Malaysian media is usually about five or at least a few years late from the global leaders.
Social media adoption has been relatively fast, but we're still a few years behind.
This creates opportunity as well as headaches.
Some of the biggest challenges in the industry are: managing expectations, educating the industry and making them understand how things work in this world.
I have been online since 1994, searching for Doraemon porn whenever we break into the computer room at my school. I also have a degree in computer science, which I have never used.
What interested me, though, were the online communities. How humans act online is similar and at the same time different than in the real world. I frequented and am still a member of certain forums online, for example the currently-defunct Phuket-Info, where I researched and gleaned information, tips, tricks and made friends in the wonderful world of Thai nightlife.
I have been banned many times from the Melayu.com forums because I was in a phase in my life when I constantly challenged people's religious beliefs and make fun of idiots as a form of entertainment.
If you want to see how people interact online, go to YouTube and read the comments there. Then go to political Facebook pages. See the difference? Why? Accountability, for one. FB has some of your info and lots of people use it to socialise with their friends. So it is easier for them to be exposed on FB as well as places like LinkedIN where people post their full resumes online.
How information travels is also different. Technology influences how humans act and react online, but the way and mannerisms are different. Twitter is all about speed as well as the ephemeral nature of the Internet and information.
Go to 9gag, icanhascheezburger, 4chan and numerous online game forums for some injection of culture.
Eventually, after a few years, a big picture starts to form. You can see the altruistic side of humans as they contribute and edit Wikipedia pages. You can also see their dark nature by reading said YouTube comments.
There are literally thousands of different tools and hundreds of different platforms out there, but the most important is yourself.
