So the Philippines is the “social media capital” of the world, is it? What exactly does this mean? Apparently “capturing” the title — a title supposedly “awarded” the country by “pundits” — is seen to be some sort of achievement. Celebrating this “achievement” is the occasion of “a gathering of Twitterati, bloggers and other internet users in Makati City and elsewhere in the country” today, the 30th June 2012, a day dubbed “social media day”.
The title of “social media capital” of the world is owed to the sheer number of Filipinos who are regular users of social media…
Over 27 million Filipinos regularly log in to Facebook while a couple of million have made Twitter a popular go-to site for trends, news and information. Since 2008, Filipino netizens have led the world in video and photo uploads. The growing numbers have made pundits name the Philippines the world’s social media capital since 2010.
Numbers apparently matter in a country whose main asset is, by default, its enormous population — a population that can field a multi-million-strong army of foreign workers and domestic consumers — the earlier to make the money, the latter to spend it. In the middle of this massive movement of cash are the folk who are laughing all the way to the bank — retailers and their marketers.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
Social media consultant Janette Toral certainly recognises this simple equation when she makes a call to business to embrace the technology if they want to get a bigger slice of the money train…
It is important for retailers to embrace social media as the younger generation is fast becoming the most pervasive consumers of the Internet, spending a lot of time in social networks.
That means it will take more effort to capture their attention.
Forming movements or communities. Being exposed to online communities offering anti-aging products and anti-acne treatments and running communities and fitness boot camp participants, I have seen the importance of brands and establishments arriving at a point where the consumer defines what they are to them.
Indeed. Consider the much-anticipated annual social media “awarding” event, the Globe Tatt Awards 2012. The awarding had recently concluded and its winners who are as I found out last year, “decided by public voting and a panel of judges christened The Tatt Council” had been announced.
I don’t really know any of the characters who won in the various categories of this event, but I noted an interesting Twitter exchange I came across this morning when social media activist Noemi Dado (@momblogger) tweeted a response to a rather cluey observation made by one of her followers…
curious. not aware of him kasi RT @idagurl: What thought did Kimpoy Feliciano move to win the Thought Mover Award??? ‪#TattAwards‬ ‪#jejetrolls
Kimpoy Feliciano is this year’s winner in the “Thought Mover” category of the Globe Tatt Awards. But who is he? On the “About” section of his Facebook fan page can be found the following text:
19. Filipino. Catholic. Pro-life. Philippines. New Zealand. Dancer. Performer. Sagittarius. December 18. 5’11. Scarfie.
Googling the name “Kimpoy Feliciano” yields an assortment of YouTube videos and Tumblr posts; but one would be hard-pressed to find any sort of substantial and meaningful content from which one could gain a better understanding of what he is all about — what his substance is. The closest thing I could find is this WikiAnswer to the question “Who is Kimpoy Feliciano?”…
Kim Paolo “Kimpoy” Vivas Feliciano is a popular guy from Malolos,Bulacan who migrated in Dunedin,New Zealand. He is known as the guy who has the GUY-NEXT-DOOR charm.He started being popular in Tumblr,then Facebook,then Twitter then in every girls’ heart.
He is the guy who is just a normal guy in New Zealand but a very important PINOY. He is the guy who respects woman a lot (WELL,IT’S HIS TUMBLR TITLE).He explained why “I TREAT WOMEN WITH THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE BECAUSE IT’S HOW I WANT MY MOM AND MY SISTER TO BE TREATED”
KIMPOY IS A LUCKY GUY WHO STARTED FROM MAKING HIS OWN VIDEOS ANG EXPRESSING HIS OWN FEELINGS AND HE ENDED UP BEING POPULAR.HE IS EXISTING IN THIS WORLD ABOUT 18 YEARS NOW.HE WAS BORN IN DECEMBER 18 1992.HE STUDIES AT UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO DUNEDIN,NEW ZEALAND.AS OF NOW.I CAN ONLY GIVE YOU THIS MUCH INFO.BTW,I’M HIS FRIEND SO JUST ASK QUESTION 🙂
Right.
If the winners of such a celebrated event as the Globe Tatt Awards reflect the character of the Philippine social media scene, then there is definitely something to be said about what it means to be the “social media capital” of the world. Indeed, I find that an impoverished country like the Philippines bragging about such a claim comes across to me the same way a D-average student boasting about the way she spends most of her time hanging out on Facebook does. Medyo sablay.
The word that really matters whether the setting be the 21st Century social media age or the Mad Men age of the mid-20th Century hasn’t changed: results. And thus the million-dollar question remains:
Where are the results?
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Bet most Filipino “techie” don’t even know that Android 4.1 Jellybean was just released or Chrome is now on its 20th revision. It’s all about papansin without substance in this country.
So apparently, if I infer correctly, this guy, whoever he is, won the “Thought Mover” award because there were people who visited his site who “thought” they got “moved” by his looks? Amazing. Shallow. And once again we come across that word which many Pinoys confuse for right:
Popular
If you guys want a “Thought Mover”, Jean Grey from the X-Men fits the bill much better. 😛
I’d vote for Jean Grey
“Kimpoy Feliciano is this year’s winner in the “Thought Mover†category of the Globe Tatt Awards.”
To quote those wise men Twisted Sister: “If that’s your best, your best won’t do. We’re not gonna take it No!….”
Does anyone else find it kind of ironic that the apparent point of “Social Media Day” was to have people get together and talk about things in person?
Lol! Yeah that’s right! 😀
Let me go back to an old adage
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people”
Let me make it clear that the post is NOT about Kimpoy but rather the idea that people THINK they know him through social media when in fact, like a muddled and horribly implemented query for a database, you get nothing substantial as for a reply due to how the structure was set up. Not that I’m making anything of the award he won as well considering the lack of criteria it has.
So while progressive societies talk about the BUSINESS of social media, advanced applications of it and ways to streamline old methods, Philippines have nothing to add to that pot except the fact that they are users and streamline their old methods of utilization with the new technology that they didn’t have much of a hand contributing to. None the less the lack of modern information and communication infrastructure to push for development and changes for the current platform of social media.
‘Thought mover’. What a joke.
anong guy-next-door? mga pedicab drivers yung guys-next-door samen eh.
the guy must be a telekinetic of some sort, if he’s a “thought-mover”, or whatever that is.
“who migrated in Dunedin,New Zealand.”
wow. lupet. the guy is literally inside new zealand. or whatever that means. he’s not on it. for chrissakes man.
“He is the guy who is just a normal guy in New Zealand but a very important PINOY.”
he just surpassed Jose Rizal’s importance. great.
“he just surpassed Jose Rizal’s importance. great.”
hahaha. Sila na mga indiyo.. Ayan ang napapala kapag walang alam sa sariling kasaysayan at kultura..
Domestic Pinays wouldn’t think much of Jose Rizal’s accolades. His nose is too pango, he’s too dark, nakaka nowse bled ang ingles nya, mataas ang tingin nya sa mga tao hence suplado to da max at mahihirapan maintindihan ang isipan ng isang tunay na babae sa panahon ngayon.
That is why his importance is only to a college/high school subject limited to a book and quickly forgotten to those dreamy looking PBB teen boys.
Of course nature has a way of gifting Rizal. He managed to meet smart and sophisticated women who fawned for him overseas.
The who??? I am curious to check his uploads but is afraid to be part of the statistics of those he moved…ahihihihi…
I’ll just visit Bogart the Explorer’s videos…time for a good laugh…who’s with me? 🙂
So basically his credentials are that he moved out of the country, is good looking and treats women right? I guess th rest of the Filipinos will be hard pressed to top that.
Dunedin? There’s people there?
Kimpoy who?