Global IT Hub? *pui*

Most wired city in Asia they say... largest concentration of computer users they say... leading the revoloution in e-commerce they say....

And yet i can't even get information on a bloody baking oven!

On top of that the retail big boys of Courts, Best Denki and Harvey Norman sites are all down! For almost a month now!!

But, i'd thought i'd give us a chance. Maybe baking ovens are not the rage...let's try searching for... MRT fares! Five weblinks and two hours later, i'm still clueless about how SMRT would charge if i wanted to travel from Bedok to Yio Chu Kang.

Ok, ok... let's give e-commerce a break, maybe in a small island, we don't really need to buy anything online after all.

So i logged on to Channel News Asia's Forums. I left in no more than 10 mins. Any longer and i might have been scarred mentally. What did i come across that left me scampering like a rabbit?

"What do you like best about Singapore guys"?

"I'm stuck in a $50,000 loan, please help"

"[POLL] Gals wearing lesser nowsadays".

"The worst food court"

I ruled out the possibility of a potential waste of time and a usless stirring of emotions. 90% of the posters don't know what they're talking about, complain relentlessly, don't bother with grammar and spelling and lace their posts with just a tad too many Hokkien expelatives. Nah buay, liek dis how to read sia?

Nevermind, let's log on to The Straits Times then, there must be something intelligent about -The Asia Pacific Newspaper of the Year-. (Yes, it really is a newspaper!..no, no, it's not a propaganda machine...pro singapore and anti-world? Whatever gave you that idea?!)

Pathos. Our very popular newspaper wants to impose a charge. I guess they'd have to, Singaporean's think it's not worthwhile paying 60cents to pay for propa- i mean, news any more. If you'd really think about it, CNN and BBC offers quality unbiased Asian and world news for free. Let's see, tailored news for S$60, or unbiased as-is news for free...hmmm, this is a tough one...

Let's sum up Singapore's online presence :

1.) No one's harnessing the power of search engines properly.

2.) No Pay-per-Click application anywhere.

3.) No retailer is even bothered with regional selling.

4.) Poor content management. I'm not even talking about asthetics yet. Some sites have obviously no research made on internet psychologies, spider crawls, strategic text placement, interface design. There are some sites belonging to large companies that are truly embarassing.

5.) Poor use of selling language.

6.) Poor call to action.

7.) Poor bandwidth. MediaCorp and all their subsites like Channel News Asia has all the speed of a handicaped snail.

8.) Lack of informative pages.

9.) Poor content in newsletters. MINDEF MIW never fails to get on my nerves. If i get sales letters and no proper content attracts me month after month, i'll treat them all as spam and junk it.

10.) Lack of companies actually participating in the web scene.

The value of the internet is highly underated. We're not a long way off from becoming a true I.T hub. All it takes is for companies to invest a little more in an integrated online marketing plan.

Anyone up to start a campaign?