WEEKLY BLOG #11: First Campaign 2012

This week's class assignment is to imagine the 2012 US presidential election campaign - what will it be like and what are key to win the White House. Definitely, Barrack Obama's campaign is the model or the ideal poster child of successful Web 2.0 presidential campaign. I expect that social media in the 2012 US Presidential elections will be still be dominant. All candidates will channel their inner Barrack Obama, and will try to emulate his election success through online grassroot organizing and social web campaigns. I see presidential candidates diving into new social media trends and grabbing every opportunity these new platforms has to offer to give them an edge and give their message more prominence.

WEEKLY BLOG #10: US Military Blogging - Good Idea or Bad Idea?

I personally think that military blogging should be encouraged. There is no doubt that the internet has power in informing and influencing the public on how all should perceive the United States military. I think the US will benefit if the military will utilize the technology as a tool to create positive perception and combat misinformation about their mission and activities on international territories.

WEEKLY BLOG #9: Online & Japanese

This week's class assignment is to write about a country's blogosphere. I picked Japan as my subject not only because we're required to pick a country that begins with the first letter of our first name but also in honor of the 220,000 Filipinos living in Japan including my sister who is currently stationed in a US Air Base in the country.

WEEKLY BLOG #8: Power of the Crowd

Wikipedia uses the concept of crowdsourcing which according to the online encyclopedia is a a neologistic compound of "crowd" and "outsourcing" for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.

RESPONSE BLOG #3: First Time Social Media Engagement is Like Your First Time Having Sex?

Call me old-fashion or prude but I wont go as far as Jason Mical's comparison of first time social media engagement to first time sex. Though I must admit his post on the subject was eye catching and quite entertaining (Warning: article contains mild profanity). Consider my response on first-time social media engagement for companies and businesses to be more conservative or modest in tone and content - suitable for children and the audience I'm trying to reach.

WEEKLY BLOG #7: In Wiki We Trust

I had a brief career as an encyclopedia salesman in 1995. We were trained to knock on doors and persuade people that they can trust the Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia for their school and home research. Once a lawyer bragged that he didn't use an encyclopedia in law school to become a successful attorney. My response, you're a judge by now if you used an encyclopedia in law school. I was immediately pointed out to the door.

RESPONSE BLOG #2: Can Presidential Candidates in the Philippines Rely on Social Media to Win?

The festive atmosphere during Philippine election campaign is at its peak. Candidates are busy doing campaign staples such as song-and-dance numbers, baby hugs, TV appearances, autograph signing and photo opportunities to earn more vote on May 10th election day. Many of the presidential candidates are also channeling their inner Barrack Obama with the use of social media to win a presidential election. All of the 10 presidential candidates and their running mates are online selling their platform and personalities on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, Twitter and Youtube.

WEEKLY BLOG #6: Welcome to Second Life

I did it! I signed up for Second Life today. Second Life as Business Week puts it "is one of the many so-called massively multiplayer online (MMO) games that are booming in popularity these days. Because thousands of people can play at once, they’re fundamentally different from traditional computer games in which one or two people play on one PC.”

WEEKLY BLOG #5: Who's Scared of Google?

If you can't find answers to your questions, what do you do? You, "Google it!" If someone asked you a question and you don't know the answer? You say, "Google it!" The fact that Google has become a vocabulary of its own, is proof that Google's influence to the public is widespread.

PERSONAL BLOG #3: Drought Perils the "8th Wonder of the World"

According to this report, the world-famous Banaue Rice Terraces and the entire town of Banaue in Ifugao province has been placed under a state of calamity due the continued drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon. The lack of rainfall and invasion of large earthworms made rice paddies vulnerable to erosion thus affecting the livelihood of many farmers in the Cordillera region.

WEEKLY BLOG #4: The Long Tail and a Deadly Tale

As a marketer, applying the Long Tail, a concept developed by Wired Magazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson means implementing new marketing techniques to build markets and a successful business. The Long Tail suggest a new way to generate profits, to sell less of the popular items and sell more of the unique and hard-to-find. This new model relies on niche communities as target consumers and to sell to them requires heavy use of online and word-of-mouth marketing strategies in social media networks and virtual communities.

RESPONSE BLOG #1: The Dancing Inmates of the Philippines are Back! But is it for Good?

The dancing prisoners of Cebu in the Philippines are back. This time one of Michael Jackson's choreographers was flown in from the U.S. to teach inmates a new dance routine to top their original "Thriller" performance in 2007 that made them an instant viral video sensation.

PERSONAL BLOG #2: Buying Sex is Not a Sport

The Olympics is a time to celebrate human excellence and sportsmanship, but it also exposes the worst in human behavior. An event unknown to many that takes place during large sporting events like the Olympics is human sex trafficking -- a dirty little sport played mostly by male tourists that victimizes many innocent women and children. According to a report by The Future Project, an anti-human trafficking organization in Canada, the sex trade grows exponentially during the Olympics. The number of sex trade victims doubled in 2004 during the Athens Games and still hasn’t returned to pre-2004 levels.

WEEKLY BLOG #3: Changes on the Way People Communicate Changes Society

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations is a book I just started reading on what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures. Author Clay Shirky elaborated a fascinating thesis that we’re now going from a world where the media’s role to inform changes to a new role of sharing and collaborative action to bring change. Shirky also noted that changes on the way people communicate changes society (more on embedded video below).

PERSONAL BLOG #1: Celebrating Tim Tebow

The pro-life movement almost went nuts over Tim Tebow's Super Bowl ad aired last Sunday. Below is the clip and you decide if commercial was worth the fuss. Tell me what's so controversial about it? Personally, I didn't see anything divisive, political or anti-choice on the ad.

WEEKLY BLOG #2: Will the World's First Blogger Please Stand Up?

Names that claims to be the world's first blogger is shady. As CNET News said, 

Awarding the bragging rights a the first blogger is more than a little tricky because the definitions of "blog" and "blogger" are slippery. Any definition should probably include posts sorted by date, with the newest posts at the top and the rest archived for future use. 

WEEKLY BLOG #1: The Cluetrain Revolution

I just started reading the "Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual" for class. The book was published a decade ago but the essence of the book remains current and applicable to this day. Cluetrain Manifesto has 95 Theses that serves as  the "golden rules" a company should live but in order to be succesful in their business. But the theses can be summed up into three main points: (1) Market are conversations; (2) the internet is about giving the public a voice; and (3) understanding and engaging in the conversation can lead to results organizations want.

Psyched 100 Days Before the Philippine Elections, May 10

I'm totally psyched this week because of my social media class at Georgetown. I'm ready to learn from my professors and begin hands-on application of the various social media platforms online. We're required to write 18 blog posts and I'll be posting my blog assignments on the The Living Rice in the next three months or so - please pardon me if you see entries that are not related to what I usually post on this site (requirement lang po sa eskwela).