A medium of change

            

 We Filipino’s as a race have imbedded in our culture the value of social interaction and experience sharing, which is why it isn’t a wonder how much success and acclaim social media has achieved in our country. A simple nod, a smile, a kamusta or musta and a mano po is a mandatory occurrence in every conversation or meeting Filipino’s encounter, it is not without a social gesture or recognition. Times have changed and as some values and ways we convey our feelings and culture; technology spurred the active exchange of information and manner of interaction especially the emergence of social media, as medium for everything, it has replaced and made obsolete most activities and objects we are used to. Lucky enough we were able to live and experience life before Facebook, twitter and Instagram so we have a comparison; before, students meet at the library for their meetings and researches, now, they meet on their online groups and use the internet to dig and retrieve information. Before databases meant a giant folder cabinet or sliding drawer full of paper, now the internet is your database, every information you need is a click away, classes held and taught online are as common as classes held on crammed classrooms filled with students. Human convergence has never been so easy and the venue never was as huge; before you interact with just your vicinity, now you interact with the world, a follow on your favorite holywood actor, a post on your favorite European dj asking where his new tracks are, and a like for D-rose’s new injury. We have taken down barriers and divisions so effectively, that to know something or what someone is doing in Australia is just a smartphone and wifi away. Actually I wrote this blogpost on my smartphone, one thing we’re sure is social media has changed and affected us in ways unimaginable. In 2011 the pinnacle of it being the Philippines regarded as the most active social networking country in the world.

               

The Philippines’ faced a recent calamity the magnitude and size of which we have never encountered ever, that’s a telling sign for we encounter an atleast 20 typhoons a year, a couple of strong seismic activities and the annual habagat or monsoon rains as strong as or some even stronger than typhoons we are used to it, but this one is a different creature of nature. Social media was a buzz of information posts of precaution and safety priorities flood sites, government warned their citizens of the upcoming storm. Evacuation and real time weather updates are trending in twitter, even memes of the typhoon were abound to lighten the mood, not knowing what’s in store for everyone. Typhoon Yolanda international name Haiyan hit the eastern side of the Visayas islands last Nov. 8 leaving a path of destruction and death we never could have possibly imagined. Thousands dead, city’s decimated to ruble and unrecognizable pile of wood, metal and organic remains, damage amounting to billions of pesos and families and whole clans erased at an instant. Roads and bridges any sign of physical structure was just nonexistent. The damage was so severe that aid arrived almost two weeks after the calamity occurred.  Of course the Filipino’s being very resourceful used the most efficient and readily available means of communication, social media. Social media was abound with plethora of posts; Facebook served as a database for survivors and those who are missing. Twitter became a nest for aid and relief operation and communication, #helpthephilippines trending worldwide. Relief and donation drives were held and organized on every social media and available, reaching and letting everyone know that help is needed badly and at once. Old roads and landmarks now nonexistent, maps have no use and so groups on site used an online edit based system, capable of configuration and remodeling by users to accurately map the disaster zone. Pleads for help reached other countries and helped poured in from all over the world. Groups of doctors meeting online and decided to help out, a group of international volunteers who signed up online and is now on the shores of Leyte treating the wounded and sick. Safe to say if it weren’t for social media, the incompetence and wrong management of our officials would not have been made aware, especially for those who might have survived the typhoon itself but not the looming hunger and sickness brought about the after effects. Posting political faces who take advantage of the situation to advertise and better their names are shamed to act accordingly. It is more than liking photos or checking out what your neighbors up to, it has been used to disseminate information, ask for help, give assistance and service, a venue to meet and create teams, and of course save lives. Social media has now become more than an alternative for personal interaction, it is now bigger than what it was designed for, it is now a tool for change.