The Philippine Online Chronicles

Villar ads on blogs and Facebook are common sight, but as I was blog hopping  last night, I was surprise to see "Manong Johnny" banners alternating with that of Manny Villar. These 2 gentlemen tapping the new media is not surprising though, since both have children or grand children who run their companies and understands e-marketing.

[Oohh wait,  I can see Noynoy ads as well in Facebook, but not in blogs yet.]

Google/Facebook Ads, Blogger meet-ups, Facebook Fan Page, Dedicated blogs of and for the candidates, an army of blog commenters and twitterers, are new means of campaigning.

Long before the filing of certificates of candidacy, some politicians have taken time to meet with bloggers. On 2008, Mr. Palengke met with bloggers. Though at that time, he has not thrown his hat yet into the presidential derby. After that, a blogger meet up was also organized by the group of Villar. Bayani has his own blogger meet-up as well, long before Lakas convened to determine it's standard bearer. Chiz has his time with bloggers too before he backed out of the race, so were Bro. Eddie and Dick Gordon.

I look at this as an interesting development, because not only the potential of new media is being recognized, political discussion is also taken to the next level. There are interaction for and against certain issues where candidates can communicate and "clarify" their message without the limitation that goes with tri-media.

For example, I remember asking Villar, on his 1st meeting with bloggers, why he declared his presidential bid so early and began what seems like "campaigning"? He said he is less known to people compared with other would be presidentiables who belong to a well endowed political family or  who are well known because of his background in the entertainment industry, thus, he needed to "introduce" himself. Likewise, during the bloggers meeting with Noynoy, I asked why it appeared that he is into politics of vengeance when Inquirer reported, a day after he declared his presidential bid, that he will run after the Marcoses wealth, if he was elected President. He clarified that he simply wanted to put a closure to the issue.

These two instances gave the candidates opportunity to clarify issues that  are bugging me. Bloggers think outloud and expresses their opinion wthout fear. The blogs written were read and debated in the blogosphere and social media. This in turn helps the electorate make an intelligent choice.

But with the still small internet penetration rate in the Philippines, can we say new media is an effective means of converting votes? Is it worth the investment?

the image above is the collated screenshots of politicians Facebook fan pages. taken by Sonnie on Feb. 22, 2010. Some Rights Reserved

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