This paper will present the findings of the pilot studies on the use of online social network in Malaysia. A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to active users of this social media to get an early indication on this activity. In addition, discussion about the global activities of online social networking is also undertaken as a comparison. The analysis shows that online social networking has been used as a new mode of communication especially for Internet active users to meet and interact with their friends. Early findings indicate that they spent quite many hours in this environment and log in into their accounts a few times a day. This shows that social interaction in cyberspace by using new media applications such as social networking has been adapted by more and more people and has changed human communication.

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Electronic journalism offers readers new interpretative possibilities, explored here in Malaysia. Ludic hermeneutic accounts of media reception posit engaging in games as a metaphorical model for an audience creatively forming the meaning of a screen text. Accessing the internet, web users’ comprehension of virtual content is a seriously play-like process. Reading online is fundamentally purposeful or teleological (‘goal-directed’, albeit not by duty); concerned with other than the mundane (‘extracted’ from the everyday); projecting a ‘fore-structure’ for understanding, securing meaning; holistic (moving ‘to and fro’), integrating aspects of a text; and constructing cultural identity and power (‘fortifying’ self and status). But the ludic focus on developing meaning intrinsic to the virtual web co-exists with material world concerns. Marginalizing the former, internet users emphasize securing extrinsic goals: talk of mundane duty is foregrounded. Reading the screen, still productive of understanding (identity and insight), becomes liminally ludic, sometimes laborious.

This article examines the development and usage of e-government in Malaysia. The history of public administration reform in Malaysia demonstrates the government's willingness to experiment with innovations seen as improving the efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness of public services. Thus, e-government has been enthusiastically promoted by the Malaysian government and has spread across most government organisations at central and subnational levels. The article provides details of a range of services both within government and for society that are available in e-government modes. However, there are challenges to the development of e-government including adherence to traditional models of service delivery, resistance to organisational culture change by officials, preference for counter services by clients and constraints on the availability of information technology training. Mobile phones are now seen as a new way to encourage citizens to use e-government on a regular basis. JEL Code: D78The growth of access to broadband internet services and the proliferation of mobile telecommunications have fostered the promotion of e-government applications by governments across Southeast Asia. E-government is thought to represent a means for effective governance and citizen participation, both at national and local levels. It has the potential to improve public management, and to increase efficiency, transparency and accountability. Governments are increasingly using the popularity of interactive information and communication technology (ICT), particularly the internet and mobile phone technologies to improve interaction with citizens. Benefits are seen as including cost efficiency for governments and greater convenience for citizens when paying bills and applying for permits and licences online. The e-government model of public service delivery is also seen as enhancing governance by improving the quality and responsiveness of services, by expanding the reach and accessibility of public infrastructure, and by allowing citizens to experience a faster and more transparent interface with government services (Gil-Garcia and Pardo, 2005;McClure, 1997).Many countries have recognised the importance of citizen feedback via the internet and are taking advantage of social networking tools to create better websites and web portals. Mobile telephones are increasingly being targeted by governments to provide services in the form of alert messages sent by way of short 'text' or SMS messages. Malaysia's mySMS system enables users to receive information and documents on demand, and to receive broadcast information from government agencies, including emergency information. The system also allows users to lodge complaints about government agencies.When governments upgrade their websites to incorporate interactive tools, citizen e-participation seems to be strengthened. Citizens are no longer passive consumers of government-provided information but active participants in the decision-making process relating to government service deliv...