Corporate Communications 2.0 at AIM Gives To GILAS

Gotta give props to one of our friends Regnard Raquedan of webstandards.raquedan.com for organizing an informative talk on Corporate Blogging- this happened yesterday at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), for pretty much the better part of the day, and was attended by Regnard's classmates and a lot of people he's been able to round up using Facebook.

Featured speakers yesterday were our friends Jayvee Fernandez, Channel Editor for Technology over at b5Media, and Andrian Lee, Marketing Director of AsiaPay Philippines. Also there were Hans Koch of SyndeoMedia and John Anthony Ray, both of whom may have had a talk, but I probably missed out on them- since I had to attend to some work issues at lunchtime.

In any case, it was a very informative workshop- learned quite a bit, actually. I just read Regnard's blog and he's happy to announce that the event raised almost Php20k in funds- which goes to the GILAS Project of the Ayala Foundation, a project that aims to provide internet access to public schools all over the country, as well as providing basic training to the teachers to bring them up to speed.

For me, as in any event, I always love the networking part- where you get to meet new people and hopefully, look for opportunities to work together or be friends or both. At that event, I've met:

• Blogger Enrico Dee of Byahilo.com, whom I've met a couple of times- the latest being that Spiked After 5 event of Delifrance- but never got the chance to have a chat with.
• Bjorn Martinoff, of Integrative Learning, who was seated right next to me,
• From New Media Worldwide Co., Philippines, Inc., we've met Kristine Barrios and Chinkey Llave.
• Hans A. Koch, of Syndeo Media- whom I've met at last year's SEMCon and bumped into a couple of times at AsiaPay's E-commerista Nights.
• Yoj Vestudio of myGlobe,
• and Samantha Barros-Allen of the Entertainment Gateway Group.

There were a lot of others there whom and I wish I had the time to chat with them a bit. But like I said earlier on- major props to Regnard for a worthwhile event. Hope we have more comin' up in the future.

To everyone who was at the Corporate Communications 2.0 workshop that afternoon who just happened to stumble upon this blog entry somehow- hey, I'd sure love to hear from you. I'd love to toss around an idea or two, maybe even do a collaborative effort- whatever. Always here to help out, you know?

Shout-out also to Jayvee and Andrian for the interesting talk. I mean, it's one thing to interact with these guys, and it's quite another thing to hear 'em bust out the presentations and do their thing. Now that I think about it, both of 'em had talks at that last SEMCon as well. Looking forward to your next talk, or maybe even work with you on a future endeavor.

Personally, I hope to be at more of these events, so you'll hear all about it right here when I blog about them. 'Til next time.

Cheers, everyone!

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Verry Eenteresting...

Holy crap!

I was at the eCommerista Night 2.0 event last night at Mag:net cafe. Though the turnout wasn't as big as the last one, this one was still quite alright. I showed up with one of my business associates, and by the time the night was over, we already have at least three speakers lined up for our next few events, and the promise of future projects and collaborations.

Andrian Lee has always been such a fun speaker. What struck me was a little story he shared: that, recently, Facebook use in the UK has actually exceeded email usage.

Wow, that huge, huh?

And not entirely unbelievable, I suppose. Run a Google search on Facebook usage in the UK, and you can already get a feel of how widespread -as well as controversial- Facebook is.

Apparently, everyone in the UK is doing it- and is extremely hooked on it. Heck, if you have Facebook, you know it's easy to get addicted to it. So much so that companies have banned Facebook outright at the workplace. While BBC has, in a recent newscast, reported that employees should be allowed to use Facebook on breaks, during lunchtime- and the controversy just goes on.

So is it really a surprise that Facebook use can, one day, replace our need for email? We can email family, friends and colleagues on Facebook anyway, right? Lay down some smack on a few vampires, share and tag photos, give virtual drinks, and even flirt online?

Heck, I'm addicted myself. I've even RSS'ed Facebook straight into my Gmail accounts. That way, I don't miss out on the moment someone throws sheep at me. Whatever :)

More interesting facts: the Philippines accounts for one-third of all Friendster activity online, and up to a quarter of all worldwide activity on Multiply.

It's really all you need: Facebook, Multiply, and Friendster. OK, Myspace, if you have toh have a fourth one. Good God. Have we really too much spare time on our hands?

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