Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

I’ve never done it - an omnibus post about a huge corporate entity - but I think it’s about time I send this one out of draft. It’s been sitting here for weeks. The reason mostly was because I had burned my fingers from the Fearless Cooking Challenge, went to Singapore for Nokia Connection and got food poisoned on the last 2 days, and then huge cramps from Lazer Tag which really made me feel like a lolo.

But anyway the fog has cleared up and I now have some time to write about my experiences with Unilever. You see, I’ve had strong epiphanies before but owe it to the timing of several Unilever events in the span of a month and you can really get immersed in the brand.

OK, here goes nothing.
Continue reading →

EDIT: And thus all things come to an end.

The Chikatime gang knew how to dig deep. And they did it well. Jenni knew how to fish them out - and still be very charitable (huge commendations to her). At the end of the day, it’s a battle of wits. Which is perhaps, at least in my opinion, a true reflection of the realities of publishing in the Philippines and maybe even worldwide. It may not always be about the news or the rumors, but about who has the power to seal fate. After all, we’re all human. Beyond that, we’re either heroes or just really stupid.

——–

This is a really small industry. This publishing thing.

Once you poke into it, someone is bound to be more brazen than you. It isn’t about right or wrong. For me, people are free to do whatever they want, as long as they are man (or woman enough) to face the consequences of their actions.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, as of yesterday Chikatime is down. And they’re being challenged.

Why waste time writing a hate/gossip blog? Guilty pleasures, I know, but still. I know nation building is all about conversation, but …

Over the weekend, I was having a discussion with one of my cousins in the ad business and we were talking about the airsoft phenomenon in the Philippines and how it has transformed a small enthusiast group into a mainstream public endeavor. He lists down the following stages that transforms a niche hobby into an industry and I realized how these stages can be applicable to almost any hobby:

Stage 1 An enthusiast group with no other benefit than the game itself

Stage 2 Community takes root in the form of dinners and activities outside the sport

Stage 3 Community evolves into a series of institutions

Stage 4 Mainstream media features

Stage 5 Injection of Celebrities

It is at this point — at STAGE 5 when a hobby turns mainstream. It is also under this thought that a BUSINESS MODEL simply because there is a traditional revenue model to back it up, which is entertainment (yeah, the celebs).

It is through these five stages that an INDUSTRY is born. This is why we now have regular sponsored Airsoft tournaments with hundreds of players converging to play (capturing the opposing celebrity faction leader), eat, drink and see the Viva Hot Babes in the flesh.

My question is, what stage is blogging in the Philippines at?

Several months ago I gave four tips to promoting your blog offline. One such tip was to attend blog events. Attending blog events has the following benefits:

a. huge networking opportunities // a good venue for looking at outsourcing work especially in the field of graphic design, publishing, advertising, PR, marketing, photography

b. meeting bloggers in the flesh // let’s face it - sometimes a blogger may come on too strong in character on the Internet; blog meets are good ways to get to know the other 50% of the person. The results are usually gladly surprising.

c. maintain your Technorati Rank // not that it matters much but being linked by other blogs once every 6 months maintains your ranking; attending blog events is the best way to receive an influx of these consistent links

d. expand your social circle and maybe even find true love //

Speaking of events, 88db is sponsoring a blogger summer party. Aileen Apolo helped organize this event

What: 88DB.com Bloggers’ Night
When: April 26, 2008 @ 7pm
Who: bloggers of any size, age, status or whatever
Why: Booze, Music, Prizes and 88DB.com
Where: Katips Bar in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City

In Photo: A dramatic snapshot of How Karl became known as the Hero of Sabtang. Shot in island tour at Sabtang, Batanes.

Do you resurface posts that have been caught in the pile by your frequent updating? Well, I found this to be an interesting exercise in looking at how my thought train has evolved through the months and years, as well as running the risk of hanging old (dirty) laundry. Still, here are some of the old posts I’ve come across and thought to myself, hey these might still be valid today!

Should Restaurants Charge for Using Power Outlets? // June 2 2007

Back in Paranaque, the local Mocha Blends branch at President’s Avenue is packed with people till about 2 or 3AM. That’s on a weekday. The staff allows people to plug in their computers and even has a stash of extension cords available upon request. The end result is that the place has become a haven for WiFi warriors, law students (the staff has an easel and pen which they provide these types of customers for study groups) and the late night crowd that are allowed to stay on outside even when the restaurant is closed. Isn’t that great? With these small gestures from the staff, they have managed to build a community of regular patrons! [Read]

If a Network Problogger Left the Blogosphere, Would Anyone Care?// June 24 2007

So when a problogger leaves the networked owned blog, the blog manager of the network has to find a new writer through word of blog, personal recommendations, advertising, and email blasts. A new blogger eventually comes who is fit to take over the content. Now here’s the thing. There are several things happening between the time the original blogger leaves and the time the new blogger makes his first few posts: [Read]

PR Tips for Philippine Agencies // September 26 2006

In truth, I’ve attended about a hundred PR events, big and small since the year 2003. Here are some tips I offer PR agencies when organizing events for the press, especially for the tightly knit technology industry: [Read]

On Uncategorized Posts // September 3 2006

Do you ever forget to classify your post categories? Yankeemom seems to be the number one in rank in Technorati’s Uncategorized category.[Read]

How To Get a Press Release Published // September 14 2007

Are you a PR or marketing practitioner? Here are some effective ways to get your press released published. You have to bear in mind that dozens of press releases make it to the inbox of newspaper and magazine editors every day. How does the editor pick the really good ones to publish? How do you make your piece of paper stand out from the rest of the stack? Here is a compiled list from Ms. Penny with some of my notes: [Read]

Photo Project: Lighting // November 18 2006

We did something different here. Elber brought along his home made diffuser, very similar to the DIY FinnBounce and Smelfen for the 350D. But instead of bouncing light, it stopped it. But since the internal flash still fires, it triggers the Nikon slave (apologies, I forgot the model) allowing us to flash from anywhere. His home-made device is made of film strip bunched together and taped with masking tape which is inserted above the lens. I then uploaded the image to iPhoto and with a click of a button, converted to B&W. [Read]

Thank you to everyone who came! I’ve basically condensed the formalities over here if you want to know more about what we do - especially concerning our Blog Donor VIP card. Huge congratulations to Anton, Kiven and Jehz for being our pioneer top earners for the first month! Many thanks to Paolo and Red Box for the venue and to our pioneer sponsors - eLBC, Delifrance, and Nokia Philippines.

Last but not the least, huge thanks to Toblerone PH for giving away almost half a kilo of chocolates to everyone. OMG sugarsugarsugarrushhh. I’m still figuring out what to do with mine - maybe melt it and turn it into fondue. Or just eat it straight out. With cookies. While watching Family Guy.

Links:

The Blog Bank // The Blog Bank … err Blog // How it works - earnings and stuff.

Malu Fernandez, the writer who has spurred the wrath of the OFW blogosphere has written an article on blogging. I wrote my fairly fair coverage of that event and now I’m going to ride on the search engine stream of sharing her last name with my own thoughts on her article:

Continue reading →

I’m talking tomorrow at the AIM together with Andrian Lee on the subject of corporate blogging. With my boil spots on the verge of healing (I acquired a severe boil in my last Ho Chi Minh - Siam Reap trip), I need a motivator to help alleviate the pain on my side and I guess writing this will help me procure my thoughts on the matter.

I realized that the blogosphere is no longer in a state that’s “trying hard” to be accepted by corporations as legit avenues for marketing and opinion. In fact, its the big ones that are now pushing new media as supplements and drivers of PR campaigns. One such achievement which I would like to share would be the Toblerone Thank You Day campaign which not only won an Anvil Award, but also bagged the Global 2007 IMC Award for Kraft. This information is being shared to bloggers who played part in the campaign in the next few days. Parcels of the email follows:

Continue reading →

EDIT: Finally done with the server move. I’m currently using one of my favorite Chris Pearson themes called Copyblogger, albeit on a temporary timeframe. Gail and Marc, the previous designers of A Bugged Life are currently doing some relocations as well (GRATZ!) so in the meantime, this theme will more than compensate. It was the basis for the original design of Brian Clark’s Copyblogger theme design. It’s a very good template and it’s something I’d recommend to everyone who wants something text-centric and clean.

It’s back to business

Back home and ready to blog. But first I’m going to be moving servers to ease the tech load off my current host. So if, in the next several hours the site gets rather wonky, I apologize. This is just a friendly note that I’m working on getting the blog moved and running again.

Props to Lee, tech team ninja of b5media for helping me out.

Eli, Yapi’s sister has written a short and entertaining piece on Yaya Remy. This was in retroaction to her sister winning RJ Ledesma’s Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me contest. You can check out Yapi’s blog for the account.

Noemi, together with Blog and Soul has organized a Blogging Ethics and Libel Law forum this coming February 16 2008 at Kape Isla. To date, we have slots for 9 more participants. This project is also in support of Rock Ed Philippines’ Book Bigayan Project. Though it is not required, it would be nice if participants donated a book as an “entrance fee” for this event Please leave a comment on the B&S blog if you’re interested.

Phoebe Ramos is giving away her back-up make up. Click here for more details on what exactly she’s giving away for adoption. She also started her cooking / food blog.

Does anyone want to go to Hed Kandi on the 16th at Avenue after the Moony Black Concert? VERY limited tickets available. Please leave a comment if you’re interested.

I’ve turned my Flickr Pro account into a photo blog. Some of the shots here were projects done for broadsheets early last year (i.e. Nikki dela Paz and surfer girls) and I finally get to put them online.

It’s Beauty and MInerals Day on February 16th a well. Well, gee, this is beyond my niche but I’m going there in support of and maybe get my eyebags removed once more!

“Stripped down” Hamlet will be showing till the 17th of February. Haven’t read such an entertaining blogosphere buzz about a Shakespeare play, ever. Ana Abad Santos-Bitong should do the same thing with Macbeth. I honestly think Shakespeare remakes are a good direction to make the commentaries of the human condition more up to date with the times. Great stuff!

Thank you to those who have ordered flowers through me! You can still avail of a discount by entering the promo code ABUGGEDLIFE-68140 when you check out.