MANILA, Philippines - Filipino netizens and diverse online communities took center stage last June 28 as the Philippines held its third annual and grandest Social Media Day celebration at SM Aura Premier’s Samsung Hall in Taguig City.
A global initiative of US-based technology website Mashable, Social Media Day is celebrated across the world and, since 2012, in various cities in the Philippines, led by TweetUp Manila.
The best of online media in Phl
The event’s theme for this year — #BoomPH or Best of Online Media in the Philippines highlighted the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Philippines’ first Internet connection by showcasing the country’s Web pioneers, thriving online communities, and successful social media ventures.
The event also put into the spotlight some of the country’s emerging social media initiatives. The event was free and open to all, with tickets available online at http://tweetupmnl.com.
Ros Juan, co-founder of TweetUp Manila, said, “Communities play a vital role in the tremendous growth of social media in the Philippines. Social Media Day is our way of celebrating their countless contributions, for if not for them, the social media space across our islands would not be as relevant, dynamic and fun.”
Delivering the keynote address was champion entrepreneur Jonathan Allan Yabut, Season 1 winner of the hit reality TV show The Apprentice Asia, who called on all Filipinos to seize the opportunities opened by social media and the Internet to achieve and spread broad-based, grassroots-based prosperity.
“If your only tool is a hammer, then you just look at everything in life as a nail. We need to have an organized, systematic, and concentrated effort whenever we make a stand via social media. We need to let go of online elitism,” Yabut said.
Other major speakers in the conference portion of Social Media Day like Rianna Trinidad of ThoughtBuzz, Lindt Dale Azcueta of Globe Telecom, Jhoey Hernandez of Tindog Tacloban, and Noemi Lardizabal-Dado of Blogwatch tackled digital trends and what the Philippines could expect from social media, Internet and digital professions.
Emerging social media initiatives
Community representatives also made headway at Social Media Day 2014 with their stories of activities, services, and advocacies. Their booths and products were featured at a mini-trade show and fair at the venue.
TradeSchool Manila (http://tradeschool.coop/manila/), one the featured exhibitors, is the local inception of a global initiative that started in New York.
“It is an independent learning community that works on barter. We provide opportunities for passionate, driven volunteers to teach a small group of interested learners, and in exchange, we give the teachers products or services that they ask,” TradeSchool volunteer Clarissa Sirios said.
Meanwhile, Hero of D Day (https://www.heroofdday.org) capitalizes on crowdsourcing to gather and deliver daily stories of Pinoy heroism online.
“It’s as simple as using your smartphone to capture everyday stories of heroism and contributing it to us. We are soliciting help from volunteer correspondents, editors, proofreaders, and artists to help gather and deliver these stories. Gusto namin na yung mga kwento ng kabayanihan ay hindi makalimutan at laging matandaan (We want stories of camaraderie won’t be forgotten and will always be remembered),” said Tim Humangit, founder of HODD.
Google Education Group (GEG), meanwhile, took the opportunity to promote Google’s wide array of Web tools like Drive, Hangouts, Google+, and YouTube, for use in teaching. Ma. Rowena Matti, GEG representative, pointed out that while the technology is already out there, Filipino teachers, students, and schools are still reluctant to use it for various reasons.
“Even if the tools are available, even if teachers and students know how to use it, they don’t use it because it’s not supported by schools. Most of our school administration officials are quite old and don’t know how to use these tools. Most schools don’t even have Wi-Fi. So the better way to do it is to let everyone learn how to use it,” Matti said.
Google Education Group conducts seminars and trainings for teachers, school officials, and even parents on how to use Google Web tools in the classroom for teaching, testing, and grading. With these tools usable even offline, schools without a Wi-Fi Internet connection can still use them.
Other Social Media Day 2014 participating communities included IGers Manila, Tumblr Philippines, Mozilla Philippines, Windows Phone Users, PinoyExchange, Google Business Groups, Google Student Assistants, Google Developers Group, Hootsuite Ambassadors, Soundcloud Philippines, Istorya.net, iVolunteer.ph, Muni.com.ph, Philippine Web Designers Organization, Filipino Freethinkers, Change.org PH, Youth Act Now, and labor advocacy group EILER Inc.