Videoke and New Social Media: YouTube’s Got Talent

Filipinos are very fond of singing. One way of eliminating stress for Filipinos is through singing their hearts out. When confronted with problems, there’s one way to escape—SING, at any place and time.

sing out loud

The magic of singing doesn’t stop once a person dropped a five peso (5Php) coin and scored technically by the videoke machine. The magic of singing doesn’t stop with just purchasing the infamous Magic Sing in shopping malls. The magic of singing never stops now that social media exists.

If you think singing costs a lot, you’re definitely wrong. Singing is not only done at videoke bars like GBOX or Red Box but also at home where all you have to have is an Internet connection, desktop computer or laptop computer, and comfortable place for your pseudo concert. Having these, we can say videoke for Filipinos have gone the extra mile. Thanks to the power of new social media.

believe in the tagline

When our group in Anthropology 185 (Introduction to Philippine Culture) made a documentary on the Filipinos’ Videoke Culture, we realized that that particular culture of Filipinos is very amazing and dynamic. Despite the stress experienced by our random interviewees, we feel they are enjoying what singing can bring to redeem themselves. And now that “videoke-ing” is so popular in the Philippine context, I guess it’s time for us to be more practical and safe through the use of YouTube.

YouTube offers its existence to aspiring singers out there. With just a type on the search engine, you can access your favorite OPM or foreign songs. With just a great upload, you can even dominate the world with your YouTube Videoke performance. I’ve got to see you in Oprah or Ellen soon. 🙂

Volunteerism and New Social Media

Being a Red Cross volunteer does not require millions of pesos just to be recognized. Being a volunteer does not entail stardom or media publicity. Being a volunteer requires a magnanimous heart and new social media access.

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) is one of the pioneering organizations that cater to the needy Filipinos during disasters and non-disaster related campaigns. Its goal is to call help Filipinos revive the spirit of bayanihan whenever crisis occurs. Its goal is to spread the volunteerism virus across the world of Internet.

Yes, even an organization like PNRC penetrates the Internet because I believe they can reach many active online Filipino communities. Yes, there is a need for Internet penetration because calling for a volunteer is not as easy as saying “I need a volunteer”.

Twitter is one of the most influential social media sites ever created. This site had created an avenue for 140-character blogging. And I have to admit it, it had made a call for Filipinos to be a PNRC or 143 volunteer.

I am one of those Filipinos who have accessed PNRC via Twitter and this could be a manifestation that new social media is not just for entertainment and pure nonsensical quizzes, tagging, and posting. Rather, new social media can call for volunteerism, one that possesses greater sense of responsibility.

For you to get updated on the programs of the Philippine National Red Cross,  you may follow the organization at http://twitter.com/philredcross

Digital Public Relations: Expediting your image-building

why exhaust so much physical energy?

In a public relations practitioner’s perspective, building a good image of his or her client’s products is the best way to achieve his or her goal as a professional. The practice of PR may have been including lots of traditional activities such as drafting and printing press releases and calling media contacts for possible pick-ups. Hence, the practice of PR is such a tedious yet fulfilling job for a communication major.

I had a very interesting, challenging, and overwhelming internship in a PR agency in Makati. And I could attest to the things I’ve mentioned earlier. Part of my job is to update media listing so that our agency will know who to direct the press releases of our clients. It is also my job to draft a press release whether it is for pick-up or for archival reasons.

I’ve learned a lot from this traditional PR practice. I have to admit that I enjoyed every day of my stay in our agency. But questions keep on bothering my night during internship. Is there something I can do to make a message easily accessible by the public?.

I had my share of talent and wits during my internship yet I did not contribute anything BIG for our agency…

so tedious isn't it?

Now, the paradigm shift has taken me to the next level. There is something I can contribute once I get back to my dear field of interest (PR). This thing is called DIGITAL PUBLIC RELATIONS–doing public relations online.This involves press releases published online which can then be translated to healthy discussions of professionals and people who are in need of a certain product that might be catered by a PR agency’s clients.

The time is now. Now is the time. DPR can possibly be a big bang in the practice of Public Relations in the Philippines.

To know more about DPR, click this smiley 🙂

Laugh Thrift

Watch this. Save more. That’s all. 🙂

Where in the world can you buy an ORCOM hat?

from the creative mind of J.K. Rowling

 

J.K. Rowling may have introduced us with a very magical world of wizards and witches as well as their relationship with the so-called Muggles. She made us aware on the fictional world of Harry Potter. One of the concepts introduced is the Sorting Hat, the hat famous of its selecting what house a wizard or a witch should be in.

I like the fact that a Sorting Hat (in the magical world created by Rowling) is present to give a person a chance to belong to a group of people who have the same characteristics as his or hers. I like the idea of that “sorting” which classifies a person of he or she is pure in heart or just pure in wisdom.

This time, I won’t talk so much about the Sorting Hat. This time, let me introduce you the most realistic hat ever produced to the curious world. Allow me to present you the ORCOM hat.

The Organizational Communication Hat (ORCOM hat) is an idea I first heard during my OrCom 140 days, during those days when our class were asked to go on “leg works” to interview people in the corporate world and eventually learn good things from these people. The hat is an imaginary hat that governs every Organizational Communication major. This is a hat that inspires every ORCOM person to strive harder, work harder and smarter, and go further.

Nowadays, there seem to  confusion circling around the town. Where does the ORCOM hat originated from? Simply I should say that the ORCOM hat is solely a product of the University of the Philippines Manila and nothing follows. The ORCOM hat is a hat that involves dynamism and innovation.

Yes, the ORCOM hat is very different from the Sorting Hat in the world of Harry Potter. The ORCOM hat knows no boundaries. It has even reached the globe through a good connection. And that is through new social media (NSM).

I am an ORCOM major and I’m proud I have this hat (honestly, I prefer a halo). You can see my hat from the way I dwell in this NSM world. See it yourself. Perhaps you could visit the world of ORCOM through Facebook, Twitter, Multiply, and others. 🙂

Cheerio.

Inviting the uninvited

Going online is one of the most exciting activities ever created to satisfy humans. Nowadays, going online is a combined activity for leisure and for necessity. Going online had made people realize the worth of Internet connection. But sadly, there are still people who  don’t have Internet connection at home. Honestly, I’m one of those people.

Being imprisoned in this house where a computer unit has faced its death three years ago, I could not think more of dealing with the world outside. I just rely on my mobile phone for updates regarding group acitivties and upcoming events in my university.

Not taking things for granted

Although we don’t have computer and Internet connection at home, I find it amazing how I manage my time spending hours in internet cafes. I find it amazing how I manage my time doing my thesis and of course, inviting people for the upcoming event in our school—the 25^th anniversary of the BA Organizational Communication program of UP Manila.

Thanks to Gmail and I still have access to the outside world, no matter how far people are from me. Thanks to Facebook and I have the courage to invite more and more people for the upcoming Silver anniversary.

An invitation to be productive

The use of new social media had taught me to be more productive and patient. Time is being spent here and since time is as important as money, I don’t need to take things for granted. I have to use new social media for necessity (as of now) rather than luxury.

Being a future Organizational Communication practitioner, I need to make priorities. Quizzes in Facebook can be made shortly after I’ve created a press release for a client. I must be constantly reminded that new social medium such as Facebook is not just for recreational activities but also for more important things such as communicating to the farthest corners of the planet.

Job interview to the fullest

Resumes are proofs of achievements in work and academics. A lot of people can attest to this. Resumes are created not just to impress but project a lasting impression in the corporate world.

In the field of Organizational Communication, resumes are taught as instruments of successes and defeats. Success in ways the resume is written. Defeat in the way the resume presents invalid details.

When a person thinks of writing the best seminar he or she has attended, he or she must be reminded that facts written in the resumes are not enough to please an interviewer during a job interview. One must be cautious on his or her actions, more than the words written in his or her fancy resume.

With this situation in mind, I was reminded on one of my major courses this year. Our instructor had handed us reading materials that pertain to acing an interview. During the lecture, our instructor had made us compare face-to-face and beyond face-to-face interview.

No more sweat, no more transportation worries

With the advent of new social media such as podcasting and videoblogging, an HR practitioner must be reminded that face-to-face interview is not the only existing form of interview in this world. Wake up, HR. Here comes the new trend…

It may be too exhausting for a person to walk along the busy avenues of the city. It may be tedious to edit some facts on resume that might get wet during rainy walks along Ayala Avenue. It is new social media that can bind people across the globe without worry–almost.

Your Orcompanion’s choice

Although the advent of new social media brought change in the corporate world, I am still not convinced by technological intervention in the traditional way of hiring my employees. With technology around, one can fool us in certain ways (e.g. editing of face in videos, changing of voice in video, etc.). I still prefer face-to-face interview with people of good grooming, pleasing personality, and the like.

I may be a “Lupita” in some sense but I just don’t want my management to doubt my credibility. New social media such as videoblogging and podcasting may be used in other ways like pitching for clients and promoting my organization. But in interview cases, I want the real thing.

I am ORCOM.

What’s life after high school? What degree program should a high school graduate take? These are some of the questions asked by high school students I know. These are questions reflected to what I’ve done before I entered college—before I ventured in the world of BA Organizational Communication at the University of the Philippines Manila.

What’s BA Organizational Communication?

BA Organizational Communication, in my humble opinion, is the degree program of the new millennium. This degree program helps students find their way to reach the organizational ladder, sometimes help students to burn the organizational ladder and use new technology in reaching the top.

Let me not divert your attention to what my degree program and its relation to technology are. Let me just get you straight to what my degree program offers.

BA Organizational Communication started in the year 1984 as an elective course for UP Manila students. It offers the dynamics of communication and its importance to the organizational setting. It gives a glimpse on how important communication is in stabilizing the business worth of an organization.

What’s life after taking the four-year path of Organizational Communication?

If you think BA Organizational Communication as a sister program of Mass Communication, Communication Arts, and the likes, you’re definitely wrong. In my three years of loyalty to my degree program, I haven’t found any similarity of BA Organizational Communication to other communication programs except with the word communication.

Yes, everyone can communicate. Everyone can deal with communication but for Organizational Communication major, communication is just a ticket to professionalism. There’s more to life than devoting so much time with redundant theories. There’s more to life than memorizing manuscripts, memorizing lines for news programs, writing speeches for government officials, and others.

BA Organizational Communication program of the University of the Philippines Manila is far better than the program of the “green” university along Taft Avenue. My degree program (Organizational Communication) is unique in the sense that it offers students the best career path.

Here are some of the renowned career paths an Organizational Communication major can take:

• Marketing Communication
• Corporate Communications
• Public Relations
• Advertising
• Events Marketing
• Human Resources

Who makes a BA Organizational Communication major?

No amount of money can surpass the fact of being an Organizational Communication major. No number of cars and laptops can tell a person if he or she is qualified to be an Organizational Communication major in UP Manila. For you to know here are some of the characteristics of an Organizational major:

• Organized
• Resourceful
• Competitive
• Obsessive-compulsive (in good tone)
• Magnanimous

Want to know where my degree program can lead you? Why not click onSIEGWEBSOLUTIONS and  see the wonders of a BA Organizational Communication alumna and the contribution of ORCOM in this advancing world.

Launching, Penetrating

We sometimes question why we do things in accordance to what other people do. We sometimes ask ourselves, “What are we doing? How can we do things?”. Simple questions can sometimes lead to critical thinking. Even in the practice of communication in organizations.

Organizations have a lot of avenues in expressing themselves and letting themselves penetrate the public. They can use tools to let the public know what products they are going to launch. Say for example Company X is the leading producer of infant products. The management planned to relaunch their products and at the same time, launch a new  breed of products–this time for the adults. What can this organization do to engage people?It’s simple. Companies need to employ organizational communication practice.

As an organizational communication practitioner, it is good to see the nutshell perspective of the problem. After seeing the problem in the macro level, it is now time to delve into details. The problem of Company X a while ago is a challenging venue for organizational communication practitioners. The problem does not only need a perfect marketing plan. Alright, say statistics can intimidate people in the company particularly, the honchos. As an ORCOM practitioner, one has to translate the power of numerical data as well as the figures, tables, and other graphs into a constructive explanation.

The problem raised a while ago needs an avenue to let people know about the relaunch and the launch. Here comes the power of the new social media. Say the company has been an avid user of their website–a dull and old-fashioned one–and it has not been accustomed in using new social media. People would not be enticed to look at Company X’s products. Then it’s time for Company X to do some research–of what new social media people use and how often they get into these social media–and start penetrating the world.

* * *

Company X really exists FYI. 🙂

Wanted: New Social Media Dashboard

People get involved in so many networking sites nowadays. They can create quizzes that are believed to be measures of how well you know someone for something. They can create sites for their favorite musical playlist. They can even create a roster of feedback through a single “tweet”. But can these people end here? No. Things need to be placed in order.

In one of our discussions in Orcom 152, our instructor told us the importance of having a new social media dashboard. This means I have to say goodbye in opening new tabs in Mozilla Firefox and start viewing my favorite sites in a macro perspective (alright, in a nutshell). This need of a new social media dashboard is not only applicable in a personal level. It can even be used in organizations.

Breakthrough

Organizations nowadays forget to stay focused on their constituents, particularly their clients. In a short video presented by our instructor, there is an evident lining between an advertiser and a consumer. An advertiser can post numbers of fancy billboards–electronic and traditional–and say they have the “love” for their consumers. A consumer on the other hand can say they see billboards (advertisements) but what they really need is not the display of love but the behavior in doing so. This made me see the move needed by organizations to attract more and more consumers and cherish consumers’ fidelity towards an organization’s product.

Organizations need dynamic communication practitioners who can help them reaching the world without offending people. Organizations need resilient people who knows how to make an engagement plan, people who  personalizes products to reach the demands of consumers, people who knows to how to touch the world without really touching it, people who knows to prioritize, and people who knows how to manage online reputation through the use of new social media dashboard where feedback and alerts are organized to create an atmosphere of care.