Pardon the shameless plug, but my goal is to share our own experience in using social networks and multimedia to generate buzz and deliver information on the highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game that our company is bringing to the Philippines this February, Rohan Online.
I think the important thing for companies to remember in this digital age is that apart from traditional channels such as mainstream media, the Web has empowered us with powerful and relatively inexpensive tools for directly reaching out to our audience and engaging them in a conversation. These tools, such as social networks, are not meant to replace but rather complement the role that traditional media plays in our overall communication strategy. In the face of the global economic slowdown, however, companies will have to become even more creative in taking advantage of the free tools that are available online instead of just relying on above-the-line promotion.
Check out my two-part post for CNET Asia on Fast Company recognizing Filipina Shai Coggins, a co-founder of one of the world’s biggest blog networks, b5media, as one of the most influential female bloggers.
Ironically, Shai found out about the accolade a couple of days after she ceased her employment at b5media.
Call me biased, but I’ve always been a firm believer in creating shows for the Web from the ground up rather than just repurposing the same programs that are already showing on TV. So I’m really happy that a Philippine company has launched Pelicola.tv to offer original online shows in HD.
Like regular TV, you have different shows catering to different tastes. But unlike TV, you can watch the show anytime you want instead of having to catch it in its time slot.
I’m also happy to share that GM Cydie of our massively multiplayer online role-playing game RF Online has launched her official Level Up! blog, GM Cydie’s Nook.
It was a lesson learned not to tell anyone that you’re a girl or, worse, post your profile on a site gamers frequently access. From then on, I started using male avatars to avoid these experiences. This may apply to other female gamers as well.
Guys pouring attention moderately is nice but more than that is irritating. It’s OK to ask for Friendster or YM accounts and the like but when a girl says no, don’t push it. Chat in moderation as well because most prolly they’re PL-ing or farming. Nakakaistorbo kayo.
I’m still saddened by the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly, but I’m coming to terms with it. Ironically, a few years back, I was involved with plans to bring EGM to the Philippines.
It was my online platforms manager Kevin Codamon who broke the bad news to me yesterday when I walked into our office, and it was definitely staggering to those like us who were weaned on the magazine. I read Kevin’s blog post to know more about how Ziff Davis sold its 1UP online network of gaming sites, which include the online version of EGM, to their competitor, Hearst-owned UGO Entertainment.
What’s more shocking is that Ziff Davis has decided to discontinue EGM, meaning this January issue is the iconic print magazine’s last. The irony is that the magazine is just one month away from its 20th anniversary, but no one knows yet what will happen to the unpublished February 2009 20th anniversary issue.
I didn’t want to blog about it here yesterday till I’d digested everything, but many of us were Plurking, twittering, and basically lamenting the death of EGM all throughout the day. In retrospect, it’s not so shocking given how many high-profile magazines have been dying lately–in fact, Mike Abundo, who blogged about the demise of EGM yesterday, firmly believes that magazines are doomed and has been saying that for some time. Print publications have been suffering for years now, and with the global economic slowdown, we have to face the reality that they’ll confront even more challenges.
It’s really an emotional reaction to the death of EGM because it’s been synonymous with video games for generations of gamers. The reality is that many younger gamers may not even be that familiar with EGM or that attached to it, in the same manner that, say, Sesame Street may still be around but is no longer a must-watch show for today’s kids as it was for those of us who grew up on it. (Did I just compare EGM to Sesame Street? I’ll burn in video game hell for this!)
Do you answer text messages (SMS) that get missent to your mobile phone? Just to inform the person that he or she sent the message to the wrong person?
I used to, particularly when the message seemed important. No, nothing as dramatic yet as a life-and-death situation–and seriously, wouldn’t you call rather than text if it’s an emergency–but stuff like someone asking the recipient if he or she has already arrived at the meeting place, or why he or she hasn’t called.
