THE NEW NETWORK BATTLE

       Politicians tap into Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking sites to keep their views in the public eye. By Chatrudee Theparat
       Thaksin Shinawatra in exile seems to be a step ahead of his political opponents including the incumbent government when it comes to using fastgrowing digital social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to stay connected to his supporters.
       Social networking media have allowed the ousted former premier to remain fully in touch with his supporters wherever he roams, from Dubai or Liberia to Swaziland.
       However, the government and the Democrat Party are rising to the challenge.
       The Democrats have had www.democrat.com and www. abhisit.org, for years and have now expanded to popular networking sites such as Hi5,Facebook and Twitter as channels to connect to the new generation and existing and potential supporters.
       Tech-savvy Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has his own account on Hi5 but since he became PM he has been too busy to update it. Now, his staff do updates for him, including his Twitter account.
       As of Sept 2, Mr Abhisit's Hi5 site had 138,089 friends and 443,778 visitors.
       Some of the top "tweeters" among the Democrats are Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu, PM's adviser Apirak Kosayodhin, and PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtoey. Earlier, the Democrats' tech-smart team had chatted mainly via BlackBerry.
       Through Twitter, Mr Abhisit and the embattled Thaksin seem also engaged in fighting for new followers. Mr Thaksin was ahead with 20,245 to Mr Abhisit's 14,295 as of Friday.
       Mr Abhisit seems to be following other people much more than Mr Thaksin.The premier was following 3,516 other people while Mr Thaksin had only four he was interested in following.
       Apart from social networking sites,the prime minister launched www.pm.go.th early last month as an open platform to communicate with Thais about the government's work, policies and the progress of budget disbursement and stimulus measures.
       Visitors can ask the premier questions and post their opinions on the site. The PM himself will answer the best questions every Sunday on Channel 11.
       The site itself also links to various social media including Flickr, Twitter,and Facebook."The government and the Democrat Party perceive this as one significant tool apart from TV, billboards,and community radio to gain access to a new generation who average 18-25 years old and working people aged 30 to 40 years," said Mr Satit."However, it's unfortunate that internet users in Thailand total only 15 million people right now, a marginal portion compared with our 65 million population."
       Mr Satit said the party was now restructuring all of its online offerings to make sure that the party-related websites are linked closely and build up their own social networks.