Looking back at the Toa Payoh Hawker Centre table dispute : views of adult Facebook users in Singapore on public shaming on Facebook

Abstract

Public shaming has made a fierce comeback in the Internet age. With the rise of social media, it is unsurprising that social media platforms such as Facebook, has been utilised for online public shaming events. Highly interactive in nature, Facebook has enlarged and perhaps even changed how engagement in online public shaming can be perceived. In view of this, and with reference to the Toa Payoh Hawker Centre table dispute and the subsequent shaming of the couple involved on Facebook, this study aims to explore and discuss how adult Facebook users in Singapore view and justify what constitutes public shaming on Facebook, and their views on why people engage in public shaming on Facebook. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to accommodate the exploratory nature of the study. A total of 14 adult Facebook users, selected via convenience sampling, participated in this study. The findings will be revealed and discussed.