Digital Boomerang Singapore 

We’ve recently been asked to give our views on how Singapore fares in the internet universe.

It’s quite easy to dismiss Singapore as a contender in the internet game. We don’t have our own local portal or dot com success stories. Although we started getting into the game years ago, we’ve fallen behind our counterparts.

China, for instance, is rapidly growing in this area. Alibaba.com and Sohu are formidable forces today. Add to that a generation of hungry Chinese youngsters and you get a culture of daring and innovation that is hard to match. Yes, China already has its own version of Google Maps. Whatever the Americans have, the Chinese will have sooner or later.

Looking at the whirlwind of developments in new media, we sometimes feel we have been left in the cold and in the dark ages. Where do we go, as Singaporeans, for podcasts, video downloads and citizen news?

We’d like to think there are still a few bright sparks that may light the way.

AsiaOne.com is still standing, albeit with much less content than before. There are signs that they are preparing to enter the arena again. A few months ago, the local newspaper reported that Singapore Press Holdings, owner of AsiaOne.com, will be looking more into the internet.

StreetDirectory.com is still around and heavily relied on by Singaporeans to find maps and driving directions.

To truly succeed, we must be prepared to take risks and innovate. But can we? Do we have it in us?

Take for instance, StreetDirectory.com. It had first-mover advantage and there is really no other site that provides the same service. To generate revenue, the site decided to charge others for using their maps. Google Maps, on the other hand, provides maps for free. And sites like Frappr turn these maps into powerful social networks.

At the end of the day, it’s all about economics. In the sombre dot com gloom, sites like StreetDirectory.com are hard pressed to show revenue (or profit). Singapore companies are, by and large, a realistic down-to-earth bunch. “Show me the money” is on the lips of most corporate executives.

As a result, we have become great consumers rather than creators of new technology.

We consume Yahoo! and Google. These two sites and their sub-sites occupy the top 5 sites visited by Singaporeans.

We consume blogging technology. Mr. Brown and Xiaxue are two local blogs that have significant following.

We consume MySpace.com and create our local communities on foreign sites.

Are there any creators left?

Yes, some dot com die hards are out there trying to create their own niche space. Our friend’s website, anakmelayu.com, is an active online social network for the malay community. It’s doing well with some 50,000 registered users.

But more needs to be done if we were to take the information age seriously. If we are to take advantage of the new wave of media downloads, podcasts, video blogs, etc. In a country where the mass media is dominated by monopolies, we have to work harder to break out of the mold and make a name for ourselves.

In case you are wondering, we deliberately did not link to some of the sites mentioned here. The reason? Many Singapore sites have a “no-no” clause in their terms of use that say that we have to seek permission before linking to them. Yet another rather archiac view of the internet that is well-grounded in legalities. Just in case that clause is buried somewhere, we decided not to hyperlink.

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