Technology and the Bayanihan spirit

During the long nights and days, many Filipinos stranded in their flooded homes and streets around Metro Manila remain connected with their families and friends through the Internet, specifically, mobile technology.

And within the 12 hours when Typhoon Ondoy pounded the metropolis with the heaviest rain in 42 years, people remain connected through their mobile phones and the Internet. Many of us probably don't recall Typhoon Yoling?

Calls for help and rescue were posted around the web. Many bloggers posted contact details of rescue groups, media organizations, schools and other groups helping out. All these Filipinos were responding to the cries of help of many Filipinos, stranded, specifically, in the high-priority areas like Marikina, Pasig and Cainta.

Through sms, am sure thousands of messages crossed the Smart, Globe and Sun networks. People were asking and updating their friends and family of their status. Sending photos of flooded areas. Buzzing news media for “on the spot” reports of flooding and rescue operations.

Facebook users updated friends, family and followers of their status. Many who were stuck in traffic and in school used Facebook to inform others of their status. Users shared stories of heroism and courage.

Hundreds of Thomasians, which included my friend, Noelle el Farol, were stranded inside UST during that weekend. Being stranded didn’t really cut you off from the outside world. Micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Plurk brought out news and updates in a few words. And authorities learned of other places like Pinagbuhatan, Pasig that remained flooded days after the weekend.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of stories to share about how technology worked during these recent days. And many of these stories have been aired by ABS-CBN and GMA, and published in the online editions of major newpapers like the Inquirer. Kudos for being quick to report and bring the news in real-time!

Maybe, during times of crisis and emergencies, mobile phone companies can provide extra services like free real time news updates and even, give free airtime to prepaid subscribers?

Yes, it helped many to be connected even amidst the floods and let people we cared for know how we were doing, if we were safe or needed rescue.

Yes, it helped us identify flooded streets and avoid these streets. With our mobile phones, technology helped keep us company for hours as traffic didn't move in many streets. Many sent tweets while on the road.

Yes, it gave information on which numbers to call to volunteer our time and energy and know where to send our donations. Hundreds of volunteers responded to these calls for help and went to schools, homes and even warehouses to help pack relief goods.

But most of all, through technology, the bayanihan spirit of Filipinos worked in many amazing ways that helped saved lives.

Twitting from Tehran

With the government media censorship and crackdown on Iranian protestors and Internet sites, Iranian are finding ways and means to get news and images out to the world. Photo by AFP/Mehdi Fedouach.

The government has blocked many sites. Facebook and YouTube are being monitored. Service is reportedly much slower than normal. Even mobile phone service has been affected. Slower service provides the opportunity for security forces and the police increased ability to filter data. Note Iran's telecommunications industry is a monopoly.

Remote proxy servers have been set up so Iranians can access blocked websites from inside their country. Other Internet companies and individuals around the world have stepped in and maximizing technology to help Iranians communicate and organize.

Twitter users are using an application that allows users to tint their profile pictures green. Not the La Salle color but the trademark color of the opposition. This application was developed by a man from Israel. In fact, Twitter re-scheduled maintenance shutdown so that users could continue to access the microblogging site.


Other Twitter users outside Iran have also shown support by changing their listed locations and time zones to Tehran. This is meant to make it more difficult to see just how many people were tweeting from Iran. Photo was uploaded on Twitter last June 21, 2009.

Mousavi’s Facebook account now has 66,000 supporters who have organized protests through his public page.

Google's video sharing site, YouTube, has seen an increase of video that relates to the Tehran crisis. Try searching for "Iran election protest" video and see how many results you will get. CNN’s iReport gets news video from Iranians on the streets.

Both Google and Facebook have responded to the need for Iranians to be able to to communicate in their own language. They have launched Farsi services. There are more Farsi speakers working on translations on Facebook. Farsi also refers to the Persian language. It refers to the language spoken in Iran.

I remember back in February 1986, on my when Filipinos marched and protested in EDSA against the rule of the late Ferdinand Marcos. News spread fast through radio and pagers. Now, Blackberries and Twitter help spread the message and news. Definitely, more proof that technology works for people, specially, for Iranians, who are calling for change.

Making technology work for the Pope

It was only a matter of time before the Pope would make his presence felt on Facebook. But you definitely, won’t “poke” at him. Can you imagine how many “fans” the Pope would have? Count me in that list! Last I checked, nearly 50,000 fans!


There is one photo album, labeled as “Holy See Press Office.” It has 7 images of official vestments and insignias. Maybe, they should have photos from the foreign trips of the Pope, like his recent visit to the Middle East and Israel.

In discussions, “fans” talk about many issues like papal infallibility, Immaculate Concepcion and Purgatory. This thread alone has 36 posts, from 23 persons.

Events? None where listed. How can that be, when he was recently in the Middle East? There was however an update posted Friday, May 15, 2009 at 3:28am about the Pope’s visit to the Basilica of the Nativity and children’s hospital

Am sure there are many more things the Pope’s communication team can do with this Facebook portal.

Recently, a new Vatican website, was launched. This was part of the Vatican's World Communications Day celebration last Sunday which was devoted to communicating the gospel with new technologies.

"We recognize that a church that does not communicate ceases to be a church," said Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Social Communications department.

Monsignor Tighe further says that many young people today are not turning to traditional media like newspapers and magazines any more for information and entertainment. "They are looking to a different media culture, and this is our effort to ensure that the Church is present in that communications culture."

According to a Reuters story by Philip Pullella, the new site contains “virtual postcards” which has images and words from the Pope. These postcards carry messages aimed for the youth (that excludes me). Just like Blue Mountain virtual postcards, users can send these postcards to their friends. I should try it. You should try it too!

Guess, these postcards can inspire the youth to consider being “fishers of men?” The Catholic Church has recognized a decline in the entry of men and women for religious vocations. It has been said that Europe has some of the most beautiful and biggest churches, but many of them are half-empty. Here, that is the opposite. Churches are full that some people have accepted the practice of staying outside the Church.

The 82-year-old Pope has encouraged young Catholics to use the internet responsibly but also has warned against the potential use of new media to spread violent messages and pornography.

The Vatican’s foray into technology also includes YouTube. You can visit this link, www.youtube.com/vaticanit

Top Gun in Facebook

Do you remember the movie “Top Gun?” Yup, the movie where the song “Danger Zone” became popular. This was a 1986 American film with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis (who recently announced that she is gay). It also starred Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt.

Back then, the US military didn’t have Facebook or Twitter to recruit “top guns.” Now, the Pentagon uses Facebook. According to Sagar Meghani, an AP writer, Army officials are using Facebook to recruit young Americans between 18 to 24 years old. He quotes Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, "They live in the virtual world."

Gen. Raymond Odierno, who is the top U.S. commander in Iraq, alos has Facebook account. This provides him the opportunity in cyberspace to respond to questions about the mission in Iraq. Aside from the US Army, the Air Force and the Coast Guard also has a presence in Facebook.

I remember reading a story in the Inquirer about Jose Maria Sison also using Facebook to spread his message.

When Facebook first started in Feb 4, 2004, it was limited to a community of students in Harvard University. It later expanded to other colleges like Stanford, Columbia and Yale.

Am sure that when Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook he didn’t see Facebook growing into a 200 million-plus community worldwide that includes the US military and many Filipinos like me.

Visa and Facebook

Facebook, Friendster, LinkedInMultiply and other social networks will surely benefit from the rise in advertising expenditures and business users in social networks.

According to eMarketer, advertisers in the US this year will spend $40 million to reach a business audience on online social networks,



And this ad spending will reach $210 million in 2012.

Partnerships have started on-line too. Facebook last June 2008 signed a deal with Visa
which created an application called Visa Business Network. This targeted small businesses on one of the leading business-skewed social networks. Which remined me that I have to check on my Facebook account.

Friendster or Facebook?

When was the last time you viewed and updated your profile on Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, or MySpace?

Probably, a few minutes after you started working? Or before you finished your first cup of coffee for the day?


Yes, you are probably connected! — To your friends from high school and college. To your relatives and family inside and outside the Philippines. And even to total strangers with the same interests, beliefs, and lifestyles. Through social networking sites (SNS) this connection is made wider, easier, and faster. And best of all, these sites come with free space for photos, blogs, videos and music.

Remember classmates.com? Launched in 1995, this was one of the first social networking sites. This website (http://www.classmates.com) helped users locate and connect with classmates around the US.

Xanga, another popular SNS started in 1999. It begun as a site for sharing book and music reviews. Now, it has an estimated 40 million users called Xangans. I started my Xanga site in 2004 when I was still in Vietnam, blogging mostly about life and work in a foreign country. Xanga allowed me to connect to other Filipinos living outside the country.

According to Universal McCann’s Wave2 Global Research (March 2007), 194 million people around the globe manage a profile in a social networking site. There are hundreds of social networking sites that include Bebo, Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Tagged, TakingITGlobal, etc.

Bebo? That simply means, “Blog early, blog often?”

Have you heard of sosyalan.com? This is Pinoy-centric networking site launched in June 2007. After its first six months, it recorded 50,000 users. “Now, it reaches 200,000 Filipinos worldwide,” according to Tom Pestano, its founder. He added that his site is focused on the 4Fs of social networking: flame, fun, friendship, family.

For more about social networking, click on my April column in the Manila Times published last Monday, 07 April 2008.