SOCIAL MEDIA WEEKEND 2013 #fwdPH

Last weekend's not just an ordinary one, well at least for those social media savvy who are aware of this year's Social Media Weekend / #SocialMediaWeekend! 

This is the country's second time to participate, and this year's theme is "Let's move #fwdPH". The first leg was last Saturday (June 29), held at the Glorietta Activity Center. The second one took place last Sunday (June 30) in Bukidnon, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio, Cebu and other cities.

To give you a brief background about the event, the global Social Media Day is headed by the famous US based website Mashable. Its main goal is to gather all social media enthusiasts and practitioners in one place and celebrate digital revolution! Thanks to the community netizens that make up @TweetupMNL for letting us join the fun. After all, we are the social media capital of the world! Last year's theme is even named "Social Media Capital", recognizing Filipinos who made this title achievable.

Now let me share what happened for this year's #fwdPH!

Forward Philippines or as we netizens put it #fwdPH is all about utilizing the social media for social awareness and improvement. It is being responsible and taking advantage of the social media to promote and elevate our stand on national or political issues. On making it as a means to help others, community and calamity wise. 

Pre-program started around 12pm (from the supposed 11am time). I wasn't in the event yet but it covered a talk on creating great content for Youtube, Google Ads, BlogWatch, EpalWatch and Citizen Media, on Mommy Mundo and mompreneurship and reps from Google Developers Group.

I arrived few minutes after the main program started. The supposed 4pm started around 5pm with the performance of RomCom. 

After you finish the registration, you'll get this name tag which you should complete (by asking all the sponsors around the area to sign it) to get a surprise loot bag from Team Manila!

The program was hosted by Bry Ramirez, Chuckie Dreyfus, and later on was joined by Patricia Hizon. 

Some of the speakers were: 

Marie Lu of Google Business Group who shared her insights about Google and also shared some trivia as she discussed Google+ functions. She gave a pop up quiz after and if she was to give her cute Android top as prize, I would have exerted much effort, LOL.

Marideth Talusan of Rice Field Collective talked about their project and how social media can help them with their objectives. Rice Field Collective is a collaboration of US and European knitting teachers and designers, together with some Ifugao natives too, that aims to help generate money for those in danger of losing their ancestral land due to poverty.

Ed Calaycay of IGers Manila discussed about Instagram'ing in the Philippines. He shared some user statistics and also how Instagram was able to promote Filipino creativity and social relevance. IGers Manila is the open community for Filipino Instagram'ers, their 9PM habit is absolutely brilliant! 

There were a lot of games and good prizes as well! They gave a Samsung smartphone for answering a very hard question. They even encouraged us to connect to Google to search the answer. I personally wanted to get the Android stuff toy from the raffle, but I'm not so lucky with random winning.

Even though I didn't win from any of the games and raffle, I still felt like a winner upon finally seeing Ms. Maria Ressa of Rappler who visited the event! I am a fan, and after a long time, I felt star strucked again! But because of another game on stage, I forgot to take a picture of her. I went out the venue to look for her feeling frustrated, until finally I saw her again just behind the stage! I ran and asked a guy bystander (coz I can't find my companion) to take a picture of me with Ms. Maria Ressa! She's soooo nice, she even asked for my name!! Gaaaah!

no make-up and messy hair hence my one and only photo-op in the event =/

And to cap off the day, I did let the sponsors around the area sign my name tag for the lootie lootie loot bag!

Some of the sponsors were:

R-L: Commune, Bayani Brew, Binalot, Muni, Galileo, Zomato, GBG

Give your uploaded Instagram photo with the hashtag #fwdPH to PRNT and they'll upload it for you! Coolness!

Go, go team! Volunteers were very patient with the packing of loot bags. I WANT THAT TEAM MANILA SHIRT THOUGH :(

It was nice seeing Black Pencil Project again! I remember being so amazed with their works and advocacy ever since I saw their video when I was in college.

Had a good dinner also in Glorietta after and was surprised to feel really really exhausted. Probably because I was standing most of the time, taking photos, taking notes, and busy roaming around the area. It was a good kind of exhaustion anyway.

Social media's everywhere, from personal and professional profile, photo and video sharing, long and short-term writing, however you want to use it, it's accessible. The challenge now, especially us whose careers also involve the social media trend, is to handle it responsibly. As a democratic country, our social media intelligence can definitely be a great medium for positive change. Let's move forward Philippines! #fwdPH

PUGAD BABOY GOES ONLINE

I think Rappler is the perfect "pugad" for the satire comic strip anyway :)

For those who didn't know what happened to sir Pol Medina Jr., to Pugad Baboy, and to its home for 25 years - Philippine Daily Inquirer a week ago, it is because of this comic strip:

I guess we sort of have an idea already what's wrong with the strip right? It's the stereotypical attempt of putting a muscular woman there to represent a lesbian. Nah, not that! Pol Medina Jr. admitted he did a mistake including a specific institution (St.Scholastica's College) in his strip.

St.Scholastica's College threats PDI that they would file charges over the allegedly offensive strip, thus resulting to Pugad Baboy's suspension on the said newspaper. Medina said this is the school he thought of because his former girlfriend came from St.Scho, giving him a first hand information about the school's orientation.

Some may also find the strip offensive (and controversial) not just because of the school mentioned, but also for its content about hypocrisy among Christians regarding homosexuality.

The cartoonist decided to end his more than two decades commitment with PDI and submitted his resignation last June 7. 

All of these resulted to a discussion about freedom of expression. Pugad Baboy is one of the longest running comic strip in the country. It is a well known satire of the country's society and culture. Pugad Baboy presents political and social issues in humorous ways. The character themselves reflects every Filipino characteristics and behavior, which again makes it more funny to read as you would see yourself in them one way or another.

 

That's why its suspension, and Pol Medina Jr.'s resignation worried me. Is it the end of an era? My era? The 90's kid era? 

Well era your face! These obese community, and the dog, is ready to step out of the paper and venture to today's main source of news, the world wide web! 

I can't think of a better cyberspace to put Polgas and the gang but in Rappler. 

Rappler is one of Ms. Maria Ressa's genius ideas. It's a social news network and probably one of the most popular in the country. According to their website: "Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves)." Genius right? By the way Pol Medina Jr.'s new boss, Ms. Maria Ressa, is an alumna of, guess what school? St. Scholastica's College! Ow, the irony!

One of the site's edge is its mood meter where in readers don't necessarily need to comment on posts to express how they feel. They can simply just click the button for happy, sad, amused, annoyed, etc.! From this, the mood meter can measure the main reaction of the readers about a particular topic, and among the other article topics. 

What does it imply then? That Rappler do care for its readers' feedback, and not push it to be discreet to others. Online is probably the best way to express your opinions without being too restrained, as compared to daily publications. 

Today is Pugad Baboy's second day and second strip in Rappler. It's definitely a new experience for us who used to read it on the newspaper. Although same as before, you can still enjoy new strips daily (except Sundays) at exactly 5am. The bonus though is that you don't get just one punchline, but you get to have three, and choose which among them you like the most!
Rappler said on one of its post:

In cyberspace – on Rappler – we’re going to give him all the “walls” and “space” he needs to "oink" (or "arf") on.

How spoiled can you get Mang Dagul and Polgas? Well you definitely deserve it!

With Pugad Baboy joining the cyberspace, I hope (and I'm sure), more and more people would be able to read your daily stories, even those abroad! Accessibility is better now as the ratio of newspaper readers among internet users nowadays are far behind. Images are optimal now and you don't have to cut those newspapers anymore for those who love to collect Pugad Baboy strips, you can simply right click and 'save image as'. Pugad Baboy can also be introduced to today's internet dependent generation. More importantly, satire is best practiced here, the truth and reality is much conveyed here. 

Don't get me wrong though, I still love the smell of newspaper and I still find it classy seeing someone sipping coffee while turning the newspaper's huge pages. I just happen to agree that Pugad Baboy needs to breathe in a more nonconformist space, as well as what is written before this paragraph.

Welcome to cyberspace Polgas and the gang! Do read Pugad Baboy everyday, now on Rappler!

I don't own all images posted.

BIRTHDAY 2013!

I'm on a journey, yeah, I'm on a roll. Sometimes gotta close my eyes, just to open my soul. #birthdaygirl #cake #love #girl

Yay, finally done answering everyone's greetings! Thanks for remembering, esp.for those who texted me sa globe, kahit di ko cla nabasa AT ALL (i lost my globe phone, but had the sim replaced - and still waiting for it, so I am using only my Sun for now), still tnx whoever u guys are :) And although I had my bday celebs with terrible cough & flu, it was still special ♥ ♥ ♥ My 25th is probably ONE OF MY FAVE &  SIGNIFICANT YEAR. It was a total Hangover movie for me. Connect the dots, lost belongings (huhuhu), spontaneous decisions, party and peers, mysteries solved.. pure fun!

Learned many of life and love's lessons, discovered a shining career path, got closer with my family, had a deeper relationship with the Lord, and met some special people in my life that I know would remain for keeps :)

Looking forward to even beating it this 26th, and with Your grace Lord, nothing is impossible!:)

My birthday song:

REST OF MY LIFE - LUDACRIS ft. USHER & DAVID GUETTA


I'm stuck in this moment, freeze the hands of time
Cause I feel inner peace when i'm outta my mind
And you can call me crazy but I like to roll the dice
So i'm willing to bet that i'mma be crazy for the rest of my life


That's somewhere to go but the world is moving slow
I was born for the fast life
I go for broke, a lesson I can't afford
But for what it's worth i'm ready to pay for the rest of my life

If you live for something, you're not alone, my friend
So fill up your cup and, lift your lighter, and toast to life!


Of course Usher and Guetta once again, ow you guys never fail me. Never :)

HELLO HOLIDAY

Thanks 2012. Esp.sa mga sumalo ng not so good start of the year ko. Aaaw :) 😊😘🎉🙌 #2013 #girl #holiday #newyear #blessed #loves #FrameMagic (taken with Instagram)

Happy holidays! Just like me, I know you guys have been very busy this December, and hopefully it's also the good kind of being busy, you know, the fun way of doing it?

So my almost 2 weeks vacation's coming to an end, it's time to shift to working girl mode once again, and I'm not excited about it, haha. 

Nevertheless, I am more than thankful for this vacay... SULIT!:)

Here is my top 5 reasons why my December Holiday's a bang:

PARTYING:

Of course this is the moment for right and left Christmas parties! Drinking sessions and buffet of food all week long. I was able to attend parties from different set of friends and loved ones, but let me share here the christmas parties of the three companies I have been part of (wasn't able to attend the party of the Advertising agency I worked with).

We have created such good bond and considered each as family, that's why I'm still welcome to gate crash their parties haha!

Last thursday's tagged photos 1 #weegpeeps (taken with Instagram)

Last Thursday's tagged photos 2. With 3 of the most serious people I know. Haha! #weegpeeps #friends (taken with Instagram)

After party with the link and web developers! SEO talks, joking around, and those usual teasing. Was able to see long lost officemates, had 3 bottles of Sanmig Light w/o being tipsy, and went home 4am considering I have a morning shift after, haha! EASTWOOD REPRESENT! 

painting the town red. CBV dancing the night away! #corporateparty #red #holiday #lateupload (taken with Instagram)

ow dj callum!<3 #callumdavid #dj #house #remix (taken with Instagram)

Painted the town red! Lots of employees, lechon (i love it!), and extravagant raffle. They actually gave away 100k pesos for 6 lucky raffle winner... EACH! Plus other monetary prices and GC's. The fireworks are beautiful, and the ala- street party drinking sesh was unexpectedly fun! Got to dance beside Ms. Cory Vidanes, and was so close to DJ Callum David! TIMOG REPRESENT!

tunay na logic Xmas party! Retro70's inspired! 🌸🎉📀 #sinisipagmagedit #party #christmas #retro #seo #ascott #FrameMagic (taken with Instagram)

This is my fave among the three! I got to party and spend the so-called end of the world with these people. The theme is retro 70's, there's a raffle for samsung notebook, lcd TVs and GCs. The highlight of the party is the battle of 11 teams for the 15k price money. I personally like the place - Cafe on the 6th at Ascott Makati. 

There's a wide open space outside the cafe so you can just go out when you want to smoke or feel the fresh air while drinking in one of the gazebos. The food's more than enough, presentable, and taste fair too. Regretting not being able to take 2nd serving of the potato balls w/ bacon bits, and the fresh salad with that perfect dressing though. It's open bar too so you can just go to the bartenders and drink whatever you like. Regretting not being able to take advantage of the free booze too by the way.

team marlon and the Kanorians!:D #friends #loves #bestseoteam #retro #party #vintage #FrameMagic (taken with Instagram)

Lastly, my team won 3rd place! Team Marlon and the Kanorians hell yeah! But you know what makes this party stand out from the rest, aside from it being well organized? It's the people. The camaraderie, the party and rock & roll spirit of the crowd, the cool bosses... damn definitely missin' everyone! MEKETI REPRESENT!

REJOICING:

Christmas is where everyone's celebratory, and where functions, anniversaries, weddings are best spent on.

Beautiful face! Beautiful answer! #missuniverse2012 #JanineTogonon #twitter (taken with Instagram)

I love watching Ms. Universe ever since, it's that inner gay in me, though I am not as diligent as them in terms of memorizing the names of past winners... as in years years past winners. I don't usually appreciate a morena beauty as much as I do with the fair skinned ones, but Janine Tugonon really struck me! I love her eyes, the way she speaks, and her confidence. When my mom saw Ms.USA, she said that her beauty is 'pang-Ms.Universe', and once again, my mom's prediction is correct. Prior to the announcement, I was really shouting, jumping, and hoping for the crown. 

Half of my day was spent complaining for that loss. Homecourt decision, tsk. I don't like her red dress and her keso de bola hairstyle. Bitter? Haha. 

What an irony, they said I lost weight this month! I guess the walkathon challenge is effective after all. Although I think I gained weight again since I didn't deprive myself to food this Holiday week, but it's okay, I feel sexy still, chos! :D

TRAVELLING:

That tail end of a year is also a chance for everyone to put down their work loads and spend the holiday vacations and leaves with their families, partner, or even an alone time for themselves.

Rush hour w/o the traffic!:) yay holidays! 👍 #road #holiday #instadaily #girl #rushhour #roadtrip #instacollage (taken with Instagram)

That glorious moment of having a long drive to south without the traffic. Woohoo! Got to spend an out of town trip with special someones. I really felt distant to stress, toxic people, and just slept and woke up smiling. Bakasyown indeed!

And yeah, got a new pair of glasses again finally. No eye twitching at work anymore!

RECEIVING:

Christmas is also a good time to wish for presents, and all employees hear me on this... BONUSES!

Holiday freebies and gc's :) #companyperks #sodexo #freebies #holiday (taken with Instagram)

A sweet 13th month pay isn't applicable to me though, since my stay in my present and previous company's short. But I appreciate the perks given, plus the better compensation I am getting from the last two companies' enough for me to save money, and have something to spend for the month's celebrations. 

Also happy to have a tablet I can definitely use for my work tasks and meetings, thanks brother! Also got an extra phone I haven't used yet. Thinking of getting an iPhone 5, but would probably disregard that thought in 3, 2... 1. 

Thanks for the other presents too, especially the non-tangible ones. Aaaw!

GIVING:

The last but the most important reason why this season's a bang? It's because you get to share the whole year's blessings with others. Pay it forward.

outreach at golden acres #old #green #charity #corporate (taken with Instagram)

I am very privilege to be part of the charity / outreach Christmas party we spent at Golden Acres. The grandma assigned to me is deaf so I had a hard time communicating with her, but if I have to do it all over again, I will still choose her. I think the difficulty in hearing made me communicate with her in a much deeper level, using the heart. I got to feed her and bring her back to her room, it was special. 

gift buying! Pahabol gifts that is :) #holiday #gifts #happiness #instadaily (taken with Instagram)

gave my xmas gifts for everyone last night. better late than waley :) #gifts #holiday #newyear #blessed #family #happiness (taken with Instagram)

Was also ecstatic when I shopped for gifts, especially those for the whole family! As in the whole residence family, where there are 3 families with 3 different houses sharing the same address. Of course my priority goes to my nieces, and mama. Yup girls first haha. I definitely enjoyed shopping for candy colored shoes and dresses for the kids, and cooking stuff for mother dear. Had fun exploring the home and kitchen depot of the malls, looking for a good buy for the room of my eldest brother and the new pad of the middle. 

With the 3-day shopping installment, I can't remember now how many gifts were wrapped. One thing's for sure though, all money spent is worth it! Just so glad to see the reaction of my family, and the others too.

Mama opening my gift last night :) #mama #holiday #newyear #gift #instadaily #family (taken with Instagram)

Shopping is definitely a lot more rewarding when it's for gift giving. So do try it, and leave something for me =P

Not in the list, because I don't want to limit it for only this year's wonderful reasons, are the people who I spent the holiday with. It's automatic anyway, because non-material things will always be the number one reason to be happy for the most wonderful time of the year! 

HALLOWEEN LONG - HAPPY - SAD WEEKEND

late post 1. have to grab photos :P #halloween #costume #blackswan #addamsfamily #jacksparrow #kiss #joker #FrameMagic (Taken with Instagram)

Late post 2. Photo op-ping with Jamie and Aprox :) #mgabatangmakukulit #spongebob #spiderman #santaclause #costume #halloween (Taken with Instagram)

This is by far the most well spent Halloween long weekend: company Halloween party, saw HS long lost buddies, danced to good club music in an actual club haha, overnight out of town trip, movie marathon, and japanese buffet after praise & worship! Because Dec. might be quite busy for me. Now hello Monday :(

Also heard some sad news to coincide with the mourning weekend. A schoolmate from High School, one year ahead of us, died yesterday (Nov.3) because of hit and run along Commonwealth Ave. He was on a motorcycle and accidentally fell off because of a manhole. He was saved by his helmet, yet unfortunately, he was taken over by a rushing jeepney. His ribcage was damaged and eventually affecting his chest.

Another news is the best friend of the sister of one of my dear friend, okay that was confusing! Her on the other hand is a victim of those riding in tandem modus. GO TO HELL! She was hit by a gun while riding a motorcycle too. Her right area, the liver and kidney, was hit by bullets and was badly damaged.

I hate motorcycles, I just think they're one of the worst invention ever made. Most of all, I hate men who earn money by cutting off other people's dreams. F.U.!

Also, the favorite nephew of one of my closest buddy at work died. He's like a bro that I can never take seriously, until he got a call on oct.31 that his nephew's in the ICU already. His nephew has leukemia, and is just 2 years old.

All death news in less than a week. Hai...

Other sad news this weekend was the closing of Charlie's Grill in Sct. Torillo, into which one of the owners texted me the reason and confirmed. Two of my friends on the other hand is setting up a business in Sct. Torillo as well, hmm... I hope it's not on the same exact place?

Speaking of business, sad news again... the project me and 3 others were planning was postponed because one of them backed out. It was quite sad for me because I am already preparing my possible investment for it. It's a business which I'm confident that given the proper timing, planning, and execution, can be succesful. Hopefully we can continue it early next year.

And the most sad part to end October is facing November on my present company. Hmm... but I'd rather not elaborate yet why.

The Halloween long weekend was both HAPPY and SAD. I guess it's really the perfect time to pray and remember those who left us, and be grateful for the life we have. I pray for everyone's safety and I pray for the souls who are now up there with our Creator. EVERY GISING IS A BLESSING INDEED!

SEPTEMBER OUT OF COMFORT ZONE

Miss her sermon 👈& her sumbong👉. Dj's night ule chi?not? haha! Love u both! (Taken with Instagram)

September has been truly good to me. Can't be specific with every blessing that came my way, but I am just hoping for better days ahead. So happy to see old friends as well, haven't got the chance to see them for quite some time.

Another one. Mga mukhang inosente haha! @ninamagyani (Taken with Instagram)

makukulet paren! raffy's bday! (Taken with Instagram)

humabol sa picture while taking a phone call hehe, (Taken with Instagram)

with jec and meloi at En Route #oneofthoseweekend #enroutedistillery #girlfriends (Taken with Instagram)

weeks ago. nakiki-triple bday with hsbc peeps! #centralkalayaan (Taken with Instagram)

I think one or two of those pictures above happened late August, not September, just not sure. I will always appreciate a good drink and definitely great food at the end of a busy week! But the best part with seeing them again, as I don't get to join my old friends that much anymore, is hearing how they have been and unfortunately even hearing the not so good ones. I heard a story of a girl ending a 6-year relationship because of endless cheating while also struggling the pain of being a child out of wedlock. I heard a story of two wives both fighting for their right over their husbands' families. I heard a guy's story of being left by a woman carrying his child. I heard all painful stories... in one month! I just have to include that here coz it was really an eye opener, and I also realized that I need more time to check on my friends once in a while. Sorry for being busy. But man, I have seen so many tears in just a month! Good thing movies like The Mistress don't make me cry anymore!

On a lighter note though, also happy to say that I made it on the top 3 spot for link count and also on the top 3 spot together with 2 others for link quality, all for my first month. I am opening learning opportunities to seo (more than the link building that I used to do) slowly. Actually I just finished some Google Adsense 101 a while ago from the expert, my supervisor, hehe! I would probably update you guys with my plans on pursuing the other aspects of digital marketing, depending on God's plans for me.

my first month was a good start!😊 Yay!:) #seo #top3 (Taken with Instagram)

Right now I am enjoying the busy streets of the South. I have no regrets on choosing to take risks and discover myself more by working in an industry and place that is out of my comfort zone. It was also overwhelming when I got an offer for DotPH, unfortunately I am already employed. Leaving my ad agency in QC was indeed a right decision, thank you September for not making it hard for me.

Sometimes we tend to miss chances because we are afraid to give up what has been easy for us. Sometimes we stick to our comfort zone, not realizing that it can cause us mediocrity. Don't close your door because of fear that something so good won't happen again. Try peaking, and you'll be surprised on what you will discover.

I tend to sleep earlier now, and wake up quite early too. Sometimes I would get drowsy half way of a drinking session, bummer! Haha! I also don't smoke at work anymore, and is slowly becoming an occasional smoker. I don't know what kind of inspiration & motivation hit me, but it is a pretty good hit anyway.

This is not me, this is not my comfort zone, but surprisingly... I kinda like it :)