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This exploratory paper reports how Singapore youths participate in new media. Drawing from Ito's concept of genres of online participation which showed that youth participation in new media in the United States is largely friendship-driven and/or interest- driven, this qualitative research aims to find out to what extent Singapore youths are engaged in new media to socialize (friendship-driven) and/or pursue self-directed learning (interest-driven). Our study revealed that school has a central influence on their new media engagement. The emphasis on school reflects the influence of Singapore's high-stakes examinations on youth's engagement in new media.