Social Media has become quite a tool for public and private entities. In the last US election alone, there have been remarkable scientific studies over influences, mentions and popularity verified and supported with analytics technology so one can see or even in a way predict the one to get the presidency. The technology as become quite advanced that they actually use listening tools and see a direct correlation with the outcome and they have not been able to see This goes the same with the use of social media with public and private services. Whilst private companies keep mum on most situations (to keep their name spotless), the public sector in the Philippines has quite efficiently made better use of it by harnessing these channels and making it more efficient to deliver news, personal views, opinions and updates all in real time.
Take JV Ejercito for example. When a fire broke out in San Juan City a couple of years ago (I think it was the one in N.Domingo), he directly appealed for what was needed and made sure everyone was informed of the situation. It was easy to ask for additional firetrucks, supplies and issue statements to media even if he was too busy working on it. He took time working with his team, assessing the situation and tell the people what they were up for. It was easier and he could tell right then and there what everyone had to do. He also got his posts cross posted on Facebook so whichever medium was being used by his constituents, they had first hand information from the Mayor himself. Yes, you might think it's a dangerous feat to have the person himself and not the assistant/secretary to do the responses but he made it a point to make engagements very personal. Wouldn't you want to know what your local government official is doing all these years in office perhaps? Exactly! His Klout score is high; and the social influence he gets off that is something to admire. Klout has its own way of computing for influence across different social media channels and if you continuously have high ratings on this alone, you know how your message runs across to other people vis-à-vis constituents.
He's also an avid supporter of the FOI (Freedom of Information) bill and he has said his sentiments quite a lot. This includes how important it is to give the public more access to records of government transactions but still have it in line with constitutional guarantees of freedom for information. Now that is a necessity for every single one of us; of course including netizens. Our opinions matter; and if the laws of the land do not protect you or anyone in particular who publishes it here or online then what constitutional guarantee do we have at all? Understanding how the world works nowadays prove to be a little complicated for most of the old ones in the government (don't get me wrong but there are a lot of them right?) who only thinks of ineffective policies of the yesteryear's constitution. I wouldn't want to name names because you probably know who they are. Just like JV Ejercito, MMDA is doing one heck of a great job at this department.If you see anyone close to their interactions and efforts across the web, then it's probably worth to get to know them better.
We ought to choose those who only know how important and effective how social media is at this day and time. It's our generation, and we need it now more than ever. The Philippines deserve all the nice things it's been achieving; and I wouldn't want to see it go to waste because we'll just fall back again on deaf ears and not those who listen and take time to answer the people directly. If we harness this medium and have that efficiently be used for the greater good of the people, we'll have a better country; and a better version of ourselves in the long run. Wouldn't that be a cool Philippines?
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