A Study on Content Effectiveness of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Program Organized by Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission
Nurul Nisa Omar1*, Che Nur Amalina S. Che Zainal1, Shawal Ras1, Abdul Basit2
1 Faculty of Arts & Science, International University of Malaya-Wales, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Business, International University of Malaya-Wales, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 September 2022 | Published: 1 October 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijares.2022.4.3.10
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Abstract: This study explores the effectiveness of the Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) program content and message delivery through the content analysis method. KDB is a government initiative program by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to encourage positive use of the Internet by educating participants about Internet safety and security. In any program, it is important to study the quality of the message delivery to assess the effectiveness and quality of the communication materials. For this paper, the researchers conducted a content analysis of KDB program’s website, videos, educational materials, and social media postings; to assess the content clarity, likeability, informativeness, and attractiveness. The findings of the study reveal that KDB video is the most attractive medium and the website is the least informative and engaging platform. The results also indicate several other strengths and weaknesses before coming up with recommendations and suggestions to improve the clarity, likeability, informativeness, and attractiveness of the message delivery.
This will assist Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to improve the KDB content for future programs.
Keywords: klik dengan bijak, content effectiveness, awareness
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1. Introduction
In the digital era, the internet has become a main source of communication across the globe and significant for every individual personal and business purpose. The internet usage rises many questions where different threats and issues associated with it among citizens (Rial et al., 2014). Despite those challenges in internet usage, it contributes to improving individuals’ lives and provides great opportunities. As new technologies, brings changes into individuals citizens life’s where they change behavior from social life to virtual life through different social networking websites, which is one of the threats of abusive usage of internet for public (Caldeiro-Pedreira et al., 2021). To overcome challenges such as cyberbully, data protection and false information, many different institutions, both public and private are working together to educate people to avoid such incidents (Yusof et al., 2020). In Malaysian context, Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) initiative of Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Communication (MCMC) introduce programs to spread awareness of digital literacy, safety, security and responsible usage of internet among different demographic citizens (MCMC, n.d). Such
awareness programs content effectiveness is crucial to educate people as public should understand, like and learn from it easily.
Hence, this study was conducted to assess the content effectiveness of the KDB materials with other international programs around the globe. The study evaluated a four-unit analysis to assess KDB materials effectiveness which are clarity, likeability/content engagement, informativeness, and attractiveness.
To achieve that researcher formulated the following research objectives:
1) Conduct content analysis of the KDB educational and promotional materials
2) Assess and provide recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of KDB materials in the future
This research has the following contributions. To understand and review KDB educational and promotional materials, where we offer new findings on improving materials to ensure public awareness increases in the future. Further, comparative findings on materials quality with other initiatives of similar nature around the globe and locally, to fill out the gaps which are lacking in KDB campaigns and enhance the standards. The study is structured as follows:
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Findings and discussion
• Conclusion 2. Literature Review
2.1 Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Program
The Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) or “click wisely” is an online initiative created by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as a way to educate and increase Malaysians’ awareness of Internet safety and security. Launched in 2012, the campaign was created and ensure safer and more rewarding online experiences for the user due to the nature of the internet that could provide a threat to life if it is used without precaution and limited knowledge in using the internet.
To assist with the campaign, MCMC has made safety guides available, which cover various topics, including: online gaming, personal information, smart parenting, cyber bully and crime, digital reputation, and many more. The campaign utilises social media postings, websites, awareness videos, as well as workshops.
2.2 Similar government-led initiatives
Government-led campaigns have been viewed as an effective way to inform the public and increase awareness of crucial topics, such as Internet security. According to Hyland-Wood, Gardner, Leask and Ecker (2021) the public often sees the government as a trustworthy authority, thus ensuring information relayed to be taken seriously. Moreover, Dutt, Dev, and Ferrara (2018) stated two of the key ingredients to reaching efficacy are effectiveness and receptivity.
There are various examples whereby government-led campaigns successfully instilled positive behavior among its citizens. Australian government spearheaded several campaigns to reduce
plastic wastage, such as ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ and Clean Up Australia. The environmental campaigns have proven to be successful and reduced plastic wastage in the country (Willis, Maureaud, Wilcox, & Hardesty, 2017). According to the study, big campaigns yielded positive results than enforcing policies.
Concerns about cybersecurity risks are growing as Internet usage and popularity increase.
Governmental and non-governmental organisations, such as Malaysia, have launched numerous campaigns to increase public awareness of cybersecurity. Such campaigns are essential since they are employed to inspire, and remind their audience of the standards expected of them (Bada, Solms, & Agrafiotis, 2019). The usage of websites, infographics, social media, videos, and many more are common in any awareness campaign and have been seen as successful in delivering key messages of any campaign (De Bruijn & Janssen, 2017).
Aside from the ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’ program discussed above, the writers have identified several government-led cybersecurity campaigns, including “Cyber Aware” from the United Kingdom and “Stop. Think. Connect.” from the United States.
2.3. Content effectiveness
Awareness campaigns are important in relaying essential information to the public. Its effectiveness relies heavily on the type of content it's made of and that will ensure its success (Steen et al., 2020). Several factors that can be seen as a way to assess the effectiveness of a program: clarity, likeability, and informativeness. ‘Clarity’ refers to the clearness of the message in a campaign that is highly important as it reduces misinterpretation, communication failure, and ambiguity (Acosta, Ramchand, & Becker, 2017). ‘Likeability’ is about measuring the campaign’s ability to command the attention of its target audience. Their enjoyment influences behavioral change, thus increasing its effectiveness (Bobba, 2019). And lastly,
‘Informativeness’ refers to producing useful and helpful information where the audience finds valuable information when they are seeking to understand an issue (Moldovan, Steinhart, &
Lehmann, 2019).
It is important to provide clarity of information in a campaign. A study conducted on health and mood leaflets directed at those older than 55 years shows high participation and willingness to be screened for depression following clear information of the study. Another study found that a pamphlet on proper antibiotic use was more effective than a control group that did not consult any material in increasing parental knowledge (Raccanello et al., 2020). It is important to provide clarity of information in a campaign. The study is supported by Nmere et al. (2020) on the adequate communication is required to ensure the successfulness of the waste management campaign.
The early cases of Covid-19 that hits the world traumatized the people given that only a few treatments are available to treat Covid-19, no vaccine and, vital behavior change is needed. The change and messages to be shared with people should be clear to avoid the ineffectiveness of the message. In the United States, a different term is used to ensure the citizens stay at home and to flatten the case curve. Among the terms used such as “stay-at-home,” “shelter-in-place,”
“self-isolation,” and “social distancing,” that lead to misunderstanding. Hence, failed to communicate and create clarity in the messages and moreover change of behavior (Noar &
Austin, 2020). Another study conducted by Alsulaiman and Rentner (2018) stated the importance of providing clear preventive guidelines by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health to stop the spreading of Covid-19 viruses. Thus, information is meant to provide knowledge and support for the change of behavior
2.4. Effective medium
Government-led campaigns often use mass media to relay messages to large numbers of people. Such campaigns can directly or indirectly lead to health behavior change among its target (Wakefield et al., 2010). A paper by Young et al. (2018) listed 24 national campaigns with a variety of mass media used and concluded the usage of television alongside the combination of other media channels are effective in inculcating positive behavior and achieving changes in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs.
Choosing the right medium is important in navigating a national-sized campaign. Media has assisted how the audience and the public communicate about any topic, including Internet- related issues and many more (Kaplan, 2018). Popular social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others, allow organisations to increase the visibility of their campaigns to the mass audience. It is proven that awareness, recognition, reach, and engagement is precursors to actual behavioral effectiveness (Hair et al., 2017).
3. Research Methodology
To explore participants’ feedback on program Content Effectiveness of Klik Dengan Bijak (KDB) Program Organized by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in the Malaysian context, researchers used qualitative content analysis to describe the phenomenon under this study. To assess the content effectiveness of the KDB materials, there were four main units of analysis were selected:
i. Clarity
ii. Likeability / content engagement iii. Informativeness
iv. Attractiveness
Nevertheless, each material analysis will only cover the suitable unit. For instance, some materials are not meant for likeability, while some are not meant for informativeness. Hence, the instrument will depend on which of the 4 units will be the best fit for the content study.
Past literature reported the importance of these units as each unit is crucial in disseminating information to readers. The clarity for instance is about the clearness of the message, likeability is to assess the content’s ability to command the attention of readers, informativeness is about disseminating something useful and valuable to the readers, and attractiveness is about the appeal of the message to attract readers (Acosta, Ramchand, & Becker, 2017; Bobba, 2019;
Moldovan, Steinhart, & Lehmann, 2019).
The content analysis was based on KDB materials and 3 other similar program materials. The selection of KDB materials was based on the following:
1) Educational materials:
12 materials were selected in random order;
- 2 program slides, - 3 guidebook
- 7 pdf handouts and flyers 2) Social media postings:
- 23 posts across September to December 2021 - 10 live content across September to December 2021 3) Program videos
- 4 YouTube videos
4) Website
Overall, 50 materials have been screened across KDB educational materials, social media postings, videos, and websites’ content. The following table will illustrate the samples and data collection of the content analysis according to the selected unit of analysis.
Table 1: Unit of Analysis & Type of Materials Unit of Analysis
Materials Clarity Likeability/
engagement Informativeness Attractiveness Educational Materials
The collected data includes KDB materials such as the program slides, guidebook, handouts, etc; to study the content effectiveness of KDB educational materials.
Social Media Postings
The collected data includes 23 postings and 10 live content across Facebook and Instagram; to study KDB Social Media content effectiveness alongside the content engagement and followers’ interactivity.
KDB Videos The collected data includes 4 YouTube videos to study the video contents’
effectiveness in creating awareness and engagement among viewers.
KDB Website The collected data was based on the KDB website content from https://klikdenganbijak.my/en/index.php
4. Findings & Discussion
The presentation of findings and discussion will be based on two research objectives; to present the findings of the content analysis of KDB educational and promotional materials, and to provide recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of KDB materials for future programs.
The findings will cover content analysis results for KDB educational materials, social media postings, videos, and websites.
Table 2: Findings on KDB Educational Materials
Unit of Analysis Sub-unit Description
Clarity 1. Clear & Straight forward 2. Good readability 3. Appropriate 4. Suitable message
Most of the content is noticeably clear and easy to understand even though it could get a bit too wordy at times.
Informativeness 1. In-depth
2. Wide area of coverage per topic 3. Thorough
4. Clear reflection
5. Multiple engaging activities 6. Appropriate depth
The information given in the materials did cover a broad range of knowledge and most of it did not only focus on one or two areas but on the overall perspective of the lesson.
Attractiveness 1. Inconsistent look 2. Mix of colours
3. Poor font visibility for some 4. Fun Cover Design
5. Plain look 6. Colourful 7. Fun Visual
Most of the materials are colourful however, some can be dull with too many words and can be a little bit boring. Therefore, there is no consistency in the look & feel of the materials.
As shown in Table 2, the KDB educational materials which include the module guide, activity book, and presentation slides have a good level of clarity and informativeness. It has clear and straightforward content that is also appropriate, suitable, and highly readable. The educational materials were found to have a good depth of information that contains engaging activities on the wide area of topics. One aspect to improve would be the attractiveness whereby the
aesthetic of the materials was found to be inconsistent, with poor font visibility, and colour choices for some sections. Thus, the design element certainly can be improved for the future.
Table 3: Findings on KDB Social Media Postings
Unit of Analysis Sub-unit Description
Clarity 1. Clear
2. Straightforward 3. Simple
4. Complicated 5. Ambiguous
Most of the images posted are simple, clear, and can easily be understood by the audience.
Informativeness 1. Explanatory 2. Instructive 3. Factual
4. Too much information
Most of the images posted show moderate information on the subject related to cybercrimes. Some feature a lot of information and some feature less information.
Attractiveness 1. Presentable 2. Appealing 3. Creative
4. Poor use of colour 5. Poor design 6. Poor choice of font
Most of the images and videos posted are moderately attractive and feature colourful visuals and texts. Bright colours and animated visuals are moderately used in the images.
As shown in Table 3, KDB’s social media postings have a good level of clarity, informativeness, and attractiveness. The posts consist of appealing images, infographics, and videos to engage viewers. As for the content, it is direct, understandable, and easy to read.
Nevertheless, very few of the postings were found to be too crowded and vague. Besides the content postings, the researchers take into consideration analysing the engagement and interactivity of the social media activities. It seems that KDB’s social media pages do not receive many engagements despite high number of followers. Even though the live video views were quite high, in the future, the social media content can be crafted to increase the engagement with their followers.
Table 4: Findings on KDB Video
Unit of Analysis Sub-unit Description
Clarity 1. Simple
2. Understandable
3. Clear with double language
The message in the videos is found clear. The language used is simple and understandable.
Informativeness 1. Appropriate 2. Clear information 3. Effective message
The information in the videos was found sufficient that the audience can learn and understand it well enough.
Attractiveness 1. Good video and audio quality 2. Attractive visual
3. Creative
The audio-video idea overall found good. The quality is good however some of the video's creativity needs to be improved to attract more viewership.
As shown in Table 4, KDB videos were found to be one of the most effective contents. The video has a high level of attractiveness, clarity, and informativeness. Not only the message is straightforward, but the delivery is also very engaging with attractive visuals and creative ideas.
The language is suitable to the target audience alongside the narrative that was presented, it was found to be a success.
Table 5: Findings on KDB Website
Unit of Analysis Sub-unit Description
Clarity 1. Overlapping 2. Resolution issue 3. Easy to read 4. Repetitive logo
The topic cannot be seen clearly on the homepage and overlapping of information in the on-site and external sources added. Nevertheless, the topic is clear and the content is easy to read. Having a repetitive logo can help the audience to recognise or relate more to the website to KDB.
Informativeness 1. Simple but limited 2. Not enough coverage 3. Surface level information
Simple but limited information is provided on the home page. There are more areas under KDB but only 3 topics appear on the home page. It is more of surface information rather than directing the audience to where the real activity of live action. Also, a lack of call to action could affect the audience’s behaviour.
Interactivity 1. Working page & tab 2. No search-bar 3. One-sided content 4. Lack of live update / any other interactivity
The colour used is dull, more information can be accessed in the tab but no quick search content. Not many live updates on the program or activities that the audience can interact with. The website is very one-sided content. Good websites should contain the latest updates and ways for the audience to interact with the website activities.
As shown in Table 5, the KDB website was found to be the least effective content among other KDB materials. The website is not very informative, lacks clarity, and is not interactive.
Though the information provided is direct and simple, the content was found to be too limited.
Additionally, some information overlaps with each other, and important information such as live updates, upcoming program information, or future announcements were not found. KDB’s social media is very active and there are many engaging activities conducted; unfortunately, the same energy was not found on the website.
Based on the findings, the following would be the list of recommendations for KDB to consider:
• KDB could consider increasing the reach of the video. The videos can be linked to all potential channels such as the website and social media to increase online engagement.
• It will be ideal for KDB to maintain such a look and feel across all materials and contents, such as the program slide, social media postings, websites, etc. This is to keep the consistency of the KDB image. The content’s ability to command attention usually started with the attractiveness of what the audience sees from a campaign (Bobba, 2019).
• As reported in the findings, the KDB website was found to be the least effective. The website content should include social media feeds, videos, infographics, etc. The audience needs to have valuable experience while exploring the content for them to have the ability to seek an understanding of the presented information (Moldovan, Steinhart, & Lehmann, 2019).
• A lot of improvements can be made for the website, and it is important to a website to be impressive. It should contain important information and introduce visitors to ‘what’ or
‘who’ is KDB and ‘what’ can visitors to gain by participating on the website. Without enough content, it will be difficult for the audience to see the full experience of how the campaign was brought to life (Jabli, Alghamdi, & Demir, 2018).
5. Conclusion
This research is very relevant and important in securing a high-impact result on government- initiated programs such as ‘Klik Dengan Bijak’. The study is to evaluate the content effectiveness of KDB materials which consists of the educational materials, social media
postings, videos, and websites. The study concluded that the KDB video is the most effective content. followed by educational materials. The social media postings on the other hand were found to be good, but there need to be improvements especially concerning the interactivity and engagement with the followers. The least effective content would be the website whereby it is not up to date, a lot of important information is missing, and the content is not varied enough with a lack of engagement. Several recommendations to improve the future content were given following the findings of the content analysis. In conclusion. it is important for content to have a high level of clarity, informativeness, attractiveness, and likeability/content engagement in order to run a successful program.
Acknowledgement
This research was funded through the research grant for the provision of MCMC Digital Society Research, 2021/2022.
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