iBlog 10 is a two-day blogging
summit held at Malcom Theater, UP College of Law. It was attended by many
bloggers from all over the country. This was evidence that Pinoy bloggers are
still alive and kicking. It was sponsored by GMA Network, Vibal Publishing, Sky
Cable and PLDT. Unfortunately I was only attended on its second day for
personal reason. But it was still fulfilling because I became a part of this
important event in blogging scène.
The whole day of the said event was full of fun and learning. The first speaker was Ivan Stewart Salevejo who discussed about the rise of Philippine sports blogging. According to him, the sports in our country become alive because of the emergence of volleyball and football. Aside from that, PBA was also back to its limelight. He was also predicted that many sport fans will become a blogger to give reactions or an analysis about their favorite games.
After
Ivan, Jayson Bagio discussed about the importance of backlingking. He
insisted that as a blogger, we need to work very well with our blog content
because this will be our asset to gain more traffics. But we need to reach out
if we want to get more backlinks. Join in bloggers community groups on the Internet
for they know that we exist.
Then,
the next speaker is Dr. Bien Nillos. He said that professionals may also
blog. For him, maybe a doctor don’t have a best handwritten in the world. But
they are a natural narrative person or story teller. Because in every day of
their lives; they always write a report either it is in meeting or patient’s
report. They have many stories to tell. They can educate the readers on the
internet about their expertise. But he said that they are not allowed to
advertise any products in their blog. And they can’t disclose any information
about the condition of their patients because it was mandated by the law. Dr.
Michael was a barrio doctor and has an advocate to help from the poor of the
poorest.
The
next speakers are batch of tecnopreurs. The first who talked was Mr. Genesis
Reunico. He discussed about his journey as a digital marketer. At first, he
knew that he is not good at writing; he is only good in speaking. But it was
not a hindrance to put up a blog. But it was not easy as ABC because there were
many setbacks on his way before he reached his goal. As of now, he is helping
other people through his online job agency. While, for Mr. Sonnie Santos, the
owner of asksonnie.com, also a digital marketer the blog is a vehicle to show
what your skills are. Because of his blog he being offered a 6 digit salary. Also, through his blog, he is helping other people through
offering his services which are improving personality development of a company
or employees. Then, Mrs. Vanj Padilla discussed about her experience how she used
the power of the internet. From this, she put up her online media company. One of
their clients is their municipal government and one of their projects was
covering the Palarong Pambansa held in their province. She told that she
worried because their system was bugged down because it was visited by 4 million
users. But their Mayor told her that was a good problem and after 8 hours they
fixed the problem. But she did not contented for being an online media. Now,
she has also two newspapers featuring interesting topics about their province.
Vanj admitted that she is a workaholic person, but she is happy for what she
does.
In the afternoon session, Hawie Severino of GMA 7 shared his experience as a
broadcaster and how the traditional media affected through the advent of the digital
age. However, they made an adjustment for those changes. According to
him, any one of us can be a citizen journalist through the help of the
internet. As a part of giant TV network, they are also gathering information
from ordinary people. And before they report, they validate it first. We knew
that not all the information that we get from the internet are true; some of
them are hoaxes.
After
Hawie, the other speakers are Lance Llanora who discussed about crowdsourcing,
social media, and its impact on business. Next to her was the Fil-Am guy
Christian Blanquera of StartPh.com who tackled about mentoring entrepreneurs through
blogging and social media. If you want to start your own business or expand
your network, you can consult him.
Mr.
Ruben Lisora Jr., president of Cebu Bloggers Society shared his experience how
their group works in their province. For him, maintaining a group with 53
members is not easy. Because they are cooperative they become successful in
every activity they are conducting. He said, to get the trust of sponsors; the
association must be credible and has a great impact in the community. To expand
their influence, they also made an allied from Manila based bloggers.
Second
to the last speaker was Atty. JJ Disini. He discussed about the implication to
the bloggers about the new passed Cyber Crime Law. He made a joke that it is a
Sotto Bill Law. He elaborated the pro and con of that law. For him, it has also
a good side, but of course it has a bad side especially the libel case with it.
Influential personalities could use this against to stop their critics from
attacking them. In other side, he also explained that if a person is a public
property like actors and politicians and become a victim of bullying on the
internet they can’t complain about their privacy rights.
The
last speaker was Janet Toral, one of the organizers of I-Blog 10 and owner of
digitalfilipino.com. She discussed the 20 years of internet in the Philippines.
Aside from that, she remembered how Iblog started and now some of their
attendees became successful to their different blog niches. But there are also
some bloggers who already stopped from blogging. She predicted that in the
future, there are many people who will become a blogger. But never mind about
that. According to her, don’t treat other bloggers as a competitor instead
treat every one of us as a friend. She also told that bloggers are
the history maker of the internet. And she insisted that blogging is not
already dead; it is only innovating. I believe in her because there are so many
active bloggers on the internet. And of course, many of them are Pinoy
bloggers. And if you’re one of the attendees of I-blog 10, you saw that Malcom
Theater was a jump packed.
The last part of the event did raffle, and the prizes were Game of Throne toys, Samsung tab, t-shirt, etc. I
am so lucky because I won, not in the raffle, but to the contest that who ever
show first the picture of the speaker will accept a grocery pack. Thanks, I
left the memory card of my camera in our house. What I used was the memory card
of my recorder. It was easy to browse the pictures because it had no other
contents other than the pictures from iBlog 10.