Jack The Scribbler

(From lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com)

Twitter makes many things possible.

It provides tips to clean your coffeemaker [See: Three things I learned from Twitter] or a link to a catalog featuring a series of Mercedes Benz cars — and their specs — produced for the American market in the 1960s (which I got from the person managing Donald Draper’s Twitter account.)

This latest blog piece — which includes what may well be my third  attempt at podcasting — was similarly brought about by Twitter.

In a tweet posted at around four in the afternoon of October 19, my Twitter friend @nicknich3 said:

No, it's not the lanzones we're talking about here. It's the tweet before that, my friend.

His tweet’s shortened link, in turn, brought this:

This reminded me of portions of the interview I held last June with some executives of Meralco, the Philippines’ largest electric company, regarding the firm’s Twitter strategy. [See: How Meralco got its Twitter name back]

During the interview, Kirk Campos, the company’s corporate communications staff, said that he once attended an internet convention in Manila which dealt with social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

According to Campos, a speaker in the event said that Meralco’s foray into Twitter was “a noble cause” since it was going to open the floodgates of complaints from its customers. However, the speaker said that without knowing that Campos, and his supervisor, Joe R. Zaldarriaga, the company’s media relations manager, was in attendance.

For more, you can listen to a three-minute portion of the interview, which lasted more than one and a half hours.

Twitter, Meralco\’s noble cause

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From the Give Credit Where Its Due Dept.
As indicated in podomatic.com, the website where the podcast was uploaded, the interview was held last June 22, 2010 at the Meralco headquarters on Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City, Philippines. [See: Podomatic.com] Among those in attendance included Campos, Zaldarriaga, and Ernesto A. Fraginal, senior manager of the company’s call center operations. No credit goes to yours truly for failing to embed podcast. What the $%#@*&^+~!

Microsoft in the Philippines is trying out what looks and sounds like the second-oldest sales strategy in the book.
It’s the soft sell — except that this one has a Web 2.0 twist written all over it.
With some help from social media platforms, blogs, and their users, the strategy intends to generate buzz about its products that will hopefully make its cash registers ring like alarm clocks gone haywire.
It’s simple enough.
Instead of creating a shotgun approach to promote its products, Microsoft Philippines Inc. has decided to target its users, pinning them down by segment, and creating a dialog between software maker and end-user.
Besides possibly leading to product improvement, the dialog could also enhance the company’s ability to spread and heighten awareness about its latest applications, attracting prospective users and customers.
“The move will also grow the scope of [Microsoft’s] reach,” Tim Vergel de Dios, Microsoft Philippines Inc.’s academic developer evangelist told GMANews.TV.
Starting late last year, the Philippine unit of Microsoft launched what it called its exclusive VIP events to which only a hundred or so participants — usually a segment of its wide range of software users — were invited. (These events are completely different and separate from the meetings it holds with local software developers.)
To secure a free VIP invite, a prospective guest needs to comply with certain requirements previously set by the company.
Last December, when it held its first VIP event just for students alone, the software company chose the top 100 students with the most number of friends on Facebook.
Those who emerged on top of the pile had an average of 2,000 Facebook friends, an achievement made possible by their extensive networks, de Dios said.
Although Facebook friends may not be an accurate barometer of popularity — whatever that might mean, especially since Internet metrics have yet to be standardized — these statistics are nothing to scoff at.
Microsoft certainly didn’t ignore it.
During the event, employees told the audience that Microsoft also gave away free software through downloads, prompting students to post URLs on their status updates which, in turn, were accessible to their thousand or so friends.
Microsoft’s download links went viral on Facebook in no time.
The impact was “huge,” de Dios said.
This explains why Microsoft will be holding its VIP events series until March this year.
These events will be extended if “community feedback is good,” de Dios said in an email message.
It already scheduled web designers for February.
And last January 28, Microsoft invited 100 bloggers to join the fun as part of its Blogger’s Night.
As of posting time, blog entries about the event and the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 suite have already been uploaded.
An unofficial Facebook account of Microsoft friends in the Philippines — known as MSfriends Philippines — has also been created.
Who knows how much buzz that will generate?
No one does, as of yet.
But one thing’s for sure: Bill Gates is smiling.
———————
(This piece can also be accessed on GMANews.TV. Picture on upper right shows sign at company entrance by Derrick Coetzee)

Half an hour past midnight finds self-proclaimed protagonist in his self-proclaimed Bat Cave, confident that victuals will last the weekend

Unfortunately, certain cold beverages do not fall under the category of victuals, which explains why he remains awake at this unearthly hour

And so, he continues to Tweet, formulating thoughts into 140 character configurations while warding off the threats posed by sheer thirst.

While Tweeting, he discovers that Oprah Winfrey will end her show in September 2011 — a development best appreciated while nursing a beer.

To thwart outbreak of beverage crisis, self-proclaimed protagonist takes a quick shower, hoping cold water will get mind off beer. Bad move.

The failed strategy is further complicated by tweet from @Kid_Kilatis who mentions Frank Sinatra, bringing images of bars, saloons, women

Situation getting out of hand, protagonist mutters to himself, left hand clutching neck. Will tomorrow night be any different than this one?

Drastic plan change proposed. Instead of spending whole weekend indoors, protagonist promises to leave apartment and purchase more supplies.

Story now ends as protagonist moves on to other plans, including updating his Facebook status as he looks forward to tomorrow night’s beer.

(Certain punctuation regulations were relaxed to comply with Twitter’s 140 character limitation. Some entries didn’t have periods, for instance. Similar attempts in the future will absolutely do away with these oversights. Cropped photo on the top right was taken during the September 2009 launch of San Miguel Brewery Inc.’s Oktoberfest, which was attended by, among others, the Oktobabes, a group of lovely Brazilian women.)