Social media is making itself felt, and may do so at the ballot box

SINCE at least 2011, each General Election has been dubbed a "social media election".

With the Covid-19 outbreak necessitating drastic changes in campaigning this year, perhaps no election will earn the title as thoroughly as GE2020 - for better or for worse.

Physical rallies have been disallowed this year, in line with public health guidelines against large crowds. Instead, a special one-off provision will give candidates for each constituency several minutes of air time on national television and radio channels, alongside the existing Party political broadcasts.

Besides that, candidates may also hold online "e-rally" livestreams, using their own resources or government-provided venues. But one potential implication is that unlike previous GE campaigns where parties had scheduled live rallies for coverage, the media may be unable to keep tabs on all the parties' livestreaming efforts, which could in theory run 24/7.

This is part of a larger picture of decentralisation, and the erosion of mainstream media's ability to provide blanket coverage of the election, given the sheer volume of what happens online.

Even before official campaigning has begun, parties have already taken to social media in a big way, from introducing candidates to holding livestreamed discussions.

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This could be seen as a way for smaller parties in particular to reach voters directly, unmediated by establishment media outlets that have often been accused of giving insufficient airtime to opposition voices.

Yet this fragmentation also raises the well-established issue of social media echo chambers. Formal media coverage of opposition rallies is arguably more likely to reach an undecided voter, compared to social media posts that may not gain much traction beyond existing followers of the party's page.

Of course, it remains to be seen if this social media blossoming will ultimately prove to be a mere tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing. After the last GE, an Institute of Policy Studies report surveyed 2,000 citizens of voting age on social media use in GE2015.

It found that almost half the respondents had decided whom to vote for even before Nomination Day, meaning that it was unclear if social media use reinforced or changed voters' minds.

Another finding was that nearly all social media users also relied on traditional media sources - with television, print newspapers and radio ranking as the top three most-trusted sources for election news.

But five years later, with younger cohorts having reached voting age, it is plausible that things have changed. A possible sign of social media's prominence this time around is the role it has already played in the scrutiny of candidates.

People's Action Party would-be candidate Ivan Lim withdrew his candidacy after a deluge of allegations about his behaviour and character went viral on social media. At the introduction of the PAP's Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency slate on Monday, new candidate Ng Ling Ling also addressed an online barb against her, that had been made just a few hours earlier.

Social media activity has already held candidates to account. What remains to be seen is if it will make itself felt at the ballot box as well.