An NNN-AMIC Special Report by Iya P. Joson
BANGKOK, Nov 17 (BERNAMA-NNN-AMIC) -- While the rest of Asia and the world
are getting fascinated over the power of mobile remittances, Filipinos are
yawning over it, probably wondering what makes a service that’s available in
every urban and rural sari-sari store in the country so special.
Dr. Madanmohan Rao, a new media consultant and author from Bangalore, India,
says of Philippine mobile innovation: “I remember 10 years ago when I came to a
conference in Manila. For the first time, I saw how powerful SMS, the humble
SMS, can be as a medium in a country like the Philippines.
"I think the Philippines has been a trendsetter in mobile texting as a
social medium, as a political medium and mobile remittances.”
With the country experiencing 75 per cent mobile penetration, it’s not
difficult to see why this is so. One-fifth of the Philippine population can also
be found online, according to Jay Jaboneta, New Media Manager of the Philippine
President’s Communications Office.
That means more than 24 million Filipinos are able to log into their
Facebook, Twitter, Friendster and Plurk accounts regularly -- consequently
leading the Filipino to hold 60 per cent of Friendster’s entire user base, and
to be the sixth most popular user in both Facebook and Twitter.
The Filipino’s familiarity and mastery over the English language could be
the reason behind Philippine online popularity. "It’s probably more of the role
of the English language as the medium for Facebook and Twitter," says Jaboneta.
"That’s why Filipinos are becoming trendsetters, because in a way it gives
them an advantage, because they can understand English better."
Both Dr Rao and Jaboneta attended the 2nd Asean (Association of South East
Asian Nations) Media Forum in the Thai capital last week, where a major focus
was on the use of social media by youth in Asean to promote the building of an
Asean community by 2015.
It is also a reflection of the Philippines’ government’s commitment to
promoting social media in its own country that Philippines was the only country
to send a senior government representative to the Forum. Jaboneta is the Head of
President Aquino’s New Media office.
"Out of 87 government agencies in the Philippines, almost 20 have official
Twitter and Facebook accounts,” said Jaboneta. Compared with the rest of Asia,
he added, the Philippines had an “extensive presence” already.
When the Philippines’ official government weather station PAGASA (Philippine
Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) launched its
official Twitter account last Oct 15, it received an overwhelming following from
Filipino Twitter users.
Only four weeks has passed since its inception, and already dost_pagasa has
over 28,000 followers.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is another example of a
Philippine government agency extending its services through social media. “[The
MMDA] has a Twitter account wherein you can Tweet and ask about the traffic
situation in a certain area,” said Jaboneta.
"When you ask [a query], within two minutes you will get a response. They
have a team that really monitors Tweets and responds on time, so you’ll get
traffic updates on the go,” he added.
For Rao, a simple SMS account that helps you avoid traffic jams such as the
one MMDA has set up makes a “huge difference”. “It is in the simple things of
daily life that mobile and social media make the most impact,” he said.
Mobile remittances, credit sending services and movie reservation assistance
-- all of these services Filipinos can access via SMS through applications like
GCash, Pasa Load and SureSeats.
"I Tweet a lot about what’s happening in mobile,” said Dr Rao, who is a very
active Twitter user himself, and conducted a day-long workshop at the Bangkok
Forum on social media..
"Very often I Tweet something and people say ''Oh the Philippines did this 10
years ago''.”
But it isn’t enough that Filipinos keep creating mobile innovations and
limiting their reach only within Philippine shores. “You have to be more
globally-oriented in projecting your knowledge,” Dr Rao said.
"I’m hearing a lot of consultants coming to India [and] to other parts of
the world, saying ''This is how to do mobile money. See, the Philippines did
this''. I think Filipinos should be publishing reports, case studies and sharing
it with the whole world,” he suggested.
As “innovators” of the mobile medium, the Philippines need to find ways to
share its advancements globally. “The Philippines is a trendsetter, but now
Philippines must learn how to project this expertise,” said Dr Rao.
-- BERNAMA
LKC FR
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