TechXav /
Tell us about yourself in 50 words.
I’m a 15-Year-Old student from Maris Stella, professional technology blogger and Singapore’s top Twitter user with close to 80,000 followers. Over 98% of my followers or blog readers are based outside Singapore. I was featured before in TODAY, The Digital Life, The Straits Times and Lianhe Wanbao.
How long have you been blogging and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging since May last year in a bid to share my thoughts and opinions encircling around the social web. I don’t blog about my personal life as I frequently post “What are you doing?” updates on Twitter, the world’s most popular micro-blogging platform. I personally feel that professional blogging is fun as I can interact and communicate with adults around the world of the same interest.
How do you feel as one of the finalists in the second Singapore Blog Awards? What do you think is your chance of winning?
I was actually quite surprised that my tech blog was selected as one of the finalists in the second Singapore Blog Awards without even doing any promotion on Twitter, Facebook or even my huge network of local friends. Most of my friends said that I will definitely win the SG Blog Awards but I cannot guarantee the success. One of my adult friend even told me that “The Blog Awards need me more than I need them.” Well, this seems quite true but I still want to win to attract more local readers to my blog.
Who do you think are the strongest bloggers in the category you are nominated for and why?
Unfortunately, the organizers did not include a technology category so I have no choice but to join the Youth Category. The other finalists in the Youth Category mainly writes about their social life as a Singaporean. On the other hand, I blog about the latest tech insights that is catered to technologically-savvy adults. As a result, I do not have any strong rivals in this category.
Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why (need not be in the running for the Singapore Blog Awards, and can mention overseas bloggers too)?
Not even one.
What would you like to say to your blog readers and those who voted and supported you?
If you have voted me or supported me, I would like thank you for the great supprot and I will continue to strive to my dreams to become a top-notch technology blogger in the blogosphere.
To vote for TechXav, you can visit the official Singapore Blog Awards 2009 website. 
Voting commenced from 15 June and will end on 31 July, 2359hrs SHARP. Voters will stand to win a total of 5 Creative Vado (worth S$169) and 5 ST701 Portable External Hard Disk (250GB).
The top 5 most voted bloggers across the ten main categories will also walk away with a HTC Diamond (worth S$1,098) each.
Wah, this person very haolian! So young so haolian!
This person is too full of himself. so young he already talk and behave like this cannot imagine how he will be like in the future. young children these day no longer humble and respectful.
LOL!!!
After reading this well-written article, I personally find that Xavier isn’t proud or boastful at all. Probably you guys have not interact or socialize with any talented kids out there before and you may think that it’s pretty impossible for a 15-year-old student to have over 80,000 followers on Twitter. Besides that, one of you even commented that he is disrespectful. Have you even talked to him before? If you haven’t, then how do you know he is disrespectful. This “interview” doesn’t even indirectly states that he is not respecful at all.
Most people on Twitter love him. He is talented, smart, hardworking and with great personalities. Besides offering excellent tech insights on Twitter, he even shares his school life and adds humor to his updates too. This has always brightens up my day too.
He has made lots of achievements on the Internet that you can’t count it with both your hands. In this article, he had only listed a number of them and there are actually many of them, especially the notable ones which he hasn’t revealed yet. Overall, he is indeed a humble and respectful boy I have ever met and I’m pretty sure he will achieve tremendous success when he grows up.
~ Lisa Burley, a housewife living in the United States of America
Lisa: Don’t really know Xavier in person, but the tone of the interview reply does sound quite arrogant, granted he may be a talented boy. Just my two cents, nothing personnel, no offence.
Xavier – why u “LOL”? means what?
Because I’m pretty sure a few of my fellow Singaporeans or “rivals” will post negative comments about me. Hahas…
Hey buddy! I didn’t know that you have participated in the Singapore Blog Awards. Well, to me, it’s just a peanut to you. So what if you win or lose? It doesn’t matter, pal.
Just like what your adult friend had said – “The Blog Awards need you more than you need them.” You’ve already dominated the web and Twitter. I know that your only purpose of winning this blog award is to garner more local readers but let me ask you this question – “How many can you attract?”.
Well, I would confidently say the figure would be less than one thousand. You’ve over 82,000 followers worldwide on Twitter and that is 82 times more! You can seriously don’t give it a damn and continue Twittering and blogging instead.
By the way, I’ve encountered several issues with the registration of an Omy.sg account in order to vote. At one point, it states “NRIC/FIN No”. As a foreigner, I don’t have any of those. I guess entering my passport number would solve the problem, but I don’t wish to as it’s quite dangerous to give away my passport number. It’s like who would want to give away their personal data to a foreign site which they aren’t familiar with. Some of my friends on Facebook and Twitter want to vote for you but we simply can’t so do. Sorry about that, buddy!
I feel that the organizers should work on an alternative and more user-friendly voting system to accomodate other users. But I’m worried that the entire Omy.sg server would crashed when thousands of people worldwide streamed into the website and start voting for you! ROFL!
Dun pray pray. This kid has 80k followers on twitter. If you offend him he will call his followers to bash you up.
- Uncle Tan, coffee shop assistant living in Singapore
Read about you in today’s edition of Lianhe WanBao. Cool!
So what if he have 1 million twitter followers? Don’t mean can be obnoxious right?
@UncleTan: Wow, I didn’t know that you are actually quite Internet-savvy too! Hahas…
@JoshuaLim: Yes, it’s on page 8.
Don’t worry about detractors Xavier, some people are just like that, get green with envy when they see talents and start anyhow attack. I enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work!
you are a fucking joke..fag
As an avid fan of TechXav, I’ll definitely support you all the way. Ignore those comments posted by unruly people. They are just jealous! You’ve 82,160+ followers on Twitter but some of even don’t even an account at all!
Nice blog, dude!
This boy is so lame. Real life no friend is it?
I love reading your articles on TechXav, especially the one about e-learning. You have shared many valuable thoughts and opinions to this old guy here. I wish I could vote for you little buddy but I can’t due to some restrictions. I must say that you are the next Kevin Rose or Michael Arrington!!!
tionghippo: Looks like you are very jealous about this talented guy!!! Anyway, the interview above has already mentioned that he has a huge network of local friends. Next time, please read properly before making such a comment, dude!
meibei: you then never read properly. I meant REAL LIFE FRIEND. Maybe all his HUGE NETWORK OF LOCAL FRIENDS are all virtual friends.
tionghippo: Well, he said “Twitter, Facebook OR even a huge network of local friends” and “over 98% of my followers or blog readers are based outside Singapore.” Since a large majority of his friends on both Twitter and Facebook are not local, isn’t it obvious that his huge network of local friends are real-life friends? If not, where can they be?
Wah, cockster seh. Singapore is against you!
How many of the 80,000 followers are actually spammers?
I have a twitter account and get all these ‘follow’ requests from strangers who are actually spammers in disguise.
Hey little tech geek! Let me tell you something. Singaporeans are just like that. When they see a strong rival in a competition, they would tend to post negative comments about you to vend their anger.
We will support you all the way, keep it up! Don’t be upset by those comments made by stupid people!
Xavier, you rock! Keep up the good work!
83,237 followers on Twitter including me will support you all the way! You are the best!
Some of you see arrogance. I see one very confident kid. Honestly, I really want to see more kids like these.
And people complain about us being boring people.
@Fiz Thanks for the comment!
Hi Xavier, have you asked the Tweitter 80k followers votes you?? Why you are still not the Top 3 Leading Finalists in Best Youth Category then? just ask… Please don’t angry with me.
@ordinary passer Several of my followers on Twitter said that they don’t wish to reveal their passport numbers (because of privacy issues) to a foreign site they aren’t familiar of (required in the registration of an Omy.sg account). Therefore, I haven’t been doing any promotion on Twitter itself.
ability in the absence of humility is hubris. something you will learn when you live longer, little boy.
Quote:”@ordinary passer Several of my followers on Twitter said that they don’t wish to reveal their passport numbers (because of privacy issues) to a foreign site they aren’t familiar of (required in the registration of an Omy.sg account). Therefore, I haven’t been doing any promotion on Twitter itself.”
Sure or not? if your 80k+ Twitter “FANS” are real fans, not even 1% vote for you? Even 1% of 80k+ every day surely can make you to the top 1 but you still not in top 3 yet? something to ponder about…
You follow almost 80k people too, so it’s normal to get 80+ followers. You follow, they follow. No big deal. Everyone can do that.
Btw, OMY traffic is definitely a lot better than your blog. No big deal, there are plenty of good tech sites out there, think you have not seen enough yet.
@LMAO You got to know that Omy.sg requires users to sign up for an account in order to vote. As Omy.sg only allows users to key in their NRIC/FIN No., my followers who are mainly foreigners aren’t able to vote because they don’t have any of those. Besides that, as I’ve already mentioned before, they won’t possibly reveal their passport number to a SG-registered web company as the government has complete control of everything especially the database. If you were place in their shoes, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t do that too because it’s dangerous. Even though the Singapore government isn’t corrupted in any sense,but some things cannot be predicted.
Anyway, I’ve just started TechXav only on February this year, obviously it would take some time to garner more readers. ROFLMAO!!!
You are full of shit, young man.
You just started the blog this year and you talk like you;re some big shot. Stop the crap with ‘foreigners not able to vote etc etc’. Nobody cares for your reasons.
Reality check kiddo, you are nothing. Grow up, grow some pubes and see the real world. NS would definitely help. and learn to stay grounded and be humble.
I am definitely not voting for you. You don’t deserve any awards.
Hey boy, it doesn’t matter if they vote for you or not. It’s their own choice. The SG blog awards means nothing to you. Just look forward and continue working hard. Don’t let this incident make you upset. Those guys are again simply green with envy and jealous about your amazing feat. Singapore is a small island and of course the people have a small mentality. Do what the celebs do…ignore those comments. Keep striving!
what a punk. techgeek or not, this kid could use with a dose of humility
Pathetic bringing of Maris Stella..
go eat feaces!
If you are so good, try getting into top 3 for your category voting first. Didn’t you said that 98% of your followers are foreigners? That means 1600 are locals. 1600 local followers is more than enough to put you in top 3.
Hey guys! Do you know why he didn’t managed to hit within the top 3 rankings? Well, it’s because he isn’t promoting it either on his blog or Twitter at all. You can go and check his recent updates and see for yourself. Here’s his Twitter profile http://twitter.com/techxav
I doubt it makes any difference. Promote or don’t promote, nobody will vote for such arrogant person.
I realised alot of ur twitter followers are actually… Bots. LOL.
And u merely copied and paste links from all over the web and you call it your insights? *Roll eyes*
Seems like this guy (@asshole) knows nothing about Twitter at all. You can go take a look at Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter account (http://twitter.com/aplusk/followers). His account is also filled with so-called “bots” too. Loser!
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your blog is just a massive link aggregator. I don’t see any original content anywhere, so you’re good at trawling the web for anything with a “Technology” tag or keyword. Congratulations! You have earned the right to be obnoxious!