The Rise and Fall of a Social Agent Here in the Philippines

Presented by:

Marco Paolo C. Pineda

Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies College of Arts and Sciences San Beda College Alabang

Quick Survey
Do you have a Myspace account? Facebook? Flickr? Linked In? StumbleUpon? Digg? Reddit? Have you ever searched for something on Wikipedia? Yahoo? Google? Ask? Do you read blogs? Do you use a RSS reader like Google, Newsgator or Bloglines? Have you submitted content to a social network? Has your content become popular or hit the front page?

What is Social Media?

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves.
Ironic Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

We will not be talking about all the social media but will focus only on one

Blogs are a site or a website that are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Blogs are made by Bloggers who want to promote a product, raise awareness, criticize someone or just simply telling the whole world on how they feel.

Blogs today are so fast and powerful, a content of a persons blog and how it spreads may spark awareness to influence people to action. Like donating food and materials to save more lives during the 2004 tsunami or could be the catalyst for a revolution to freedom like what happened in Egypt just lately.

Background:

With the explosion of social media usage in the active internet users and the speed of information exchanges where social networks are becoming powerful hubs in interconnected communities, the researcher wonders what happens to blogging and what is its role now in the lives of digital filipinos. The study will not concentrate on the specific types of blogs but rather focus if blogs generally affects the lives of most people here in the Philippines who are now living in a digital lifestyle, this study will answer the following questions: 1) Do blogs affect the lifestyle of most Filipinos? 2) Do people here in the Philippines pay attention to Blogs? 3) Do people ever visit blog sites? 4) Is blogging popular here in the Philippines? 5) Does it affect history? 6) Are blogs reliable when it comes to information gathering?

Objectives:
To know if blogs are popular here in the Philippines To identify which blogs Digital Filipinos are interested in. To know if blogs here in the Philippines impacts the life of Digital Juan To determine where blogging in the Philippines is heading.

Significance:
This study will try to measure how popular is blogging in the digital Pinoys. If they go to blogs for information gathering, how serious are pinoy bloggers and if blogging is changing the filipino social media. This study will give us a view of how blogs as a social medium affect the Digital Pinoys lives and will try to recommend how we can use blogs in to improve our society.

Scope & Limitation:

The study will be limited in the effects to the people who uses the internet and are members in blog sites or social networks The study will be limited to Digital filipinos from ages 15 ~ 25. The study will not be able to determine the specific changes in information gathering in the Philippines but will try to detect where the change is heading.

Highlights of related literature

Blogging Milestones in the World

Blogging or blog was started way back, but it is in the 1990s where an Internet forum software, such as WebEx, created running conversations with "threads". 2001: Established schools of journalism began researching blogging and noting the differences between journalism and blogging 2002: Blogging helped to create a political crisis that forced US Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to step down as majority leader. 2004: Some blogs became important news source during the December 2004 Tsunami such as Mdecins Sans Frontires, which used SMS text messaging to report from affected areas in Sri Lanka and Southern India (disseminate information that was not covered by the Main Stream Media) 2007: Bloggers Code of Conduct was proposed by Tim OReilly to enforce civility on blogging 2010: A video blog of Pastor Terry Jones Burn a Qur'an day sparked flame to Muslims all around the world in a short period of Time

Blogging Milestones in the World

December 2010: A propaganda on posting cartoon characters has been spread on to Facebook for the invasion of memories on a global scale. But soon, the phenomenon faded. Recently, A prominent Facebook group, "We are all Khaled Said" with 89,358 likes and a youtube video viewed by 500,000 people, brought attention to Khaled Saids death and contributed to growing discontent in the weeks leading up to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. During the protests, social media aggregated, disseminated and accelerated vital news and information.

The Digital Pinoy

Blogging Milestones in the Philippines

1996: The record for oldest and probably the first blog that ever existed (which was created and maintained by a Filipino) is currently held by Lauren Dado. She was only 10 years old then. Her online journal (http://www.worldkids.net/kids/lauren/journal) was first published online. 1999: Usage of the term blog spread and became popular. It was also the same year that Blogger.com launched its hosted blog tools providing one-click publishing for bloggers and run their blogs on BlogSpot.com, Filipino Bloggers started to get noticed. 1999: the IndayWorks.com (Inday@unforgettable.com) was the first blog site that won the Peoples Choice Award (under Family & Personals category) of the 2nd Philippine Web Awards. 2002: PinoyBlog (www.pinoyblog.com) was launched to provide online resources to bloggers.

Blogging Milestones in the Philippines

2009: Social media played a vital role in helping the victims of Ondoy (Typhoon Katrina) via Blogs, Facebook, Multiply, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and SMSs. 2010: Presidential and Local Elections monitoring through social media. Pinoy net citizens active participation in the election coverage. 2011: Facebook has become a significant communication tool rivaling calling and sending text messages. Most intriguingly, the National Telecommunications Comission in the Philippines reports that text message volumes are starting to decline as more people communicated with each other through the web. 2011:Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said online journalists and bloggers should be given the same kind of protection afforded to regular members of the broadcast and print media.

Where are we in the Digital World

Active internet users are those people who use the internet every day or every other day Social media is driven by active internet users, if you dont use the internet regularly you are unlikely to sign up for tools such as blogging or set up a social network profile. Active internet users drive adoption of platforms and tools and they will determine which tools and platforms become dominant in the social media space. They are the best proxy for the future, over time all internet users will increase their usage. Eventually everyone will become an active internet user, just as consumers just as consumers made the transition from occasional to regular TV watching in the 1950s and 1960s.

Understanding of Filipino internet users across 22 major cities 2009-2010 Shifts and Trends
Source: Digital Philippines 2010 Yahoo!-Nielsen Net Index Highlights Manila, Philippines

Pinoy Bloggers among the leaders in Asia

Source: Global Social Media Trends 2009 Social Media Summit May 14, 2009 by Tom Smith

While Personal Blogs and Family/Friend Blogs Decline, Social Network Blogging is on the rise.
Source: UM The Socialization of Brands Social Media Tracker 2010

Looking at why people engage in social media and how effectively each social media platform is able to meet these needs becomes of paramount importance. We can see that blogs, message boards and video sites (see Figure 3) deliver specific needs. Video sites are great for having fun and being entertained, message boards are great for seeking alternative opinions and changing those of other others and blogs are powerful platforms for self expression and self promotion.

Source: UM The Socialization of Brands Social Media Tracker 2010

Theoretical Framework

Model Used: Social Network Theory

Social network theory views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors.

Young Blogs

Research Method
Quantitative Research: interview each sample of group (age 15 25, students) Methodology:
Research Identifying and defining the basic theory/theories (Social Networking Theory) Data Collection/ Gathering Questionnaires from 50 respondents (in schools) Age Bracket: 15 25 years old Male and Female Interpretation of Data Analysis of the data of survey (from the people)

Research design

Informations to be obtained: - The confirmation or denial of blogs being better than traditional media on information gathering in general - The effects of blogs on the lives of the Digital Pinoys - If Blogs here in the Philippines are as strong as in the USA - Recommendations on how to improve blogs as a positive source when it comes to information gathering

Target audience
Students: age 15-25 50 subjects Why? Because we students shall be the next in line

Legend:
4A = Yes, I read and write Blogs 4B = No, Im not a Blogger but I read Blogs 4C = No, I do not read and write Blogs

25 20 15 10 5 0 4A 4B 4C

Research analysis

1) Where do you use a computer?

25 20 15 10 5 0 HOME INTERNET CAF SCHOOL OFFICE 4A 4B 4C

2) How often?

25 20 15 10 5 0 EVERYDAY EVERY OTHER DAY WEEK ENDS ONLY RARELY

4A 4B 4C

2) What do you do usually once youre at the computer?

25 20 15 10 5 0 SURF THE INTERNET PLAY ONLINE GAMES CHAT WITH FRIENDS WORK 4A 4B 4C

3) How often?

25 20 15 10 5 0 EVERYDAY EVERY OTHER WEEK ENDS ONLY DAY RARELY 4A 4B 4C

4) Do you Write Blogs? (if not write, then at least read)

[ ] a) Yes, I read and write Blogs [ ] b) No, Im not a Blogger but I read Blogs [ ] c) No, I do not read and write Blogs

25 20 15 10 5 0 4A 4B 4C

5) If your answer in question #4 is YES (a), what do you Blog about?

Most People talked about their life, their passions and their hobbies. Only few wrote about recent events that change this country.

6) What influenced you for writing or reading blogs?

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 FRIENDS MEDIA TEACHERS FAMILY 4A 4B

14 12 10 8 6 4B 4 2 0 SOCIAL NETWORK COLLEAGUES OTHERES 4A

7) If your answer in question #4 is either (a) Yes, I read and write Blogs or (b) No, Im not a Blogger but I read Blogs, what kinds of Blog are you interested in? and why?
16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 EDUCATIONAL FOOD NEWS EVENTS BLAWG 4A 4B

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 CELEBRITY TECH OTHERS 4A 4B

For Others, respondents answered they blog or read blogs that are Travel related

8) What kind of sites do you read/write Blogs?

a) Pure Blog Sites b) Social Network c) Both (a and b)

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 PURE BLOG SITES SOCIAL NETWORKS BOTH A & B 4A 4B

9) If your answer in question #8 is (a) Pure Blog Sites, which Blog site do you write/read blogs?
2 1.5 1 0.5 0 PINOY BLOGSPHERE PINOY BLOG DEFINITELY FILIPINO PINOY FOOD BLOG 4A 4B

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 YAHOO/YEHEY NUFFNANG PHILIPPINES OTHERS

4A 4B

For others, most of the respondents answered Wordpress, Blogsphere and other international blog sites

10) If your answer in question #8 is (b) Social Network, which Social Network Site do you write/read blogs?

20 15 10 5 0 FACEBOOK TWITTER PLURK FRIENDSTER MY SPACE DEVIANT ART 4A 4B

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 YOU TUBE MULTIPLY FLICKR TUMBLR IMEEM OTHERS

4A 4B

11) What type of Information do you get from Blogs?

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 HEALTH TRAVEL FASHION GAMES RANTS

4A 4B

20 15 10 5 0 FOOD NEWS SHOWBIZ SPORTS OTHERS 4A 4B

For others, respondents wrote cosplay

12) What do you do to the information you get from Blogs?

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 REACT ON IT KEEP IT ON YOUR MIND SPREAD IT NOTHING

4A 4B

13) Do you get valuable information from blogs?

25 20 15 4A 10 5 0 YES NO 4B

14) If your answer in question #13 is Yes, how often do you rely on them (-1 on 4A)

14 12 10 8 6 4B 4 2 0 ALWAYS OFTEN SOMETIMES RARELY 4A

17) Do you comment on the blogs youve read? (-1 on 4A)

10 8 6 4A 4 2 0 ALWAYS OFTEN SOMETIMES RARELY NEVER 4B

18) What do you think about the future of Blogging in the Philippines?

Most respondents believed that Blogging will change the way we communicate and exchange informations. They also believed that Blogging can make or break a reputation of certain individual. Blogging gives Filipino writers a media where they can get more recognition.

20) Do you think that it affects the lives of others based on their comments? (or behavior if youve know them personally) and briefly explain why

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER 4A

PUT SURVEY ANALYSIS ON WHY HERE

21) Did you get in trouble on one of your Blogs (formal or Informal Warning)?

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 YES NO 4A

Conclusions

Do Blogs affect the lifestyle of most Filipinos?

Yes. In the most basic forms, blogs affect the lifestyle of Filipinos. Digital Pinoys who read blogs and do blogs learned new things that inspire them to pursue their passions more.

Do people here in the Philippines pay attention to Blogs?

Yes. Research shows XX% of active internet users in the Philippines read and interacts with blogs. In the Me world of social media, blogging in all forms and contexts connects the Digital Pinoys. Proudly recognized during their social events and in national crisis.

Do people ever visit blog sites?

Only few people visit blog sites. Study shows of the active internet users, 28% of the pure readers visited blogsites while 16% of writers visited other blogsites. Most of Digital Pinoys visit international blog sites like Wordpress, Blogsphere and Digg. But local blog sites are also familiar to them.

Is blogging popular here in the Philippines?

Yes blogging is popular among the Filipino active internet users but only in the form of micro blogging. Social media participation among active internet continues to vary widely, in some countries blogging is or was top of the tree, in others it is or was uploading video, for example. In the Philippines, it is micro blogging that dominates and happens in social network sites like Facebook, Tumbler, Multiply, YouTube, Twitter on the top lists among the others.

Does it affects history?

With the rapid explosion of social media popularity among the active internet, blogging in all forms and contents definitely will play a major part in writing the history. Just recently we watched the unfolding of the Egyptians victory to freedom that was called the Facebook Revolution. In 2009 Ondoy crisis, blogging through social media brought the filipinos all over the world together. 2010 presidential elections was closely monitored and promoted through mainstream blogs and microblogs.

The Evolution

As social networks keep growing we also see them begin to dominate discussion about personal topics. People are moving away from reading and discussing personal topics on both blogs and forums. At the same time we see a corresponding rise in social networks as the key platform for personal blogs. Microblogging is a great example of a new form of social media that has, within an incredibly short space of time, become a mass market activity. Blogging is an important part of Digital Juan. On how it influence him will depend on the social activity he is engaged in. A deeper understanding of Digital Juan needs and motivations is the key to unlocking a real understanding of the effect of blogging in him.

Whats on your mind?

In the end, we are all social animals who want to connect, promote a product, raise awareness, criticize someone or just simply tell the whole world on how we feel. We are all forever will be bloggers in any form it will be.

Recommendations
For the purist bloggers, social network is the key to promote your blogs. Fresh and creative ideas are very much needed. Viral blogging will be the ultimate earned reward but of course content is still what matters. Self-expressions is allowed but perhaps we should be civil enough to know where to stop. Lets blog to progress.

The End