post on local blogosphere, when I get myself down to writing it.

Comics:

Recommended Read:
Cobalt Paladin: Square Room
ErniesUrn: Association of Bloggers Singapore
Freelance Writing: Have Bloggers Become Social Media Abusers?
Nocturne: Association of Bloggers Singapore