Some Tips For Putera MIC’s Blog
Well, ever since Putera MIC started blogging and also went around blog hopping, they’d been posting in most Malaysian Indian bloggers’ shoutboxes to redirect traffic. Good strategy, perhaps. But the fact remains that their method of communicating with the masses does have limited capabilities, and there are a few problems which need to be addressed soon. Let me highlight them for you guys. Don’t mistake my intentions as being supportive to Putera MIC. I am committed to remain apolitical for the time being. This is an effort to promote better communication methods between Putera MIC and their targeted audience, mainly Malaysian Indian youths.
First and foremost, Putera MIC’s method of debating inside a teenie-weenie shoutbox is only fit to be laughed at. With a maximum limit of characters, there is never enough space to get one’s point across. And with so many visitors trying to come in and say hi a million times a day, it’s easy to lose track of the topic. So, either you expand the shoutbox’s height, or try to find a better way to do it.
Your so-called chat system is kinda lame, coz there are rarely the right men there to answer each and every question. And if your designated person in the chatroom wrongly answers something, it’s a disgrace to your image. Plus we almost never know the time where the proper people are in the chatroom.
Next, please oh please, move away from Blogspot. Blogspot’s good if you want to make your own personal bloggie, but an organization of this stature should be having it’s own blog installation. Wordpress is free for God’s sake! You already have a domain name, so I am wondering something here. Do you guys have NO hosting space to host a Wordpress installation, or you don’t know how to install Wordpress?
Why Wordpress? Well, it’s more streamlined of course! Haven’t you realised yet that there are no trackbacks to your articles? I’ve seen many other Blogspot blogs with trackbacks. Either you learn how to activate them, or switch blog engines. AND NO! I don’t know how do play around inside Blogspot. I’m a Wordpress guy!
Why do you need trackbacks? Well, when people write something about your site or your articles, they usually put up backlinks. Without links being displayed, how else would you know what have people written about your articles? How would you prepare your replies to “baseless allegations” (as the government loves to say all the time) if you don’t know where those allegations lie? With MIC’s new target of engaging the public better, you should be out there engaging, not spamming shoutboxes.
Remember this: YOU need to come to our blogs and give out ur points and rebuttals. We are not obliged to pay a visit to your site every single day to update ourselves with your points and rebuttals. This is how the system works. There are many high profile Malaysian Indian bloggers out there, who are also youths of the nation. Have you wondered why don’t they come to leave a footprint in your site? To them, you’re small fry. In their humble opinions, there’s no need to deal with toothless tigers, much less to go and try to pet them every now and then. Thus, you are the one that has to engage them. We’ve already seen in the last GE what had happenned to MIC. So there’s no guarantee that bloggers will come to your site and discuss with you.
There might be many more tips for Putera MIC’s blog. I’m running outta time, so I’ll end the article here. Just hope you guys will read it. And if anyone of you guys have any more ideas, just share them in the comments section. Just please, try to minimize the ‘kutuking’ of MIC eh? Let’s give them a fair arena.
11 Responses
Thanks for the tips Mr.Kavilan 
Will try our level best to implement ur ideas in Putera MIC Blog / Website.
Thanks a bunch ..
Sincerely,
Novinthen Krishnan
Putera MIC.
ICT Bureau
[Kavi: I appreciate u leaving ur comment here. Even if you dont implement anythg, I dont mind, coz Im unaffected just the same. As you've taken ur time to write this comment, I thank you for ur attention.
Just a thought: I do not claim to know everything, though I can say that I do know more than some people. I've been blogging for a year now, and I am still learning a lot about the blogging community. Perhaps your Information Chief should learn about blogging trends in a more detailed manner.]
Man, this is out of topic, but can’t help it.
Your chat box, ads and other links are way below this post. I see that you have done some tweaking but the “margins” screwed.
I just hate CSS! But got to live with it! 
[Kavi: Thanks for the info dude... I didnt chge any CSS la... but mayb i shud be creating separate CSS files for diff browsers.. ]
Kavilan,
Please don’t assume I don’t know anything about blogs, blogging trends, or even bloggers for that matter. I assure you, that would be very wrong. 
As I told you yesterday, a sincere attempt to help Putera MIC refine our blog would always be appreciated.
Nevertheless, perhaps I’ll heed your advice and learn more about blogging trends. After all, you’ve been blogging for a whole year now, have you. I’ve only been blogging for about four years. Just never used my name. But go on, ask some of the ‘influential Indian bloggers who are also youth’ you mentioned, and some just might be able to tell you where to point your browser.
Since I joined Putera, I’ve abandoned blogging anonymously. I channel any views through the Putera mouthpiece. Perhaps that makes me a newbie in your eyes.
Don’t assume, my friend.
Cheers,
Prem.
[Kavi: oh well, perhaps my one year's knowledge was sufficient for me to notice certain flaws. Maybe everyone's pointing their browser the wrong way, coz certainly not many are discussing MIC's "plans".
Any views that are channeled through a political mouthpiece can never be assumed as one's own views. You still gotta maintain your views inside the party's scope.
So, please accept my sincere apologies for assuming the possible non-truths. BUT please do also understand that it is not you that I am questioning. It is the party's answer for the questions posed. ]
“Without links being displayed, how else would you know what have people written about your articles? How would you prepare your replies to “baseless allegations” (as the government loves to say all the time) if you don’t know where those allegations lie?”
Exactly, you have answered the question yourself. MIC likes only one-way discussion. So thats why they didn’t implement trackbacks, they didn’t want anyone to rebut their posts.
Being a political party, especially one which is race-based means that they need to go to grassroot level to listen to problems. I come from Sg Siput (one of the estates to be specific) and I can easily say how many times I have seen MIC ppl outside my house.
Anyway getting back to my point, I am starting to get irritated at them spamming my inbox. They should realise someday that inviting people to read their blogs will not help unless they write articles that will make the existing readers to come back for more, which can only happen if the party itself changes the image it portrays.
Gosh, I better stop now, this looks more like an article than a comment. Nice blog too!
Regards
[Kavi: haha.. i dont mind long comments...
one-sided arguments is what the government does now. Let's just wait and see how far does this go. They jumped the blogging bandwagon not because they wanted to, but because they had to. THe future awaits.]
sactyrs last blog post..Fixed Deposit Accounts of Mahathir, his family and his cronies
I hope the people in Putera MIC or whatever other organizations take note the suggestions. From what I have seen, criticisms towards them always ends up they defending themselves. You have to be receptive and listen!
Most people work better by being in the institution. But, unique people work greater by being outside the institution:p
[Kavi: memang pun... they're quite defensive. Sometimes even when they dont u'std some issues or have no say in it coz sum1 above has a diff perspective]
Viveks last blog post..Petrolization!
You hit the nail right with this statement “they jumped the blogging bandwagon not because they wanted to, but because they had to”
Interestingly MIC thinks that it can garner more support with some cosmetic changes (ya, the other name for re-branding exercise) and yes, jumping into the blogging trend. Seriously I doubt these people know what are they doing. To be frank, I welcomed this change but after visiting couple of the MIC leaders’ blogs, I seriously think they need to work on their contents as well.
I saw what Premnath commented above and seriously Premnath, for a guy who been “blogging” for the last 4 years, I am sure you can educate your fellow bloggers in MIC that perhaps your MIC newsletter, sorry blog posts 
can be better structured if you did not make a “rojak” of your posts - posts in English, Malay and Tamil coming in intervals.
Either have separate links for posts in 3 languages (like how Malaysiakini did) or have in all 3 languages in the same posts (but structured accordingly).
Hopefully this is taken care in the “new” blog
[Kavi: wat's new isnt always better eh bro? hehehe... newsletter.. nice euphemism]
Balajoes last blog post..Borderline
And I thought you were cured of your ‘i-love-political-posts’ syndrome, bro. Just when I thought you were finally ok, you decided to go all out banging PMIC.
[Kavi: this isnt all out bro... "all out" will have to wait until i get smtng (that's rightfully mine) that has been pending for too long, 2 yrs actually... u know wat i mean.. ]
dantes last blog post..Punishments I received in school, Part I
Good day gentlemen,
Have posted a long reply over my blog. Do view it if free.
Thanks a bunch
Good points there bro…
We been whacking MIC and it’s boss wwwaaayyy before the general election and especially at the “height” of temple demolishments. Although they seem to think that having a blog will solve their problems, at least they working on some new trends (”new” in relation to MIC).
Some of the MIC leaders have started to blog, so having something like DAP where DAP lists out the links of all their leaders’ / MPs’ blogs. This way, we can see who is blogging and who is not. Don’t copy & paste like how some UMNO blogs being done - we need direct strong & intelligent words (something that Dr M have mastered rather well)
I agree that Putera MIC should reply in other blogs if issues are raised, not the other way around where we need to go to their blog and update.
[Kavi: well, you'd be surprised how much flak i received in their shoutbox after I posted this... seems like they still have A LOT, I mean a SHITLOAD of stuff to learn in blogging.. Heck.. even i am still learning new stuff, but some newcomers just aint worth the talk...]
Balajoes last blog post..Free for all?