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WITH both Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition
running lethargic election campaigns that are already in danger of
sending the nation into a collective yawn (Zzzzzz….!) we bumped
into a bouncy guy from San Francisco who just might have the tonic
to pep up the respective campaigns of the various candidates.
The person in question is Jeff
Roberto, marketing/PR director of Friendster Inc.—the unarguable
pioneer in the social networking stakes—who was in Manila last
week from the US on a brief visit, his first to South East Asia,
which easily represents the pioneering social network’s most
pulsating market.
And easily leading the regional
pack is the Philippines, which has seven million registered users (Friendster’s
largest single global market with Malaysia, Indonesia, USA and
Singapore following in that order) with tech-savvy Filipinos, who
these days let their fingers do all the talking, checking in their
Friendster accounts on a daily basis, and accounting for a
phenomenal 87 percent of the Internet traffic in the Philippines.
Which brings us neatly to
Friendster and the May 2007 election. While in our part of the world
Roberto is pitching Friendster’s fan profiles—a new service
that, in his words, “gives people a chance to promote
themselves.” In other words a cyber forum for celebrities,
musicians, authors, bands and, yes, even politicians, to freely get
across their message, self-serving or otherwise.
In fact just the thing to give
any aspiring national politician a hard-on, considering that most
Freindster account holders are in the vote rich 18-30 years bracket.
Not to mention wooing the votes of overseas Filipinos who also form
a sizable part of the social network’s 44 million global users
spread across 75 countries.
In the case of politicians
running for national office, this Friendster feature automatically
sends several types of e-mails to individuals, triggered by their
individual profiles. They can also receive updated information
through discovery modules on the site and through a newsletter.
According to Roberto, Friendster
is currently seeking beta testers for this new program. So if you
are a senatorial candidate needing to boost a lagging campaign with
some high-tech help you could ask to be included in the beta program
by e-mailing fanprofiles@friendster.com. And, by the way, not
a word to the cyber challenged guys over at the Commission of
Elections!
Adds Roberto: “Friendster’s
power lies in its product.” Ah . . . “power.” Now there’s a
word that would resonate with most politicians, aspiring or
otherwise.
Incidentally, two high-profile
politicians who were the first to sign on to the beta program are
the Democratic Party frontrunners for US presidential
race—Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Need we say more?
Brother Mike’s personal
picks
Having failed to get the
hierarchy of the Catholic Church to take up his suggestion of
endorsing a slate of candidates from among the contenders,
charismatic group leader Bro. Mike Velarde—whose imaginative
wardrobe owes more to Barnum Brothers than Brooks Brothers—now
says that he will, in essence, break away from the stand of the
Church, and endorse a dozen of his personal picks.
Which, apart from begging the
question as to whether Brother Mike is a canonical law to himself,
amounts to the Church—or a seemingly recalcitrant branch of
it—engaging in politicking.
But if we are to heed the words
of a couple of incumbent senators, the much ballyhooed El Shaddai
endorsement is not a big deal.
Both lawmakers claim that when
they sought and received the support of the religious group they
lost. But when, the second time around, they went it alone sans any
El Shaddai endorsement lo and behold they won convincingly.
Guess God must have a wicked
sense of humor!
rjottings@yahoo.com
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