UNILAB’S IDEAS POSITIVE: Transforming Communities with the Filipino Youth October 12, 2011

Last September 17, 2011, Unilab held its second year of Ideas Positive campaign awarding at the Bayanihan Center in Mandaluyong. Unilab’s Ideas Positive program is a contest for social marketing plans proposed by different teams. Its theme focused on “Transforming Communities with the Filipino Youth”. The goal of this contest is to help students generate ideas and prepare them to implement these ideas. The activity did not just stop in being a contest, but rather a learning experience for the students.

The semi-finalists went through informative and fun trainings wherein experts in social marketing taught them current social marketing practices that they could use for the improvement of their ideas. The event did not only focus on training them, but in building the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ among students regardless of their teams. The 3-day long clinic helped students to better hone their critical thinking skills and in putting them to reality.

 

On the day of the final presentation of the social marketing plans, the finalists were ready to face the judges with their well-thought-of social marketing plans. The panel of judges included:  Ms. Amparo Fabe – an economist, sociologist, and social marketing consultant; Dr. Angelito Manalili –  a UP professor and former dean of UP College of Social Work and Community Development; Mr. Gino Tingson – NYC Commissioner; Ms. Anna Alejo – 2010 Ideas Positive Winner coach; Mr. Randy Aquino – Ogilvy Philippines Country Head; and Ms. Rhodora Palomar – Senior VP for Corporate Affairs and Executive Director for Unilab Foundation.

 

The program started with an opening remarks from Ms. Rhodora Palomar who extended her appreciation to all the participants and the people behind the event. After the presentation of the criteria for judging, the final teams pitched their social marketing plans.

 

A total of five teams made it to the finals. These were Phata Team, AweEIGHTS, Kabalikat, High Five, and Team SEND. The teams addressed different issues in their plans. These issues involved campaigns like 3B Laban sa TB (tuberculosis); KKK (Kalat, Kapaligiran, Kalusugan) Rebolusyon sa Malinis at Malusog na Kinabukasan about solving the issues of waste segregation; Deofer solution program which focused on modifying fertilizers into deodorizers; project Cloud ++,which was about using rain water to address water problems; and Hitong Buhay, Hitong Buhay which was about providing barangays with income-generating activity involving agriculture.

 

After the presentation of proposed plans, the judges came up with the list of winners: 3B Laban sa TB (Team High Five) won the 1^st place, while Project Cloud ++ of AweEIGHTS team got the 2^nd place, and Hitong Buhay, Hitong Buhay of Kabalikat team placed 3^rd. The winners got seeding money for their campaigns to be implemented and monitored. However, the students who lost the contest were also given seeding money to implement their campaigns. At the end of it all, the campaigns generated by these students will take place.

 

The event ended wonderfully with inspired students and participants who saw the problems of the society and are ready to address these problems with solutions that will benefit the people. The youth should be encouraged to take their significant roles in the society. With IDEAS POSITIVE, students can make our society a better place to live in.

 

 

Goodbye, Ym. Hello, Skype! October 12, 2011

Just recently my group mates and I decided to meet online for our SPCOM133 subject. Since we are doing a thesis proposal, we recognized the need for group work and conference. We cannot just divide the parts and collate it, but we need to think as a group and decide on major parts. And so we went to the default yahoo messenger, which is commonly used whenever there is a conference. However, during the conference, we had difficulties seeing each other’s instant messages. Most of my group mates suggested that we go another platform and try it for convenience. They were talking about Skype.

Skype is a social media platform where users can do peer-to-peer conversation through voice and video calls, instant messages and file transfers. It was founded by Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark. If you would look at it in bigger picture, it is somehow the same with yahoo messenger. But what is in it that makes it attractive?

I have heard about Skype from my friends before, but I never tried it. Although I heard comments from others that it is better than Yahoo messenger, I did not have time back then to create an account. My friends who work for RareJob are required to have an account because they use this for their work. They teach English to students from other countries. Furthermore, students who work for Rarejob also served as influencers. Besides, Yahoo messenger started to lose its image when connection and difficulties in communicating increased. Users are now looking for an alternative and Skype is a good one.

My experience with Skype was great. I definitely enjoyed it. In the end, these software applications offer something to the users. It is up to the users to choose which one is better and appropriate for them. For others, they do not want to create new accounts but rather stick with an account that gives them what they need. Maybe Skype is attractive because it is something new to the eyes of the people. But we will yet to see who will prevail in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook Survey: Ready-to-go! October 11, 2011

Just this morning my groupmates in my PA132 (Marketing for the Arts) class agreed in conducting random sampling survey for our marketing plan. We intend to, at least, know things that can help us better understand our stakeholders. Since our target market involves students from Universities in UAAP, it is going to be a hard time going to different universities to conduct a random survey. The group came up with a solution— do it online.

We seriously thought that it is the easiest way. Well, people, most likely students, use it. I encountered this situation when a friend of mine did her baby thesis. She asked me to fill up a survey that she sent online. The only thing she sent me was a link. After clicking the link, there you go! A ready-made soft copy of survey form that I could fill out. I got curious, so I checked it. I turned out to be one of Facebook’s applications that users can go to. I was amazed.

 

As I researched about it, I found out its features.

Again, I was amazed at happy about it.

 

I never thought that there would come a time that such social media platform would offer an application. Not just for entertainment, but for academic purposes. It is funny to know that Facebook keeps on making its brand a necessity for us, students rather than a hindrance to our studies. I really think this has something good to offer. It gives people more access to people from remote areas, an easier way to answer a survey, and it does not defeat its purpose of helping the users.

I hope everyone would maximize this application and probably take it seriously. I believe that if optimized properly, we can really use this for our own benefit.

Internet’s role in times of trouble October 10, 2011

Last Saturday I experienced one of the things I did not want to experience in my whole college life, my phone was snatched. That was my first time. Moreover, it turned out to be very memorable. I left school in the afternoon to meet up with friends and visit our Kuya and Ate who just got home from Singapore. And as usual, I was about to go home to our house in Caloocan because I do not stay there during class days.

When I got off the FX along Quezon Ave., someone rushed to me and started snatching my phone, which I was holding at that time. I did not let go of my phone and started playing tug-of-war with the stupid snatcher. We even reached few steps away from where he started grabbing my phone. There were people around and I asked them to help me, but all they did was to swing their faces from left to right to tell me they will not help me. The game tug-of-war lasted for some more seconds and I insisted not to give my phone. The snatcher told me to just give my phone or he will stab me, but I said “Ayoko (No)”. More seconds of the game then my hands started aching and I was getting less hope because of those mannequin-like people around us. I finally lost grip of my phone. There he was, that stupid black-skinned ‘JEJE’ snatcher running so fast with my phone.

I was shocked, but not scared or maybe because it did not sink in to me yet that it happened to me. I turned to the men who were there and began talking aloud because they did not help me. I began looking for someone who would let me borrow a phone and call someone from home. An old woman told me she would let me use her phone so we went to a 7eleven store nearby. When we reached the store, I realized I could not remember my friend’s number who will meet me that day. I remembered I have my netbook with me and my Sun Broadband. I quickly searched my bag and went online. I was hoping someone could help me. I went to Facebook and Twitter to look for my friends and snap! I saw my friends online. They made a way to contact my friends who will meet up with me and told them where they can fetch me. I used the old woman’s phone to call my sister, so she could inform my family. I waited for about half an hour in the store while crying because of those men who did not help me. Someone from the Barangay went to see me and retell the story. They asked me if I need contact someone and I told them I already contacted them online. They were a bit amazed by that because the sites they saw were Facebook and Twitter. They were smiling at me. Few minutes later, my friends arrived and we left.

After what happened, I realized that my experience was better than the others. Well, not because I played tug-o-war or shouted at those ‘afraid’ people whom I accused to be accomplices, but because I was online right after it happened. I even used it for my own help. I tweeted about it, used my Facebook status to inform others, and now I am blogging about it. Isn’t it great to know that the internet can do a lot even in times of trouble? It was the most accessible tool I used to reach my friends and get their contact numbers. In fact, though I still do not have another phone, I do not mind. I have my netbook and internet to access and communicate with my classmates. Thanks to my netbook and Sun broadband for the fast connection. They both played an important role when my phone was snatched and until this day that I still do not have a phone.

Computer-mediated communication: The inevitable trend October 7, 2011

I am now in my senior year and currently doing my thesis about computer-mediated communication. Part of my thesis is to look for theories that I can use for my framework. While doing my research, I came across a long-known theory called, “Media Richness Theory”. I have encountered this theory during my first two years of stay in college, but it was only at that moment wherein I finally gave attention to it. I analyzed it and checked if it is okay for me to use it in my thesis. This was my understanding of it.

Media Richness theory states that the richest form of communicating is through face-to-face communication. There are four criteria that are used to consider a particular media effective. These include feedback, channel, source, and language. Feedback refers to the immediate response that a receiver can give in a face-to-face communication. Although response can be given through other forms of media, Ftf is believed to be the richest. The next criteria will support this notion. Next is channel. This shows how personal it can be in a face-to-face communication. Unlike any other type of media, this is direct and both the key players, the sender and receiver, are physically present in the actual conversation. Source, on the other hand, involves first hand message. This means that the message is primarily transferred from the main source. There are no other media to be used. And lastly, is language. The problem with computer-mediated communication or other means of communicating is that language cannot be adjusted. In a face-to-face communication, the sender can adjust to what is more appropriate to the receiver of the message. Therefore, we can say that face-to-face communication is richer. However, I cannot fully submit to the fact that computer-mediated communication is not as rich as face-to-face.

I believe that face-to-face is really the very primary and common means to communicate, but as the changes in the way we communicate continue, we also now have different preferences. Case in point, due to different lifestyle of the Filipinos, we do not have much and enough time to meet all the people we need to communicate with. The tendency is for us to resort to alternatives. In my case as an Orcom major, group works are done online. It is either we create a Facebook group or go to Skype. This is because we do not have enough common time to meet and finish our requirements. In the business context, CEOs, executives, or even business people with heavy schedules resort to other forms of media to attend to every appointment they have. An example of this is OPMC (Orchard Property Marketing Corporation). They did a nationwide video conference so that the president can easily reach out to the other employees in the remote areas. It goes to show that computer-mediated communication is the new trend and preference of the people.

I do not have anything against face-to-face communication. I only think that the present trend in the society causes people to depend on it. Maybe it is time for us people to look on a bigger perspective. It does not mean we have to deviate from the traditional way, it only means that we have to embrace something that offers us new and optimize it for the betterment of every individual.

Good bye, Steve Jobs October 6, 2011

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” — Steve Jobs, 2005

Just this morning my sister saw Steve Jobs’ death on T.V and told me about it. I was not much affected by it, until I checked my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I was surprised to see consecutive tweets and Facebook posts about Steve Jobs’ death. Well maybe not surprised to the fact that it went online. What made it surprising for me is that almost everyone is talking about it. I did not expect that even those who do not have any Mac products would care to post something related to his death. Several posts got my attention and believe me, I really think it was sensationalized.

Here is a post from one of my batch mates. According to her, since she is using a Mac product, she was shocked to see this post on her browser’s page.

 

I do not have much to say about this post because it is acceptable for the company to release something like this. However, this other post is quite different.

I have two things to say. First, the one who made this pulled it off. Very timely, I must say. It is a very creative way to show how Steve Jobs’ imbibed Mac products. It goes to show that Steve Jobs is a brand, too. When you talk about Apple, it is but usual for you to know Steve Jobs or at least know that he founded it. Second, this post was intentional. Of course, who would want to post something like this if it is not appropriate? Furthermore, the one who made this knew that posting such picture would gain a lot of views and comments.

Steve Jobs definitely influenced a lot of people. Not only people, but almost everyone. This man made sure he will leave a legacy. And I am pretty sure people will remember him. Who could ever forget the man behind every half-bitten apple product? Goodbye, Steve Jobs. May you rest in peace.

Viral videos: Senseless or full of meaning? October 6, 2011

Three weeks ago, we did a video for our OrCom 152: Communication Trends and Styles. We did it to test how viral a video a can go. I was blinded by the fact that we need to make something viral. Little did I know that viral videos are not made for the sake of making it viral, but are born. Of course, you cannot deny the fact that organizations are intentionally doing viral videos for the sake of their own agendas. Nevertheless, before I jump into any conclusion, let us first analyze what does viral really mean.

Based on this definition from the dictionary, I came up with an analysis. The word ‘viral’ involves two things: quick and popular. A video is viral if it massively reached its target audience in a span of time. So, if you make something popular in a short span of time, it is already viral? What are the factors to be considered? In our group’s case, I admit the fact that our video did not go viral. However, for me it is more than reaching a number of hits or views. It is about reaching your goal and delivering the message you want to convey. What is the use of thousand views and comments if people will still think and do the same? I am talking about a viral video made with sense and meaning. I have here two videos that have different goals.

This video hit in 2008. According to my professor in PA 132 class, the guy in the video left his job and decided to use the money he got for this video. Soon after the video boomed, he gained producers who will fund his travels and production. What made this video so viral is that it gives the entertainment of going to different places and dancing with people. Though the main sense of this video was not clear, several interpretations were raised. Some said that it showed importance of equality among races, while others thought it was fun.

On the other hand, the concept of this video was acquired from another video that was made in support of ‘The Jubilee Project’. It only means that from the very start, the makers have a goal in mind. They did this to support the campaign and serve as an eye-opener to people who practise discrimination to people with disabilities.

The people who made these videos may have different goals in mind (e.g monetary or advocacy purposes) but at the end of it all, it is the people who make a video viral. It is our decision if we are going to watch something senseless or full of meaning. We just have to know how are we going to allow such videos to impact our lives. It should not be a practice of watching for the sake of watching, but watching to learn, enjoy, and make a change.

Tweet All You Can October 5, 2011

“Twitter is a form of electronic charisma that can attract or repel followers.”

– Shirley Black

In the advent of social media, people learned to engage more and broadcast almost everything they can online. This is evident in almost all of the top ranking social networking sites in the Philippines. Though Facebook is the most popular and most visited SNS in the country, another trend comes into place— Twitter.

Twitter is a social media platform that allows users to make the so-called ‘tweets’ or micro-blogs. Tweets are composed of 140 characters that can include links and pictures that one can share. It involves other people by following them and getting updates. The primary purpose of this is to easily and collectively update people close to you or people you want to inform. Accessibility should not be a problem in this situation because Twitter is not just for laptops or computers, but also for cell phones (Black, 2010).  All you need is an internet connection and an application for you to use it then voila! You can now update your followers inexpensively and easily. It serves as the online counterpart of group messages via cell phones. Since ‘gm’ or group message is a trend in our society, Twitter is more likely to attract Filipino users in a unique way.

Filipinos love to share, or should we say, broadcast. There goes Facebook with all the status updates, photo albums, videos, etc. We want the whole community to see it and comment on it. However, Twitter’s charisma is different.

It may look boring to see a 140-word post, but mind you, that simple post can be so powerful. The power of tweets can be faster than news on T.V. One good example of this is the terrorist attack in Mumbai back in 2008. Eyewitnesses were able to describe the attack in an instant via tweet staccato messages. It does not only serve as a means for news blast, but also for helping others. Can you still remember the calamity that hit Haiti? Twitter took a very important role in that accident.  It served as a lifeline wherein people were able to know the missing, or assurance of survival of some. It was also used for solicitations and financial assistance. These examples show what Twitter can do. It goes beyond social communication.

On the other hand, Twitter does not just project a very serious calamity-helper image. Remember that its design is to update family and friends about current news. Therefore, it is not all about hardcore news and serious stuff, but the fun and entertainment side of it. In fact, according to Pear Analytics (2009), a firm that specializes in marketing analytics, ‘pointless babble’ ranked first in the category of tweets. It surpassed other categories like news, spam, self-promotion, conversational, and pass-along value. This goes to show that people are into Twitter because they use it for personal satisfaction or self-actualization. How much more in the Philippines where people love to talk?

I will not be shocked to know if time will come that Philippines will place among the top ranking Twitter users from its current 12^th place in Asia. Who knows if time will come that we beat the number of messages sent through cell phones. It is not bad to be involved and addicted to it. As long as you are not destroying another person’s life and or even yours, it is okay. Twitter was made for the people. We are to use it and optimize it in the most positive way we can. However, certain involvement and too much use might cause harm to you and others. You can tweet all you can, but do it the right way.

Black, S. (2010). The Charisma of Twitter. Graziado Business Review, 13(4).Graziado School of Business and Managament.

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover: The Age of Hyperspecialization August 12, 2011

After reading the heading of the article, I stopped and wondered. I wrote down assumptions on what the topic is all about. Then as I read through the article, I found myself correcting my own assumptions and blurted out a lot of “Aaah” factors or moments of enlightenment.

Let me first share the things I came up with before actually reading through the whole article.

Division of Labor > Less workload > Less compensation/ Less challenge > Low level of satisfaction

I will tell you what made me think that the article will flow like this process.

Since it was clearly stated in the heading that Adam Smith famously described the division of labor as one of the potential causes of economic progress, I literally thought that it’s about breaking down tasks of different positions — routinary or office work. From that assumption, I tried to think of the effects or consequences. That was the time I said to myself, “Ah, ‘pag may division of labor, less work”. Yes, it’s really going to result to less work, but my next assumptions are not automatically the end of it.

I started thinking that if there’s less workload, then employees should have salary cut-offs. This is because I think that the employees are being paid for the quantity and quality of their work. It was then followed by my thinking that with less work, people will not be that much challenged. And with these two as results of workload, I ended up concluding that division of labor will decrease or deter job satisfaction. But things changed soon as I read the article and discovered about hyperspecialization.

There are three things that the author stated about hyperspecialization— breaking down work into more specialized pieces done by several people. First of which was the quality. The author gave more premium to the fact that instead of letting an employee do a task and waste time because that person does not know much about the nature of the task, it would be beneficial and more idea-generating if there are different people working on that task. Also, more manpower will result to faster process which goes next to quality— Speed.

There are some ways that companies do to accelerate process in finding solutions or innovations, through on-line competitions. An example was given about a software company that uses competitions to get easy solutions from either company’s own developers or developers who just want to take part in the contest. This case proves that hyperspecialization does not only provide quality products and increase speed, but it can also reduce cost. By this I mean, having the chance to get ideas with less compensation particularly to those who are just joining the competition. Instead of just hiring a new developer, a company can get the freshest ideas at a lower cost.

After reading about all these things, I told myself, “So, division of labor is not so bad at all?” That’s partly yes and no. The next part of what I’ve read explained why.

As you can see, all of the benefits stated earlier are more company benefits. The author tried to explain why it’s not so beneficial. The concept of competition is challenging and attractive to employees and outsourced people, but notice that they give a lot and receive little. Though it delves more on the knowledge-based products, the people behind those ideas generated and being used by the people are not well-compensated. They are blinded by the challenge and competition offers that they forget to give credit to themselves. Therefore, we can just say that hyperspecialization is one of the best ideas mainly for those who can stigmatize and deceive the people, but not as much for those who give and contribute a lot.

I realized that my assumptions are not so wrong after all. It went different at first because I focused more on the people, while the article discussed its benefits. But at the end of the day, our ideas still intersect at some areas of the discussion.

The Facebook Buzz July 5, 2011

In Emmanuel Rosen’s book entitled, “The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited,” he delved on lessons about word-of-mouth marketing. In the first chapter, called Trigger, Rosen stated that everything starts with a ‘buzz’—a single conversation that can be very influential. His definition of ‘buzz’ is contextually different from how we use the term when we talk about bees. According to Rosen, it is a person-to-person communication about something or someone. That something or someone can be anything under the sun. These things are evident in the world of social media, particularly in Facebook.

On-line whisper

In Facebook, a buzz can spring up when someone posts a status, likes pages, links tweets, blogs, articles, or videos. But a status, tweet, blog, etc. will be nothing more and less when nobody comments or reacts on it. This is where Rosen’s statement that a buzz is a conversation comes in. Just like his example about Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, wherein they used virtual ice cream cone using Facebook to start the buzz, additional conversations came out. Though people already know about this annual event of Ben and & Jerry’s Ice Cream, the virtual ice cream cone reminded them of the free cone day and had them talking about it again. From a 500,000 virtual ice cream, they gave out about a million in real life. Their strategy made people talk about their ice cream and actually made them visit their stores. In the case of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, people nowadays are getting more hooked, may it be consciously or subconsciously, in creating a buzz. We tend to be curious about what others are doing or thinking. When we see others’ posts, we are more likely to comment on it, especially when we are more related to the person or we can relate to his/her post. Case in point, Facebook applications such as Farmville and Restaurant City created such buzz that everyone on-line is talking about it. Not so close people react on posts showing that a friend just upgraded his/her restaurant. Another feature that made people start a conversation is the Question. When someone asks, almost everybody answers. Friends, friends of friends, and other networks answer questions online. It only shows how active people are now on Facebook. Not to mention the growing number of users that it surpassed the population of China, and that there are 30 billion pieces of content shared each month on Facebook. Almost everything is shared on-line. Everybody sees it and most of the time, creates a list of comments on it. Now so what if Facebook creates a buzz?

Facebook is a part of the innovation in the present time. It is inevitable. Almost everyone you know has an account. And almost everyone interacts online. The only thing you could do is to position yourself online. You need not to react on everything, comment on everything or post almost everything that you want. Facebook is definitely a means of socializing with others and it doesn’t mean that it is the only way to socialize. It is a good thing that you see a lot of people you know on-line and get updates from them, but you are not obliged to go with the flow because at the end of the day, it is you who will decide whether you give a time for a buzz or not. It is your reaction that will make a post look interesting. It is you who determines the significance of that buzz.