Malaysia: Business IssuesThis is a featured page

Malaysia: Business Issues - DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIAIn this section:

1) The starting point
2) Which social media channels then?
3) What drives Malaysians to social media
4) Some constraints
5) Differences with mobile
6) What are other companies doing in Malaysia?

Other pages in this section:

  1. Malaysia: Cultural Issues
  2. Malaysia: Government Issues
  3. Malaysia: Internet Filtering
  4. Malaysia: Business Issues
  5. Malaysia: Emerging Trends in Social Media
  6. Malaysia: Commercial and Social Mobile Applications


An easy-to-read Piece of Advice on entering Malaysia’s Social Media through the various channels available for corporate professionals, PRs, marketers etc.

Before you decide to infiltrate into Malaysia’s Social Media scene, we advise you to familiarize yourself with Malaysia and her current Social Media environment starting from our Homepage.It is easy to navigate around with comprehensive information from both raw data and analyzed findings. We will give you simple and quick snippets on what you have to take note with regards to utilizing the online media for your company’s benefit.

It will be great if you decide to start from this page, as we will give you simple and quick snippets of what you have to note on your company’s affair with Malaysia’s Social Media.

It is important to also recognize how influential Social Media can be to business in Malaysia. About 80% of Malaysian’s most valuable brands according to Interbrand, already have a social media channel in the form of blog, community, Twitter account, Facebook site, MySpace community fans club page or other social inventory.

The starting point

You will need to know what kind of the conversations people in Malaysia are talking about. Starting your search of blogs from Google or Technorati may sound like a good idea, however, you can consider checking out the Forums in Malaysia. If you go to a "general" forum, for example, Cari Discuz! or Lowyat NET (which apparently is one of the top forums in Malaysia) they will give you a good feel of the topics that Malaysians are currently discussing about online.
[Find out more : The Top 5s, Social Media Tools]

Which social media channels then?

Similar to other countries, Malaysians are very open to the social media channels available online, from social networking sites like Facebook to Malaysia’s own video sharing site, MalaysiaKini. Malaysians are also very capable in creating social media channels such as RockYourVote, a Malaysia’s premier social booking marking sites which is similar to Technorati. As for the choice of blogging platform, Malaysian bloggers choose to blog on Blogspot or Wordpress like everyone else in the world.
[Find out more : Social Media Tools, The Top 5s]

What really drives Malaysians to the social media atmosphere

It is not a popularity race that brings Malaysians to the social media space. It is not really about someone or everybody is going there, therefore I should join kind of analogy. Based on our analysis, it is often a common underlying issue such as political concerns to race discrimination which Malaysians are unable to voice out in their daily life. As an outlet for their frustrations, they turn to the online scene. Secondary reasons why Malaysians are active in the Social Media scene are for the entertainment news, food and music.
[Find out more : Governmental/ Political vs Web2.0, Cultural/ Social Issues Impacting Web2.0]

Some constraints

Having success over censorship with Malaysia’s traditional media, the Malaysian government has been attempting to place legislation unto the usage of online channels. Due to the nature of online mediums which allows for freedom of speech, the Malaysian government has been unsuccessful in their efforts to stamp out the opposition online. The government did try to join in the ‘online politicking’ but have been greatly unsuccessful. Despite the active participation by Malaysians in the social media networks, one has to note that Malaysia has been late in introducing broadband due to the lack of infrastructure. Therefore over the last decade, Malaysians has been using Dial-up connections, which presents the greatest barrier to greater adoption of internet usage beyond the office.
[Find out more : Governmental/ Political vs Web2.0, Technology Impacts with Web2.0]

It's a different story with mobiles

Malaysian was ranked 3rd position as the world’s leading mobile content and application center in the AT Kearney Global Outsourcing Survey on mobile marketing. Statistics from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have shown that there are more than 13 million subscribers in Malaysia, with penetration rate passing the high mark of 50%. This makes Malaysia a good platform for mobile marketing.
[Find out more : Technology Penetration, Technology Impacts with Web2.0]

What are other companies doing in Malaysia?

HSBC, Ford, Volvo, BMW, Nike, Samsung and Dell are just some of the companies with a physical and online presence in Malaysia. As noted by Malaysia’s leading online advertising network, Dell has been one of the largest online advertisers to increase their brand awareness and generate online sales, due to the absence of their physical retail stores in Malaysia.

At the same time, NEC Corporation has implemented their mobile business initiatives in Malaysia so as to create a strong foothold in the mobile market.

For more examples of terrific uses of Social Media by Malaysian companies, check out the GreyReview. http://www.greyreview.com/2009/02/25/top-10-most-interesting-web-20-use-by-malaysian-brands/ These examples are very creative and have garnered a lot of interest in the Malaysian community. For a complete list of brands and their uses of Socail Media, click here.

Malaysia being considerably young in the context of social media will be able to generate more business opportunities in the future as more stable infrastructure is developed in the country. With the current technology being improved and many other initiatives taking place, many Malaysians have been greatly motivated to start their conversations in the social media arena in various creative ways.

So why not make it your corporation’s turn next?


Malaysia: Business Issues - Social Media and PR across Asia


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