One of the blog entries here in New Media Philippines is currently being swarmed by comments directed to President Noynoy Aquino. If you guys noticed, the blog entry entitled “President Noynoy Aquino’s New Website (www.president.gov.ph)” is one of the most active articles. If you read through the comments you’ll see that they’re all directed towards the President. Though this really wasn’t intentional it looks like Google has semi-transformed this blog into a satellite site of the President.

Filipinos have a habit of typing in the entire URL on the search bar of Google instead of typing the URL on the address section of the browser. This is evident in this case. The said blog entry ranks high on Google for several keywords pertaining to President Aquino’s website like “President Noynoy Website” and “www.president.gov.ph”.

The article currently has 97 comments and climbing. I already disapproved more than 20 comments and I’m thinking of just shutting down the comments section of that post. Some examples of the comments:

melissa maningo / August 19, 2010

helow po sir president sana nasa mbuti kayong klgayan gusto ko lang po sana ipaabot sa inyo na sana po magkaroon kayo ng scholarships lalong lalo na sa aming gusto tlaga mag aral para mkapag trbho ng maganda..lalo na po dito sa mindanao dito sa dvao at sna po sa inyong panunungklan eh magkroon ng maganda at maayos na trabho ang lhat at mataas na sahod

edz / August 19, 2010

PRESIDENT NOY , GUSTO KO LANG PO SANANG IREKLAMO ANG MGA TINDERA DITO SA IMUS CAVITE.SOBRA PO ANG MAHAL NG MGA BILIHIN DITO MAS MAHAL PA NGA PO SA PRESYO NG MGA PANINDA SA METRO MANILA.LALO NA PO ANG PRESYO NG ISDA ,KARNE AT GULAY.SANA PO AY BIGYAN NYO NG PANSIN ANG AKING KAHILINGAN …SALAMAT PO AT GUD LUCK

ms. capricorn of Lipa Batangas / August 19, 2010

dear president Noy,
Pnoy, pkisilip naman po d2 sa amin sa Lipa Batangas, Grabe pong pahirap ang ginagawa sa amin ng bagong upong mayor. Bukod sa walang alam ay kung ano ano pang experiment ang knyang gnagwa. Panay ang salita sa aming flag ceremony ng walang naman kasaysayan. Anong klaseng namumuno yan.

Anyway, click here to go to the website of the President.

The latest issue of Money Sense magazine is already out on stands (July-August issue) and I’m happy to let everyone know that I have an article in it! Their Editor-In-Chief asked me to write a piece on how social media marketing works here in the Philippines and how SME’s can take advantage of it to grow their bottom line. The article is pretty straightforward, easy-to-read, and will focus on how to maximize Facebook for selling products and services. If you buy the issue, please do read my article and let me know what you think about it. Thanks again to Money Sense for having me contribute.

As most of you know, I’m getting married in 2 weeks time. Preparing for the wedding was definitely hard but I’m sure it will be worth it come the big day. Anyway, while going over my budget, I realized that we’re investing a lot on photography and video. This is probably the same for a lot of couples who are getting married in this day and age. Technology has drastically evolved to the point that we can preserve and even enhance memories. We now have the ability to leave a digital footprint in this world — in full color and HD! This may sound really simple and not something to celebrate, but if you think hard about it we actually have the means now to leave a legacy that our grandchildren can listen, hear, see, and maybe even touch (in the future). We can actually invest in building their future by building a library of digital content that will hold life lessons and experiences that we want to share to them. Here are some ideas on how to do just that.

1. Record Videos of special moments in your life
Share your most memorable experiences via video. I really try to make it a point to have all the biggest moments in my life recorded. When I proposed to Mich last October, my good friend, Bu, recorded the entire thing. Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it yet:

A video camera is a very good investment these days. Video editing software is also easy to come by and it’s not too hard to use. For sharing you can always just upload on Youtube. Let’s make the most of today’s technology to connect with future generations.

2. Create short videos with life lessons and reflections.
I haven’t done this yet but I hope to do so soon (via vlogs or video casts). Just get a camera in front of you and start sharing some of the most important life lessons that you’ve come across. You can have this for everyone in the whole world to see or you can just have it in a CD which you give to your loved ones. If it’s really good it will probably end up getting uploaded though, lol.

Here’s a lecture given by the late professor Randy Pauche about how to achieve childhood dreams. He made this for his kids. It’s a long lecture at 1 hour but believe me when I say that it’s worth every single second of download time. I learned so much from his lecture and I think you can too.

Which brings me to my next point — your legacy is not just actually for your kids and grandkids. It can be for the entire world. Every person has a unique life and it means that we all have different life lessons that we can share to the world. We have the potential to touch and bless millions of lives. All we have to do is to start talking and sharing.

3. Leave messages
This is something I’ll probably do when I’m a bit older, haha! Just record yourself giving messages to your unborn grandkid or something. It’s a great way for them to know you even if you’ve already passed away. Don’t leave the story telling to others. Share your life story yourself.

Technology, the Internet, and social media are all gifts from God that we can use to enrich the lives of other people. It’s not just for Farmville or uploading photos. If used properly we can make the world a better place to live in.

Postscript: I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday (July 21, 2010). That’s probably the reason why I’m so emo. Hahaha.

I was invited to guest on Media In Focus with Noemi to talk about President Noynoy Aquino’s social media strategy. I usually say yes without hesitation for interview requests on this particular show because it’s really such a delight to talk with the anchor – Cheche Lazaro. Anyway, ANC was gracious enough to upload the entire episode on Youtube. Please do watch it and let me know what you think.

Watch Parts 2, 3, and 4 after the break.

Thanks to Koreena and Ayee for the invite! I really had fun during this episode.

Catalyst Interactive Marketing, my consultancy company, staged our first Internet & Social Media Marketing Program for Filipino Entrepreneurs and Marketers last Friday, July 9, 2010 at the Oakwood Hotel in Ortigas. I’ll write a more detailed summary article tomorrow afternoon. For now let me share with everyone some photos of the event!

Photos by my fiancee – Michelle Orosa.

Thanks to all the participants (fully booked!) and guest speakers! We’re now finalizing the details for the second class already and it will probably be held sometime September.

I can finally cross out one of the goals in my bucket list. It’s always been one of my dreams to be featured on a national broadsheet (by doing something good, hehe). Today my interview with Cora Llamas appeared on the Business Agenda section of the Manila Bulletin. Initially I was expecting to have a 1/4 or 1/2 page thing but I was blown away this morning when I opened the paper and saw that it was the banner article for the section… full page! Yikes! God is truly faithful and wonderful. When He opens doors it’s not just small “nippa hut” doors, He opens floodgates!

In the article Cora and I talked about two things: blogging and social media for businesses. For the first topic we dwelled mostly on how a lot of Filipinos are missing out on the “happy-making” and moneymaking potential of blogging. Social media and the internet has radically changed the way we communicate. If you are passionate and persistent enough I honestly can’t see any reason why you can’t make money out of doing stuff that you love.

Next we talked about how powerful social media can be for businesses, especially SME’s and start-ups. The internet is the great equalizer because effort and sincerity have more weight than marketing budget. I’ve seen numerous campaigns done by big brands that cost millions but were all miserable flops that added nothing to their bottom lines. The most effective online campaigns I’ve seen actually come from individuals (like bloggers) and SME’s who have the time and persistence to engage their customers constantly on social media.

I’m going to try to scan the whole paper but to those who want to read the article, the entire text is posted on Manila Bulletin’s website (click to go to the site).

I’ll take this opportunity to let everyone know that I’m working on my second eBook. It’s official title is “Rule the World 2.0″. Subtitles are “Making Money Doing What You Love”. It should be out in two-three weeks.

By the way, to those asking what happened to the Social Media study for the 2010 elections, I made it but I can’t release it in public. A few days before I was set to upload it I was contacted by a group and they bought the study (toinks).

Thank you again to Cora Llamas and Manila Bulletin for allowing me to spread the word about social media and personal branding in the Philippines. Cheers!

Blogging combined with social media is one of the most potent combos for personal branding. The people in your social networks are those that potentially have an influence on your career or business in the next few years so it’s important that you leverage your online connections with them to let them see the good things about you. That’s the beauty of the internet, it allows you to grab the eyes of your prospect and you let them stare only at the best things about your company, product, or yourself. When I meet new potential clients or partners they often mention that they’ve read my blog prior to our meeting. Some even say that they found out about me from a friend who shared an article or two on Facebook and Twitter. I know that the usual saying is that “reputation precede you”, but in today’s digital age it can be “does your blog precede you?”

Leverage the Share Generation
Facebook and Twitter have made it so easy for people to spread information in their personal networks. All it takes is one click of a button to share an article or re-tweet an update. That piece of info is sent out to their own respective connections and if someone in their circle finds it interesting they do the same. If you have powerful content that offers value then you can easily tap social media to build your brand at a rapid pace! This isn’t just theory. I’ve done it and I hope that you consider trying it out as well.

Why Blog when you have Facebook and Twitter?
Simply because Facebook and Twitter aren’t enough. 140 or so characters won’t be able to convince your connections that you’re an expert on something or that you’re credible. Think of social media as a teaser or as a prelude. The blog allows you to really communicate properly because you have control of the entire page. You can use images, text, and whatever to let them know what you’re all about. Make sure though that you have a simple and straight-to-the-point navigation bar so that they can dig deeper into what you’re offering.

This isn’t just for the US or Europe. This is applicable here in the Philippines and I’ve seen it happen several times already. Social Media and Blogging are here to stay and they can be tools that can really give your career or business a big boost. All it takes is a little humility to accept that you need to learn more and to match that with decent effort to put up and optimize your blog and social media accounts.

Mulat Pinoy, a website advocating population development, is giving a Flip Video Camera to the winner of their POP-I Video Contest. The mechanics are fairly simple. Just answer the question “Will you burn in hell if you use contraceptives?” in a 30-90 second video which you can just upload on Youtube. It can be as simple as using your camera phone to record yourself giving an answer or a fully edited video with tons of special effects. What matters the most though is the answer and the actual content so try to think your message through before working on the video. Take the jump for the official press release.

Join na sa First Round at pag-isipang mabuti ang isasagot dito:

Masusunog ka ba sa impiyerno kung gagamit ka ng condom? (Will you burn in hell if you use contraceptives?)

Isip, isip! May 21 ang deadline ng First Round!

Be creative mga dude, dahil di diyan nagtatapos ang pa-contest. Pwede ka pa rin jumoin sa Second Round kung kaya pa ng powers mo! Basta upload mo lang entries mo bago mag June 4, 2010. Sagutin ang katanungang ito:

Sa sobrang dami’ng tao sa Pinas, paano ka makakahanap ng trabaho? (With so many people in the Philippines, how can you get a job?)

O! Ang dali di ba? Ano pa’ng hinihintay mo? Naku, kahit English o Filipino PWEDE. Basta naiintindihan, malinaw, at nakakahikayat ang MESSAGE. Yun ang importante!

Pag ok ka na, email mo lang sa mulatpinoy (at) probefound (dot) com ang info mo: pangalan, edad, email add, address ng bahay mo, cell phone at landline mo, maikling chika sa video mo at syempre ang URL/YouTube link ng video.

Importante: Huwag mo kalimutan sabihin sa subject kung Round One or Round Two ang sinasalihan mo ha! GOOD LUCK mga dude! CONGRATULATIONS!

Bisitahin ang http://www.mulatpinoy.ph/videocontest/ para sa iba pa’ng detalye.

Very nice prize! Good for bloggers and people on the go who want to have a mobile high quality camera. For more details, please visit the Mulat Pinoy website.

Around two weeks ago I was invited to talk about social media and internet marketing for small-medium businesses on the show Mornings @ ANC. In all honesty I was expecting a rather stiff and formal session but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the hosts were fun, light-hearted, and definitely entertaining. I was interviewed in their tech talk segment by “Hard Baller” (if there is such a term) Boyet Sison. One thing that immediately caught my attention was his bow tie. It’s rare that you find people these days who still wear those and make ‘em look cool.

Social Media for Filipino SME’s
The main topic of the discussion really centered around how businesses can tap social media to raise revenues and to build their brand. Most of the stuff we talked about came from the eBook that I wrote, the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs. One of the problems though that I see a lot is that business owners have high expectations and yet they only give social media projects ridiculously low budgets and even much less effort and time. If you can’t give it enough budget, the least you can do is put some more thought into the over-all strategy and objectives of your campaign.

To those who want to learn more about social media marketing, I’d like to recommend that first you read the eBook that I made. Just sign-up on the sidebar. Other resources you can check are books written by my favorite author – Seth Godin. You should definitely pick up Permission Marketing, Tribes, and Linchpin, all written by Seth.

To wrap up, here are some pics of the interview:

Thanks again to all the folks over at ANC for the invitation. Cheers!

My fiancee and I were lazy this evening so we decided to have some Chinese food delivered from North Park. I gave them a call and while I was browsing their website trying to look for the menu while waiting for them to pick up. Eventually I heard a voice on the other line and I asked if the menu was available online. The person’s answer was a bit funny.

“Sir, picture lang nandiyan and konti lang, punta kayo click the city kasi nandun menu namin.”

After letting out a sigh of frustration, I logged on and searched for North Park on Click the City. I finally found the menu and it looked terrible. It was just a scanned version of their menu in low resolution. Also, the problem with Chinese restaurants is that the menu usually has small fonts which was the case here.

North Park website. Heavy on flash and no useful information.

North Park on Click the City was even more helpful than the official site.

The dreaded menu

Restaurants should seriously spend more time and effort when it comes to their online strategy. This is even more applicable for restaurants like North Park who primarily cater to A, B, upper C (most of which probably have internet access). A properly made website can definitely bring in more business because it’s like an online salesman, 24/7. The moment someone logs on to your restaurant site it should act like some sort of lion which bites them in the neck and won’t let them go away without them either giving you their e-mail address, buying from you via delivery, or going to your restaurant to eat the next week. Don’t just make websites for the sake of making sites, make them because you want the site to have an impact on your bottom line.

I recently gave a short talk to PR professionals during the seminar hosted by the International PR Association and the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. The thrust of the talk was to just get them in on the idea that social media is here and it will continue to grow at an exponential rate. As PR professionals, they should be aware of this and eventually become good at it because I personally believe that social media is the responsibility of PR, not just the Marketing Department. PR is all about the flow of brand communication on the grassroots level. It’s about getting influencers and mavens to start talking so that it cascades down to the rest of the prospects. The only difference is that instead of columnists you have bloggers and you have social networks instead of print and magazines.

In the 2009 Digital Readiness Report made by iPressroom, it was revealed that PR companies in the US are leading the charge for social media and not traditional advertising agencies. This makes perfect sense because it’s the brand image management is the core essence of social media campaigns. As social media and internet marketing gets more traction locally, more and more companies will be turning to their PR agencies to come up with ideas on how to tap bloggers and how to use Facebook or Twitter. My best advice to PR professionals and companies now is that you should have your people trained properly so that when the time comes that a client asks for this, you are ready to deliver exceptional campaigns that will really have an impact on the bottom line of the business.

This seems like a good point to plug a social media/internet marketing seminar but I won’t do that, haha!

Anyway, here are pictures of the recent seminar held in SMX.

Thank you again for having me at the event! Cheers!

comScore recently released a study showing Filipinos as one of the most engaged and active when it comes to Social Media. In the same report, they said that 84% of all online Filipinos used Facebook. I checked out Facebook’s advertising platform to get the total number of registered Filipinos. As of today, there are 12.4M Filipinos on Facebook. I did some dirty math and it turns out that comScore is saying that there are only 14.8M Filipinos who use the internet. This is inconsistent with all the studies released by other research firms and I highly doubt if their information is correct.

I had a brief Twitter conversation with Nix Nolledo, CEO of Xurpas and President of the IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Association of the Philippines), and he mentioned that Nielsen pegged Filipino internet users at 20M+ while IDC said that there were 23M+ by the end of 2009. This is also what I’ve known based on other studies that I’ve seen in the past few years when I was still working for Friendster and Level Up. Jonas Delos Reyes, Yahoo! South East Asia Community Manager, also said in Twitter that comScore’s study might not include the number of users in internet cafes and mobile phones.

(Before we move on, can I just say I love Twitter? Haha)

People will argue by saying that not everyone owns a computer in the Philippines. Yes, I agree. However don’t forget that 80% of Filipinos get access via internet cafes. You don’t need to own a computer to be online. There are over 10,000 internet cafes spread all over the country and some of them even charge lower than 10 pesos per hour.

I’d like to question the accuracy of comScore’s findings. I’ve already e-mailed them asking what methodology they used for the study because they’re really inconsistent with the studies done by other local and international research firms. I’ll post their reply if ever they respond to my e-mail.

I’ll be giving talks on Personal Branding and Blogging this coming Saturday, April 10, at the Make Money 2.0 seminar which will be held at the Victory multi-purpose hall at Promenade Greenhills. To those who’ve already downloaded and read the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs, you can approach me after my talk so we can talk about how to apply it to your business (no consultation fee). I’ll be hanging around the area until 7PM. Seminar is from 2PM-6PM. Hope to see you guys there!

I’m very happy to announce that the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs eBook is now available for download! To get your FREE COPY, sign-up at the form located in the sidebar (right of this post).

Here’s the outline again for your perusal. Note that we changed Chapter 9 from LinkedIn to Blog Marketing 100.

Chapter 1: Why Social Media
I’ll share with you why it’s important and imperative for your business to be part of the conversation in the various social media platforms available in the Philippines. There will be a lot of numbers here.

Chapter 2: Learning to Listen
Social Media is not just about you doing the talking. Marketers need to learn how to listen, especially online. This chapter will share various free tools that you can use to monitor your company’s presence in the internet. What are people saying about your brand or about your competitors?

Chapter 3: Setting Facebook Marketing Objectives
Stop asking your Marketing Manager if we’re on Facebook and start asking him why should you be on Facebook.

Chapter 4: Facebook Official Pages Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to build a powerhouse Official Page for your brand.

Chapter 5: Facebook Advertising Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to maximize the self-service advertising platform of Facebook.

Chapter 6: Why Tweet?
This chapter will show you how 140+ letters/characters can drastically change your business or your life for the better.

Chapter 7: Twitter Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to properly use and set-up the Twitter account for your brand. We will also talk about how you will grow your fan base as well as basic tips on Twitter etiquette.

Chapter 8: Connecting Smiles with Friendster
Friendster is still a powerful force in the Philippines. This chapter will talk about the tools available for your business on Friendster!

Chapter 9: Blog Marketing 101
This chapter will show you the basics of how to come up with a blog marketing program.

Chapter 10: Your website sucks
Your website is your face to the world online. If you don’t fix it then you’re in trouble. This chapter will discuss basic and advanced tips on how to properly optimize your site.

Please do send us your feedback by e-mailing us at info@catalyst.ph.

Cheers!

(This is an excerpt from the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs eBook. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so at the form on the sidebar to the right of this post)

A lot of people measure your “success” in Twitter by the total number of followers that you have on your account. Mainly because they can use Twitter as a tool to drive traffic to their website or blog. Here are two guaranteed ways to do that in the Philippines.

The first is to literally follow everyone that you find on Twitter. There’s a chance that they’ll follow you back. After following maybe 30,000 people, around 10,000 will follow you back. In fact, there are automated scripts available on the internet which will let you do this, hassle free. However, I strongly disagree with this method because it literally gimps and destroys your Twitter experience. Here’s why:

The reason why you want thousands of followers quickly is because you just want to spam them with links to your site. You get what you give in social media. Either users will un-follow you or you’ll also just get spammed. Once you follow too many people that you don’t know your Twitter stream will be filled with useless, impersonal, and irrelevant updates from all over the world.

What’s the second way to get thousands of followers? Be a famous celebrity, sports superstar, or politician! The top Filipinos with the most number of followers are celebrities. You have ABS-CBN host and former PBB housemate Bianca Gonzales at 120k followers. Then there’s Angel Locsin with more than 86,000. Former VJ Iya Villania also has around 96,000 followers. Note that I’m not saying that it’s bad to be a celebrity and have thousands of followers — it just comes with the territory.

Most of the other people in the list are the type that I talked about earlier. It’s pretty easy to spot. Check how many are following them and ratio it to the people they are following. Take a look as well as what they’re posting on Twitter. There’s a big chance that they’re just spamming links to their sites.

So… what am I trying to say?

People become so obsessed with bringing up their follower numbers that they sometimes miss the point of Twitter. Twitter, like other forms of social media, is not a one-night stand. It’s a long term engagement which is built on the foundation of trust. Get only the people that matter to follow you: your customers, partners, the media, etc. Forget about everyone else because it’s useless to have them in your stream (unless you really just want to use Twitter as a traffic generator). Don’t get discouraged when you only have 100 or 200 followers. As long as those are the people that have a direct impact on your life then there’s nothing wrong with just having them follow you.

(Author’s Note: The eBook will talk about ways on how to build a real follower base on Twitter. Sign-up for a copy at the sidebar to the right)

I’m currently working on the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs eBook and I confident that I’ll be able to finish by my self-imposed deadline of April 5, 2010, Monday. The eBook will have 10 chapters total and it will be a little over 100 pages long. I just wanted to take this opportunity to give you guys a glimpse of what to expect. Note that this is customized and tailored for Filipino entrepreneurs. Here are the 10 chapters as well as some background on what I’ll be discussing in them:

Chapter 1: Why Social Media
I’ll share with you why it’s important and imperative for your business to be part of the conversation in the various social media platforms available in the Philippines. There will be a lot of numbers here.

Chapter 2: Learning to Listen
Social Media is not just about you doing the talking. Marketers need to learn how to listen, especially online. This chapter will share various free tools that you can use to monitor your company’s presence in the internet. What are people saying about your brand or about your competitors?

Chapter 3: Setting Facebook Marketing Objectives
Stop asking your Marketing Manager if we’re on Facebook and start asking him why should you be on Facebook.

Chapter 4: Facebook Official Pages Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to build a powerhouse Official Page for your brand.

Chapter 5: Facebook Advertising Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to maximize the self-service advertising platform of Facebook.

Chapter 6: Why Tweet?
This chapter will show you how 140+ letters/characters can drastically change your business or your life for the better.

Chapter 7: Twitter Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to properly use and set-up the Twitter account for your brand. We will also talk about how you will grow your fan base as well as basic tips on Twitter etiquette.

Chapter 8: Connecting Smiles with Friendster
Friendster is still a powerful force in the Philippines. This chapter will talk about the tools available for your business on Friendster!

Chapter 9: Power Networking with LinkedIn
We talk about one of the most powerful and yet underused online tools in the country.

Chapter 10: Your website sucks
Your website is your face to the world online. If you don’t fix it then you’re in trouble. This chapter will discuss basic and advanced tips on how to properly optimize your site.

And that’s that! If you haven’t signed up yet, please just go over to the sidebar to the right. The eBook should be ready by Monday evening.

A lot of brands are now rushing to Social Media to take a stab at the massive online market. However most marketers don’t have too much respect for new media. Since everyone does it, a lot of marketers feel that it’s easy and that it’s something that they can do on the fly. This is where they make a fatal mistake which can just lead to more harm than good. Let’s apply some traditional marketing principles in strategizing for the official Facebook Profile Page of your business. If you’re a customer and by some chance you find yourself in the official profile page of a brand, you’ll most likely see a profile picture and a very busy wall. This is where the connection fails. You can’t communicate the unique selling proposition of your product with a wall filled with random comments. The solution? Break through the clutter by creating a customized landing page for your brand.

Here’s an example of a landing page that we did for one of our clients, C2-Collezione.

This is the first thing a new user sees instead of the wall of sprawling comments. You can use the splash page to focus the attention of your potential customers to your main marketing message.

The step-by-step guide to this Facebook application will be included in the upcoming free eBook – Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs. If you haven’t signed up for one yet, click here to go to the sign-up page. It’s totally free and it’s jam packed with tips and tactics on how you can bring your business to the next level with social media.

(This is an excerpt from my upcoming eBook, Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs. Sign-up at the side bar for your free copy. You’ll get it on April 5, 2010 – Carlo)

Another trend that a lot of people have probably noticed by now is that traditional media is giving new media a giant push into the mainstream. Popular media stations in print, radio, and television have aggressively been using and integrating social media platforms into their operations. Let’s go through some of them right now.

FM Station Magic 89.9 is one of the most popular stations in Metro Manila. They’re actually one of the first stations to aggressively push for building a Facebook online community.


As of 5:19 PM, April 1, 2010, they’ve amassed more than 98,000 fans on Facebook. I’m not talking about passive fans here. These guys actively participate in the promos and discussions on the social network as well as the radio show. The DJ’s constantly promote their Facebook accounts on-air. If you think about it, Magic 89.9 is giving Facebook insane amounts of media mileage. It’s time that you also jump in and take advantage of that. Note that I’m not saying that you spam Magic 89.9’s fan profile. That would be rude, unethical, and it will just backfire. What I am saying though is that you should be in the game. If you’re not there, you don’t exist in their world.

Another media station that’s pushing social media and the internet is ABS-CBN. They’ve integrated Facebook and Twitter into their news programs and special events like the recently concluded HARAPAN: Vice-Presidential Debates. I was even interviewed by Ces Drilon for TV Patrol to discuss the impact of social media in the 2010 campaign.

What does this all mean? Traditional media is pushing people to create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media so that they can connect and interact with one another. ABS-CBN and Magic 89.9 are part of the reasons why there are now more than 11,000,000 Filipino Facebook users. These stations have integrated social media in their broadcast which means that the number of Filipino social media users will continue to sky rocket.

Since I have a lot of time this Holy Week, I’ve finally decided to finish the free eBook that I’ve been working on for the past few months. It’s called the Social Media Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs and it should be ready for downloading on Monday, April 5, 2010. To sign-up for a free copy, just check out the subscription form on the right side of the blog. However, if you’re too lazy to look to your right (haha), here’s the form again:

Cheers everyone and I hope all of you have a blessed holy week!

According to a Tweet from ABS-CBN journalist Ces Drilon, two major political parties have backed out of the upcoming televised HARAPAN President-Vice President Tandem debates which was scheduled this coming Sunday, 10:15PM. I don’t know the exact reason why they’re doing so but apparently it’s because they’re not comfortable with the use of technology and social media during the debates.

Here’s a screenshot of the tweets of Ces Drilon:

One of the best things that social media brought to the world was that we were all given a seat in the table. We were all given a voice and a venue on where to talk and share with others. Before watching TV and listening to candidates was really a one-way propaganda activity. You can’t question or react to them unless you’re watching with a group. Whatever you said would be limited to the four corners of your living room. Social media revolutionized our communication paradigm and changed us to a share generation.

Because of social media, candidates have to be more careful about the things that they’re going to say. For example, a candidate tries to BS us by talking about a topic that he’s not really knowledgeable about – like agriculture. It’s so easy for an industry expert to tweet a counter reaction and that will easily be retweeted all over by thousands of people. Social media makes politicians more accountable and transparent. It cuts through the thick layers of traditional political bullshit that we’ve been forced to listen to over the past few decades.

What candidates have to come to terms with is that social media is not going anywhere. It will continue to grow at a phenomenal rate and they have no choice but to adapt and embrace developments in technology because if they don’t they will get left behind by those that do.

One Criticism on the Harapan Debate
If there’s one thing I’d question in the Harapan debate is the use of the wireless approval remote system. There’s no way to prove that the data being shown there is representative of the entire country. Who controls the sample group? If I were ABS-CBN, I’d take that out and stick to social media because one mistake in determining the sample group can undermine the integrity of the polling system.

Instead of the approval system, why not get a panel of Twitterers? These can be industry experts that can give their comments and reactions REAL TIME during the entire event. That would definitely stir up excitement and it will also force the candidates to skip the BS.