The decision to leave wasn't a spur of the moment thing.  Various factors took place that ultimately led to this.  Simply put, I knew it was the right choice to make at the right time.

The past three and a half years have been an amazing ride and it's a blessing and an honor to have been part of the team that took care of Yahoo's communities.

I gladly bring with me a lot of memories and experiences from the Purple House that I will always be thankful for.  If I had to highlight my most memorable moments in Yahoo, it will probably be the following:

1. Joining Yahoo as a member of the original Southeast Asia Communities team.

There are three people who were instrumental in my joining Yahoo: my wife who encouraged me to apply for the Community Manager job opening (even if it meant relocating to Singapore), my former boss and mentor in Yehey, Donald Lim, who supported my decision to move on to Yahoo, and my hiring manager in Yahoo, Amos Kwok, who saw my desire and passion for community management and hired me to be part of his team, the original Communities team of Yahoo in SEA.

This team is like a family.  It was a combination of community managers for PH, ID, TH, VN and SG/MY and product managers (2 from SG and 1 fellow Pinoy). Different people from different countries, various backgrounds and languages, and yet we came together and worked together unselfishly and always with camaraderie.  We enjoyed what we do and we had fun doing it.  And the cherry on top here was that we had an amazing manager who mentored us, encouraged us, and spearheaded the fun in what we do.

A lot of this original team have moved on to other opportunities already and yet the ties that bind us remain.  I couldn't have asked for a better start to my purple ride.

2. Leading the Purple Crew of the Yahoo! Philippines Purple Hunt campaign.

One of the things you learn in Yahoo is how to deal with constant change. In 2009 I found myself managing the content that's being featured on the Front Page of Yahoo! Philippines (not exactly community management, hehehe).  A reorg just took place and the Communities team was disbanded.  During this time a major marketing initiative was about to launch – the first Purple Hunt campaign in the Philippines.

Working with our marketing team and ad agency Ogilvy, I had the opportunity to help and be part of this campaign.  What initially was supposed to be just involvement of our community products in the campaign, the idea to involve our community members in the campaign was born. 

This is brand advocacy in its purest because right smack in the middle of that huge campaign is the Purple Crew, five power users of our three Community products, namely Janette Toral for Groups, Lai Legaspi and Anne Flores for Answers, and Jimmy Hilario (aka Stitch) and Jojo Pensica (aka Jobarracuda) for Flickr.

Except for Janette who I had the opportunity to meet years earlier and even collaborate with when I was in Yehey, the other four power users where people I met through online and offline initiatives as a community manager.

We requested them to join the campaign because of their knowledge of our products and their passion for communities as well.  And thankfully, they all volunteered to participate in the Purple Hunt.  This meant taking responsibility in managing Community channels for Yahoo!, and engaging the rest of the participants of the campaign both online and offline.

Being part of the Purple Crew and working with the five power users was an amazing experience.  I learned a lot about community management working side by side with them and I will always treasure the friendship that also resulted from that campaign.

All of these wouldn't have been possible if not for community management. :)

3. Becoming part of the Global Communities organization.

A year and a half in Yahoo I find myself again in the Communities organization, but now the Global Communities org and as Lead Community Manager for Southeast Asia.  I have the Managing Editor of SEA, Alan Soon (a strong advocate of social and community management), to thank for this because he helped in our transition from the regional org to the global org.

Being part of the Global Communities team was just a different level of awesomeness.   I was not only working closely with fellow CMs in the SEA region but with CMs in APAC (Australia/New Zealand and India), the US, Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina), UK and EU (Italy, France, Germany, Spain).  We also worked closely with teams from product operations, product management and customer care.

There was so much learning and knowledge sharing that took place during that time because of how diverse our backgrounds, experiences and perspectives were.  And just like my initial experience with the original SEA CM team, there was a spirit of camaraderie and a really good chemistry that was present within the team. 

And the best part of this experience, again the cherry on top, is our manager.  Her name is Isabelle Griffith Wies and she is without a doubt one of the best managers I've had in my career.  It's just amazing how she managed to inspire, motivate and bring together a team that's essentially scattered around the world and helped us achieve our individual goals of growing and managing the various communities of Yahoo.

We only had a chance to meet each other face-to-face twice in the two Global Communities Summits we had in Sunnyvale but we continue to remain connected online.  I will always be thankful to have had an amazing opportunity to work with awesome colleagues and really good friends.

4. Seeing and participating in the growth of Yahoo! Philippines.

Some people actually don't know this but I wasn't based in Singapore the whole time I was with Yahoo.  Between 2009 and 2010, I had the chance to relocate back and be based again in Manila.  This was perfect timing for me in two specific instances: first, 2009 was the year my wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Anya; second, I had the opportunity to witness and be part of the growth of Yahoo! Philippines.

It's too long to discuss here why I had to relocate back (I can tell you if we meet face to face) but I'm really glad to have had the chance to be present when Yahoo! Philippines grew from a 3 or 4-person team to a company comprised by people and teams from various departments, all working together to make sure the Philippines remain a purple country.

Of course, there's really no place like home so I was so at home at the Yahoo! Philippines office working with the different leaders that took the helm, team mates from comms, search editorial, admin, sales and editorial.

And especially Editorial.  I had the rare chance of seeing this trail blazing team formed, from the first key hire (their fearless leader/country editor), to the rest of the crucial team members that were added later.  I always felt a part of the team athough technically I (and Ederic as well, hehehe) weren't.  Keep on keeping on, I will continue to support the team and cheer for you guys even if I'm on the other side of the Purple fence already.

5. The positive connections made along the way.

One of the most basic and important characteristics of a community manager is to be a bridge builder.  To establish and maintain positive relationships.  This is key not only in community management but essentially in one's career.

After 3 and a half years of being a community manager in Yahoo!, I can clearly say that what I will treasure most in my stay in the Purple House are the friendships that were made, here in the Philippines, in Singapore, and the rest of the world.

Thank you to the community members that I met and continue to be friends with (Yappers, Flickristas, etc.).  Thank you to clients and partners I had a chance to work with.  Thank you to colleagues/friends in the company (fellow CMs, PMMs, PMs, Editorial, Sales, Customer Care, Marketing, Communications, Business Development, etc.) who made my stay in Yahoo! a truly remarkable and memorable one.

Goodbye Yahoo!, again thank you for the amazing ride!  I'll be a proud alum who will continue to cheer for you and hope you eventually find your way.

I was recently interviewed by Social Media Citizens as part of it’s ongoing series of interviews of professionals who in the social media and community management industry.  It’s a huge honor to be asked about what you do and why you love doing it so there was no hesitation on my part when I was presented the opportunity.

This is the second time I was asked for an interview as a Community Manager for Yahoo!.  The first time was for Pinoy Tech Blog when I just came on board as CM for the Philippines.  Three years later, I get interviewed again and it’s amazing how much three years of experience can add to one’s professional career and I’m happy to have that chance to talk about it in Social Media Citizens.

You can click here for the full interview but below are some highlights of what I shared in that Q&A session:

• My experience in becoming part of the emerging blogging community in the Philippines, becoming a public speaker and a company evangelist and dealing with customers as an E-commerce Manager all helped to pave the way to my becoming a community manager now.
• The best place to build a community ultimately depends on the community’s interest and the company or institution that’s building and managing the community.
• In order for a community to work, there has to be a platform that enables community members to connect with each other easily and collaborate based on their shared interest, the community guidelines should clear communicated to all members, and a community manager has to be present to lead the initiative to build and grow the community.
• There has to be value for users to join a community and this should be clearly communicated from the start.
• Three mistakes to avoid in community management: not knowing what the purpose of having a community, lack of leadership and ownership, and treating community channels as traditional media.

If you have additional thoughts or questions about community management, please feel free to share it in the comments.  Thanks!

I believe it’s about time we have a day like this, not only because I’m a community manager (hehehe) but because 2010 is the year Community Managers will start playing a major role in businesses in different industries.

A community manager is now a role that applies not only to social networking sites or community-based services but basically to any organization that sees the importance of a dialogue with their audiences, that values engagement with their customers, and that wants a deeper relationship with their markets.  A community manager is the person to do this for you.  As companies begin to understand the importance of social media and how it relates to their businesses, they will see the need to cultivate communities.

If you don’t know yet what exactly is a community manager (and I know it’s a new title to many, given the many instances I have to explain it whenever I tell people what my work is), Chris Brogan has an excellent post about what a Community Manager does and the essential skills to be one.  Another great read about how the community manager’s role is Jeremiah Owyang’s post, “The Four Tenets of the Community Manager.”

As for Community Manager Appreciation Day, it may be Tuesday already but it’s never too late to do the following (as what Owyang shared in his post):

• If you’re a customer, and your problem was solved by a community manager be sure to thank them in the medium that helped you in. Use the hashtag #CMAD.
• If you’re a colleague with community manager, take the time to understand their passion to improve the customer –and company experience. Copy their boss.
• If you’re a community manager, stop and breathe for a second, and know that you’re appreciated. Hug your family.

Many thanks!

Calling all Pinoy developers!  Yahoo! Souteast Asia will be sponsoring a developer to the first Yahoo! Open Hack Day Southeast Asia to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 21-22, 2009.

As mentioned in the site, the objective of Open Hack Day is to “push the envelope of web innovation and creativity to meet the needs of the developer’s itch.”  Simply put, this is a great venue for developers to come up their big idea using at least one Yahoo! tool, interface or API, create a working version of it and showcase it to the world.  The event also highlights tech talks, hack-related presentations from some of the Web’s most respected developers, and 24-hours of hacking.

Simply fill up the form and explain why you deserve to represent the Philippines in the Open Hack Day.  The chosen applicant will be notified via email within 5 days after the last day of submission and will get an all-expense paid trip to Jakarta, Indonesia (return flight & 3 nights hotel accommodation).  Closing Date for entries is 5pm, November 6, 2009.

Click here to join Open Hack Day 09 – Yahoo! Southeast Asia!

This exhibit was the off-shoot of their photo contest which challenged the photo community members to capture the essence of the number “8” in a photo.  In their own words, “the number 8 is considered a perfectly balanced symbol.  When laid sideways, it turns into the infinity sign.  Its meaning to different cultures is just that—infinite. It can represent prosperity or wealth, but some also perceive it as an unlucky number.  It means resurrection for others and destruction for some.  Eight represents enlightenment, perfection, a day of rest or rock-and-rollin’ love.”

Fifty-two of their community members submitted photos and three of them were proclaimed winners.  Here are the winning photos:

1st Place

Photo by jobarracuda

2nd Place

Photo by angrylittleboy

3rd Place

Photo by tacit requiem

Congratulations to the winners for your excellent entries and to the group, for everyone in the community who contributed in one way or another to make the event not just a reality but a success!  Special thanks to the sponsors who made the event extra special and extra memorable.  To TriNoma Mall of the Ayala Malls for providing the excellent venue, to Digiprint for printing the awesome photos, and to Toshiba for giving the really cool prizes to our winners.  The first placer got a laptop, the second place an 8MP digital camera, and the third placer received an MP3 player.

I hope this gives companies something to think about.  There are so many ways to engage various communities that will complement your product or service.  Aside from throwing a party for bloggers, you can actually help organize an exhibit of photo enthusiasts (who btw also mostly blog), and so much more.  Just look at the communities activities and find out how you can participate in what they’re doing.