The world is now flat (Thomas Friedman). The playing field is now leveled and Filipinos have access to knowledge-pools and resources the same with any developed country out there. Everyone is connected via the web or the mobile phone and you can instantly converse with personalities and thought leaders all over the world via their email address or via their blogs. Web 2.0 (Tim Orielly) is emerging and Filipinos now have the opportunity to take the lead in this emerging trend. I was inspired by the book 12 Little Things every Filipino can do to Help their Country (Alexander Lacson) and I want to push the concept on what Filipinos can do in a flattened Web 2.0 world (with a little effort of course). I truly believe that if we leverage on our Filipino strengths, learn breakthrough ideas in a flattened world, and develop our capabilities in Web 2.0 emerging trends, then we will become a super power in the knowledge-driven global arena.
What does it take to become a Pinoy 2.0?
1. Establish your Pinoy Identity with a .ph
2. Apply People Power Strategies in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Pinoy Sites
3. Learn to speak and read Mandarin
4. Become a Pinoy Netreprenuer
5. Explore the Philippines and be a Virtual Tourist.
1. Establish your Pinoy Identity with a .ph identity. I’m proud to be a Filipino and we should say so starting with our email address and personal blog site. This is best accomplished by getting a Gmail Account, a mail forwarding package from domains.ph, and an i.ph blog . My personal email address that I use now is anton@diaz.ph and with my personal blog site as anton.i.ph (I’m still developing the site). In Gmail, you can specify an alternative email address as the sending address and then associate your .ph email address to your gmail account. The Gmail account is free but you need to be invited by an existing member (email me if you need one). If you still have a yahoo account then you are still a Pinoy 1.0 generation. The mail forwarding package from .ph is $45 for 2 years with 15 email addresses so that translates to $1.50 per email address/year! So I actually subscribed for the diaz.ph email domain and started to use it for all my family members email address. (Maybe if the demand is higher, they can reduce the cost — what do you think J. Angelo?). The i.ph blog is free, finally!
2. Apply People Power Strategies in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Pinoy Sites. Every Filipino who has a blog/ website should link to anything and everything that is Filipino. This is to boost their page rankings of all this Filipino sites into the search engine. SEO is a key expertise that we need to have to become a key player in the new web 2.0 world. Essentially you design your blogs/ websites for the search engines which serves as a “Distributor” of your content to your target audience. Most People on the web use google (or other search engine) to search for information and it is even use to do background identity searches (hence the term googling a person). We have what it takes and I was inspired by allegedly the Philippines #1 SEO Firm based in Negros and all it takes is the right knowledge and skill. We need to revamp all the computer science courses in the Philippines to teach best in class SEO techniques. You should become a member of the SEO-Philippines yahoo group which is an emerging community in this field moderated by Marc Hil Macalua.
3. Learn to speak and read Mandarin. One of the reasons that we are successful with business process outsourcing is the quality of our english which became almost our second native language. People understand english everywhere you go in the Philippines. It is inevitable that China is the next economic super power and in order for us to do business in China, we need to be able to speak Mandarin and latter on read Mandarin. Imagine if we can have China outsource some of their business processes in the Philippines and attract Chineses tourist in our country– our economy would benefit immensely! This is still part of my goal in the next 3 years and I heard that the best way to do this is learning in Beijing or Shanghai which have the best methodology for teaching non-chinese nationalities. Maybe, after I learn, I’ll setup a mandarin language institute in the Philippines or lobby for Congress to teach Mandarin in grade school. Imagine we would be the first country to speak both Mandarin and English fluently at the same time!
4. Become a Pinoy Netreprenuer. The formula is simple: Pinoy Netreprenuer = Unique Worthy Goods/ Content + Expertise in Web 2.0 Best Practices + Mastery of Google Adsense/ Affiliate Programs. We need to develop expertise for Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. The next generation of software can best be experienced if you are using the following: Flickr/ Buzznet for your photo sharing, BitTorrent for multimedia content, Wikipedia for your research, Google Maps for best AJAX experience, Typepad/ Blogger/ WordPress for your business or personal sites, del.icio.us for your bookmarks, technorati/ pub sub to be in touch with the world’s conversations and 43Things/ 43People/ 43Places for your desires and goals in life. As for Adsense/ Affiliate programs, we already have a few 6-figure bloggers (in peso terms) that may be we can learn from Yuga or Connie. ( Maybe we should have a pinoy conference on this ) As for unique goods/ contents, this is a product of the Filipino ingenuity, the people you meet, the books you read. As starters, read thomas friedman’s “The World is Flat” and Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping point” and “Blink”.
5. Explore the Philippines and be a Virtual Tourist. My personal philosophy is that you should explore Philippines first before we explore other places on earth. I truly believe that the Philippines is beautiful and we just need to open our eyes and explore it. My blog serves as a window to my own personal travels and adventure in the Philippines. However, that is not enough and to become a truly global Pinoy we need to see the world not only in term of the web but in terms of hi-res satellite images of the best places on earth. If you have not yet explored Google Earth then you are missing the best part of a revolution in travel. Explore the world in your desktop and experience the place as if you are in a helicopter tour of the place — best of all it is for FREE!
Maybe I should write a book about these things as well inspired by Alex Lacson 🙂
Google is dying to get its feet on Chinese soil. With over 1 Billion people there, I am sure there is huge money to be made. One just needs to understand Chinese.
There is huge money to made in China. We should be migrating there rather than the US and it is much closer to home. One day, I’ll learn Mandarin …
Cool ideas, Anton! Yes, sign up for an i.PH domain and blog. It’s cool to be identified with a .PH domain, especially since Google knows you’re from the Philippines–just another good SEO tip.
yeah, I have one but will try to modify it soon. maybe over the long weekend.
anton
Yuga: BAIDU is already the leading online search engine in China
Anton: I agree with all your views. But an individual must try and explore what’s outside of his own world just like the great minds. I admire your blogs and wondered how you would approach your writing once you have travelled extensively. This is how you expand your horizons, be more creative and be truly global in your experience.
Pinoy Traveller,
Yeah, that is next on my list of travel. Thanks for the reinforcement, and I’m off to France/ Norway next year !
Anton
Anton, thanks for the link. Fascinating stuff, this SEO thing 🙂 wish more and more Filipinos would get hooked.
Imagine, SEO literate college graduates. Then we can run with the best of ’em.
YEah, it would just be a matter of time…
For #2, we can start by learning to build more relevant links to individual posts/articles/topics, and not the blogs per se.
Amen to that Migs. I’m starting to do that practice as well 🙂
As for a lower prices of .PH domains with increased demand: maybe. 😉
hehe, sana nga someday by the time I renew…
O nga J, buy 1 take 1 na! 🙂
Migs, I’ll take you up on your offer. Us PTBers should be crosslinking our sites like crazy! 😉
Pinoy Netrepreneur 2.0 and HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards Ideas
Anton Diaz writes about Pinoy 2.0: The next generation of Global Filipinos. Nice list, but I have to disagree with one item – should be obvious which.
About his Become a Pinoy Netrepreneur – HSBC has the Young Entrepreneur…
yeah, sali ako diyan !
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yes, definitely I want to learn chinese. Any recommended schools?
anton
Not a school but a club–The Emperor Toastmasters Club. We meet twice monthly at the Causeway Seafood Resto in Banawe, Quezon City. Try it for free. Your dinner’s on us on your first visit.
Something to Share
I was blog hopping, and I came acroos this article written a few months back� called “Pinoy 2.0 “: The Next Generation of Global Filipinos. In particular this paragraph caught my eye:” Establish your…
There is a Chinese Practice Corner for foreigners to learn Chinese and Practice Chinese. I met and made some Chinese friends when I visited Beijing last time. The corner is in a bar and they hold Chinese Learning party every evening. The bar is located in San Li Tun of Chao Yang and very close to American Embassy and the other countries embassies. You can ask taxi driver where is San Li Tun and most of drivers and Beijing people know there. Very interesting place to learn mandarin. If you cannot visit Beijing, you also can join from their website ‘Voice Connecting China‘. You can join party online through phone call or skype.
Here is a new forum for Filipinos to start practicing or studying Mandarin.
http://zhongwenpinoy.aceboard.com
Your article is much more informatics for all of the visitor. I am very happy to read it. This is really very nice. Thank you for it.
Great post. Blogs are a very natural way to attract links. I’d love to see a post on how to get your company to blog. Particularly if you are dealing with a large, conservative company.
very useful articles…..I think seo off site more important and power full for geeting free traffic than seo on site, I already implemented for my web……so I am focus on off site optimisation…thanks
Unfortunately I do not agree with 1,2 and 3.
1. Being too much of a patriot is not good. The world our planet is a big place and as much as possible I see this as one big family. Believing too much on our country us you want to be unique from other whereas in fact we are all from the same origin. I do not believe we need to wave our greatness as this is nothing more than bragging.
2. This contradicts with the intro. By connecting to people we must link ourselves to everyone on this planet and not to fellow Filipinos as it is much better this way. Since it is best uniting the world and not only the Philippines and the Filipinos.
3. Why learn Mandarin in the first place. This contradicts of being a patriot. In fact the Chinese should be learning English instead since it is also a developing nation. English is the most used language in this world so why must Filipinos try on pushing Mandarin to the next level? I suppose call centers or whatever business should be solely relying only on language.
Number 4 and 5 is a good practice that is already self explanatory.
It’s good to be proud as a Filipino but their should be a limit. Too much of patriotism looks bad. Specially if we want to be internationally competitive.
Just my thoughts though.
Interesting rebuttal on this post. I could agree that too much of
patriotism is also bad. Ever since I wrote this blog post, I have
matured in the way I look at things and also more certain about some
things based on comments like yours in the blog.
It is not anymore about patriotism, it is more about loving the
Philippines and really appreciating it.
Read this:
‘National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program’ (Australian Government)
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/lote/nalssp.htm
‘This commitment recognises the importance of Asian languages and studies of Asia in ensuring young Australians are equipped with the skills to allow them to compete in the globalised economy of the future.’
I’ve Filipino-Australian and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd when elected in 2008, was the only leader in the Western world to speak Mandarin. The Australian government, during the Keating government had a strong intent on making closer connections with Asia. Since Rudd being elected, Australia has since had a strong influx of new immigrants from China, taking the number one spot over Britain, New Zealand, India and Philippines. You walk down the street in Sydney, anywhere, even in the suburbs, you will hear Mandarin being spoken – from global overseas Chinese – Mandarin is more useful here than any other European language and Japanese – even Korean is more useful. Do you really think Western countries just survive on English alone? No, a multilingual workforce maximizes all business opportunities – if you’re in a coffee break from a meeting, what’s the use of English when business partners strategize in a different language?
LOTE (Languages Other Than English) is 1 out of the 8 core units of an Australian education. Bahasa Indonesian/Malay is also important – and you know why? Because Indonesia is the world’s largest Islamic country, our trade goes through Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore and frankly, Indonesia means more to Australia than Australia means more to Indonesia – good relations with the Indonesian government is part of Australian national security.
I’ve studied at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center (where Kevin Rudd studied). There demographics there consist largely of Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and overseas-Chinese – I was only a handful of Filipinos studying there.
Languages takes you far – do you want to wait until you arrive at your host country then learn the language for your employer, or do you want to master the language to be your own boss and build a business overseas?
Spending time to do volunteer work in provincial Philippines, to my belief, the older generation command English a lot better – English education is deteriorating in the Philippines. There will come a day when our Asian neighbors won’t need us to learn English from us at all…
I love how you guys presented your own opinions and perspective in becoming globally competitive. Either way, as long as you love your country and conform to the legal norms and by doing your share of goodness, i think it’s far better and greater than being patriotic.