INSTANT messaging app WhatsApp will be one of the main campaign platforms for political parties ahead of the 14th general election.

WhatsApp has 68% coverage in Malaysia as of the third quarter of 2017.

Sunway University senior communication lecturer Dr Pauline Leong said 2008 was a blogging election, where many bloggers made a name for themselves while 2013 was a social media election where political parties made short clips and music videos that went viral on Facebook and Twitter. 

Leong said after a public forum on youth, politics and social media in the elections earlier this week that “2018 will be a WhatsApp election”.

Barisan Nasional (BN) Youth executive secretary, Zaidel Baharuddin, said WhatsApp is a better platform than Facebook to reach out to rural voters, where mobile data speed is slower than urban areas.

“The data volume is smaller, because of the 100MB cap, so the loading time is shorter compared with Facebook,” said Zaidel.

He said even natives in remote areas in Sarawak own a mobile phone and whenever they have access to the internet, usually the first online messages they received are WhatsApp notifications.

The special officer to the deputy home affairs minister added that no politician can afford to ignore social media applications at this age.

“Lembah Pantai (a federal seat in Kuala Lumpur) has about 60,000 voters, only 20% are born and bred there. It’s not enough to provide social services to them. You need to reach out to the other voters through social media,” said Zaidel.

PKR communication director Fahmi Fadzil concurred that it is faster to use WhatsApp to spread memes but only good content will go viral.

“A lot of people like to ask: how do I make a post viral? This is the wrong approach. You can only make it viral if the content resonates with the public,” said Fahmi.

Most people do not discuss their political views on WhatsApp, but they do on Facebook and Twitter, he said.

“They just want to know what’s the latest news (through WhatsApp): whether fuel prices went up, or about the seizure of Equanimity in Indonesia.”

Other platforms still relevant

Malaysian Digital Association president Sam Teck Choon said other social media platforms will still be relevant in the elections as most internet users access Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other apps at different times of the day.

Citing Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad as an example, he said the former prime minister opened several social media accounts after returning to active politics, the latest being Instagram.

“This shows that other social media platforms are also important,” said Sam.

Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman also disagreed that WhatsApp will be a game-changer in GE14.

“It is impossible that the (social media war) during elections will be concentrated on just one platform,” he said.

Syed Saddiq was criticised for posting photographs about his pets and his family members on Instagram when he entered politics in 2016.

“They said it had nothing to do with politics. But I wanted to show politicians have a personal life, too. After a while, the public got used to it.” – March 22, 2018.