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ANYONE visitingvideo-sharing site YouTube in the past week may have caught a series of nine video clips oncrime and terrorism, posted by the Singapore Police Force.
The clips hark back to the TV show CrimeWatch, but they can reach audiencesway beyond these shores.
Other government agencies are also hosting entire video channels on YouTube to spread their messages. Some want to reach specific groups here. Others, such as the Infocomm Development Authority, want to market Singapore firms to overseas audiences.
The uploaded clips range from mini-documentaries to fictional and corporate videos.
The National Library Board (NLB) is the most prolific, uploading 181 videos on one channel, and another 83 on its Rock Your World channel, which has videos of rock music gigs held weekly by the NLB's Speak Good English Movement (SGEM).
The SGEM wants to take its message to young people through rock and YouTube is where they are at, said NLB executive Aloysius Yap.
The SGEM engaged a local production house to shoot and produce the videos. Fresh ones have been uploaded every week since last August and will continue to go live weekly till August this year.
The NLB's other channel, which went live three months ago, has clips of its events.
The Health Promotion Board (HPB) has gone beyond producing videos for its YouTube channel HPBsg. It called for user-generated content and held a contest recently for youth to submit videos on healthy living. Ms Vanessa Tan, an HPB senior executive, said it was a way of tapping their creativity and 'saving on our resources at the same time'.
Responses are mixed. Student Geraldine Toh, 20, said that people her age were wary about 'propaganda': 'When you're aware the message is targeted at you, you don't tend to be receptive.'
IT consultant Brandon Tan, 35, said there would be sceptics, but some would buy in: 'Agencies should use all channels to catch whoever they can. There is plenty of worse material on YouTube.'
The agencies would not comment on their YouTube successes.
Although the number of views a video campaign pulls in might not indicate how successful it is, it can hint at the level of interest. A rap video featuring the Media Development Authority's senior management drew more than 100,000 views in five days.
YouTube clips may also be 'ripped': copied, converted to other formats, edited and redistributed.
The HPB's Ms Tan is aware of this, but said:'It is not exactly safe anywhere else either. I have found HPB videos on YouTube which people ripped off our website.'
The NLB's Mr Yap said that, risks aside, the availability of the content was a good reason to be 'out there', since its message could be spread easily and repeatedly.
tanwz@sph.com.sg
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