Apr 25, 2011 - Straits Times
By Chua Hian Hou
SIX DAYS after starting her Facebook profile, National
Solidarity Party (NSP) candidate Nicole Seah is now Singapore's
second most popular politician online after Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew.
By 9pm on Monday, the 24-year-old opposition candidate had
amassed 18,900 fans against to Mr Lee's 54,000 fans. She had
earlier that day overtaken previous runner-up Foreign Minister
George Yeo's 18,700 fans, despite the fact that he had a three-year
head start.
Only Miss Seah and Mr Yeo are, however, active on the social
networking site used by one in two Singaporeans. Mr Lee's page is
not actively maintained and has no content other than some
background information of him.
Both Miss Seah and Mr Yeo beat other candidates in the online
popularity contest handily.
Asked whether she thought online popularity translates into
votes, Miss Seah said: 'This is a watershed election for social
media, and how this will translate into votes is anybody's
guess.'
She is part of the NSP team contesting against Senior Minister
Goh Chok Tong's team in the Marine Parade group representative
constituency.
Mr Yeo, who took the question at an event at the *Scape youth
park, was more bullish. Online popularity, he said, has a bearing
on votes.
'The question is, how much?'
