TO DIE OR TO LIVE–THAT IS THE QUESTION!

I finished reading the 1st chapter of Cluetrain Manifesto—Internet Apocalypso—last Friday. I admit I was anxious to read it because it’s a loooooong read. However, I must say that I enjoyed reading it, which was surprising, for some reason

With the growing popularity of Internet among the people, organizations are left with only two choices:

#1–IGNORE IT.  Continue with the business-as-usual; and

#2–JOIN THE CLUB. Be a part of it and discover ways on how you can use it to your advantage.

If your choice is #1, I admire your resistance BUT you should know, as early as now, that it’s a suicide attempt. Keep it up… and you’ll soon DIE. If your choice is #2, I admire your bravery for taking the risk. Keep it up.. .and you’ll definitely LIVE long.

Traditional organizations are those that are in denial of the greater opportunities that the Internet offers them. Why? Because they focus more on the THREATS. Sure enough, change is a big threat to culture and the command-and-control management that was in effect for years, centuries even. However, as the cliche goes, change is the only permanent thing in the world. Hence, it’s impossible to resist it. And unfortunately for these traditional organizations, the pace of change is not normal. The world is changing–and it’s FAST. Hello to the Internet generation!

LIVE-ing is the only feasible choice there is–if resisting should even be considered as a choice. This means that THIS is the time for organizations to engage in the Net era. Only by engagement shall they realize that Internet can be highly beneficial to both the organization, and the people, in general.

The Internet is an open market–a new landscape where both producers and consumers reside.  To what do Internet owe its large acceptance? The answer is VOICE. The Net has given the people—workers, consumers, and audience—back their voice. Today, no voice goes unheard. Just imagine how blogosphere was created and how it spread like a virus. In the past, there were only the passive viewers or receivers. Now, they are proactive and participative.

An Internet Apocalypso indeed! With the freedom to share  or air one’s views and insights, an explosion of brilliant ideas and new content occurred. There are wider range of choices, new options.

BUT OF COURSE, as another cliche goes, nothing in this world is free. At least not anymore. If you desire to have an access to all these new ideas, content, and options, it will cost you. Still, a few bucks isn’t a big deal at all for people who enjoy what the Net offers them. Small cost BUT large results.

Say for instance, a business organization would not need hire a group of people to conduct market research for them. Through the Net, it would be easier to learn about their target’s preferences and behaviors.

Now, let’s go back to the major reason why some organizations settle for option #1.

The Net is “inherently seditious.” It eliminates the concept of centralization. Since everyone has access to it, it cannot be manipulated by only one person or organization. It is not made up of supervisors and subordinates but unique individuals. And each of these individuals can both be a supervisor and subordinate or producer and consumer at the same time.

The idea that control is everything must be eliminated. The Net is open and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Control cannot, in any way, be exercised 24/7.

If an organization would like to remain ahead of their competition, constant involvement must be made with the audience. And what better way to achieve that than through the online community? The Net connects people together. No borders are existing. If an organization uses the Internet to cater to the people, they are able to establish their presence not only to their targeted audience, but also to the world.

Although there are still traditional organizations who haven’t answered yet the question—to die or to live?–it is good to know that gradually, many organizations are realizing the real deal with the Internet.

The options are as clear as black-and-white.

#1:  DIE? The end.

#2:  LIVE? Go beyond. Reach further. Rock n’ roll. And win BIG time!

CAN YOU KEEP UP?

The class started with a discussion on the changes (or developments) we’ve had since we entered the Organizational Communication program.

I, for one, can say that caffeine–not blood–is what keeps my heart pumping. But then again, I’m a procrastinator. So if ever my mind was on 24/7 mode out of beating deadlines and doing researches, it’s more of my fault. I just never learn.

Another change I have noticed is that the online activity of people expanded GREATLY. Twitter, Facebook, Plurk–name it! Orcom people surely have at least two (or even three) social networking sites.

I had my first social network account when I was a 3rd year high school student. Yes, you guessed right–FRIENDSTER. During that time, people (or me, at least) joined out of the bandwagon. I mean, everyone has a Friendster, then I should make one too.

Today, however, is different. People don’t just join out of the bandwagon effect but because people have started opening their minds to greater possibilities. It’s not a question of “what’s in?” but “what’s in it?”.

For last meetings’ class, we discussed the communication evolution  using the Broadcast, Interactive, and Social Media (BIS) Model, and how each are perceived by the audience, the flow of information, and of course, the advantages and disadvantages.

In spite of the fact that traditional media will not perish but only change, impact is still greater with Social Media. Yes, people are indeed more receptive to Social Media. Why is that? Because it was them who generated it. It provided them the opportunity to become co-creators, and not merely as recipients of black-and-white information.

The growth of social media was like this one big explosion; photo, video, and content sharing without having the need to pay large sums to publications or other forms of traditional media attracted a whole lot of media buyers. People discovered the pleasure of blogging that even journalists and reporters have maintained blogs.

These examples and many more were offered by social media in one package. Tell me, who wouldn’t want that?

Even traditional forms of media try to cope and keep up with this major change.  Say for instance, I don’t need to buy a copy of The Philippine Star to know the headline. They maintain a website! And not just them, but most (if not all) broadsheets. They probably realized that they can reach a wider range of audience through the online community.

Indeed, the boundaries between traditional and social media are becoming hazy. As changes occur, the borders are almost a blur. And it’s all happening in a short amount of time.

The traditional media has stopped being stubborn to this change and so are other traditional organizations like the government agencies. The online community is now jampacked not only with individual users, but organizations ranging from small enterprises to large corporations. They all have kept up with the pace of change. Well, they must if they want to stay ahead of their game.

WHAT’S NEW

Firsts are always memorable. First kiss. First love. First boyfriend. Just to be clear, those firsts are merely examples

Last June 20, we had our first class for this semester. Being the forgetful person that I am, I’ll be listing all the firsts that I had observed last week. After all, this isn’t just a first meeting; this is also my last June 20 in UP Manila–hopefully!

#1: NEW CLASSROOM–I’m not really a morning person so I always choose the afternoon class. But yeah, even so, I still arrive late sometimes (or MORE than sometimes)

Since this is a class under Prof. Barrientos (I  had my OrCom142 and OrCom105  under him too), I went straight to RH 303, thinking that everyone’s there already. We always had our classes there. Well, until now. It was a stupid mistake not to check my Form5 first. It turned out that classes, from now on, will be held at GAB 1-something. What room number was it again?

#2: NEW EXPERIENCES TO SHARE

The class started with a sharing of good and bad internship experiences. Last summer, I had my 300-hour internship at the Public Affairs Group of SMART Communications, Inc.

I actually had two not-so-good (an understatement for horrible) experiences from my internship. BUT I only shared one. While being lectured as to how to analyze/assess the sponsorship letters, I was told that sometimes, no matter how pitiful the case is, if the organization will not benefit from it, the only choice is to decline the request. That made me jaded–a bit. I mean, what if it’s about children with hydrocephalus or cancer of the blood and they badly need financial support? Yeah. This is what I’ve become—a product of private Catholic schools. Ha! The Dominican sisters must have been very proud of me.

BUT OF COURSE, I understood pretty well the reason behind it.

The other unpleasant (10,000x bad) experience was that I was paired with an HR intern namely, Angelino Nico Valbuena. More like devil, I must say! Anyway, we were tasked to head a specific project of the HR department and Community Partnerships (under PA Group). We (actually, it should only be I) contacted the selected NGOs, set up meeting with the project heads, and made teasers and survey for the SMARTees–SMART employees.

#3:  NEW SUBJECT

The course title is “Communication Trends and Styles”. It didn’t really occur to me that we will be focusing on New Social Media alone. I mean, when I think of  ”communication trends and styles”, there are actually various topics that comes to mind, and new social media is just a part of it. For instance, change communication, marketing communication, CSR, and passive, active, and agressive styles of communication.

Not that I’m complaining. It’s actually a relief that we’ll only be concentrated on a specific topic.

#4:  NEW INSIGHTS

After we went over the syllabus and overwhelming–in a good way–course requirements, we had an activity where we mapped out the different media by which organizations relate to the people, and the different brand ads that we encounter daily.

On the first map, organizations tap different types of media–print, new media, radio, television– to reach their market. Judging by the number of commercials I see everyday on  TV, it’s actually probable that these commercial ads are the profit centers, and not the telenovelas and noontime shows.

On the second map, I realized that my media ad encounters are mostly thru TV or Internet. I hardly remember the ads on the newspapers,  magazines, billboards, and posters on the street. Or maybe, I got SO used to these ads that I fail to notice them already. I guess redundancy does not always work to an organization’s advantage then, at least for me.

#5:  NEW CLASSMATE

Hello Carmina Arenillo! Should I call you Mina? or Carmina?

I hope you enjoy your Orcom classes as much as we do!

TAKE A VOW

I, the self-pronounced Little Miss Straightbangs™–I’m not the only one with straight bangs in the batch–declare this academic blog as the official site for all my OrCom 152 (Communication Trends and Styles) requirements such as weekly blogs, reflection papers, and others.

In the context of organizations, I admit I have very little knowledge about New Social Media. But of course, I know very well how New Social Media can be used as an advantage to meet the goals of the entire organization. Blogging, for instance, is one of the trends that companies make use of to disseminate information easier and faster.

Blogging is not something that is new to me. In fact, it is something that I enjoy doing (…and the reason why the last entry in my journal was written more or less a year ago). However, I think it’s different when it’s academic blogging. Actually, anything with academic attached to it, I seem to find difficult. Of course, I won’t be writing about anything under the sun, moon, or stars (except on my personal blog). There are readings, and lectures that I must understand well. Not that I don’t expect it.

Just thinking of all the activities that we will be doing this semester, I can’t help but feel jittery and curious and excited all at the same time. For this blog, well, it may not seem visually interesting YET. But it will be. Just wait for the video blogs, and podcasts, etc.

Gah. I can’t believe I’m bragging about podcasts and vlogs when i don’t even know how to make one.