Engaging Society Through Social Media
In recent years, there has been a behavioral shift from organizations giving out messages, to people starting their own campaigns through social media. The Special Interest Session on CSR and Social Media, data and trends have concluded that these movements are not a fad: Social media has been proven to mobilize citizens. It has and will continuously change the way people communicate.
Vanessa Anne Orendain, Managing Editorial Director of TeamAsia, presented a snapshot of the Philippines’ internet and mobile usage through data about the social networks which occupy the time of Filipinos. She noted that in the Philippines, popularity is largely personality driven. She concluded that there is much room for growth in terms of social media platforms, that there is great potential in using these platforms to engage people into action; and that there is growth to be made beyond Facebook.
Aileen Apollo-de Jesus, Google, Inc.’s Country Consultant for the Philippines, talked about Social Media and Research. She cited the Ondoy Disaster Response and the Find Your Precinct campaigns where Filipino online users were able to contribute information online and made these contributions accessible and useful to others.
Fritz Tentativa, a blogger (fritzified.com) and the HR Systems Support Lead for Pfizer Inc., presented his online efforts to help out during the Ondoy disaster. Tentativa concluded that the private citizen can use social media as a tool to launch worthwhile projects to help other people.
“Doing Good and Tweeting it Well” was the topic of Atty. Yves-Randolph Gonzalez, Vice President for Software Design at Giro AppSolutions, Incorporated and the creator of the highly popular PCOSmachine Twitter account. Because many companies commit mistakes, Gonzalez shared tips on how to effectively and responsibly maintain a corporate twitter account, which can be applied to any online corporate identity: keep everything short, relevant, and personal.
By improving content and learning more about one’s audience and what is relevant to them, existing social networking sites can get more engagement.
The LCF CSR Expo aims to provide corporate citizens with skills, knowledge, and relevant experience to increase their awareness and empowerment as they work to achieve enhanced goodwill in doing sustainable and relevant business with society. LCF is a network of over 70 operating and grant-making corporate foundations and corporations seeking to provide business solutions to social and environmental problems in the Philippines. ###
