Purple Thumb: Our Mark, Our Vote
A lot has already been said about the importance of the elections and our right to vote. That's why the recently launched initiative of Yahoo! Philippines to cover the upcoming 2010 Elections is aptly entitled "Purple Thumb", because the elections is essentially of the people, by the people, and for the people. Which means every Filipino qualified to vote should have taken the time to register or in short, we all should have a Purple Thumb.
But of course, registration is just the first step of the journey. We need to be properly informed of all aspects of the elections, from getting to know each and every candidate to understanding how the new automated elections will take place. We should also take the initiative to share the info we know about the elections to others, and what better way to share than through social media. Here's something worth sharing, a step-by-step video tutorial of the 2010 Philippine Automated Elections:
It Starts With YOU (A Job Opening)
You probably heard by now the recent marketing campaign of Yahoo! whose core message is focused on YOU. As the campaign kicks off in the US and slowly expands to the rest of the markets (really looking forward to it hitting the Philippines), there's a job opening in Yahoo! Southeast Asia that really coincides with the message of Yahoo!'s marketing campaign and it might interest YOU.
Social Media Producer
Yahoo! Southeast Asia is looking for an energetic social media producer to draw, connect and interact with users through new channels such as Twitter and Facebook. This position will be based in Manila.
As part of your daily responsibilities, you will be at the forefront of driving our news articles, blogs, discussions, polls and community activities through social media networks with the goal of attracting a wider audience to Yahoo!.
You must have at least 3-5 years of editorial experience at a newspaper, magazine, wire service or online media site and be able to work under a tight deadline. Blogging and multimedia experience is also a must.
An established personal online brand is an ideal. As a power user in social media, you must have at least 300 followers on Twitter, at least 200 connections on LinkedIn and at least 400 friends on Facebook.
You need to have a passion for social media and a thorough knowledge of the industry. You will be expected to flag trends and be aware of new social media sites on the horizon.
Because social media is really all about YOU, or one way of saying it is "YOU are the media." If you see yourself doing this kind of work, then feel free to email me your resume and I'll make sure it reaches the right people. Who knows, we just might be working together in the near future.
SearchMonkey arrives in Southeast Asia
This was my post that got lost last week due to server problems. It's a week late but still blog-worthy, especially if you're based in Southeast Asia.
After making much noise in different tech blogs last year, Yahoo! SearchMonkey quietly launched in the Southeast Asia market last February 12, 2008, specifically in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
In a nutshell, SearchMonkey basically opens up Yahoo! Search for users, developers and publishers to make search results more useful and visually more compelling.
Check out this before and after image:
BEFORE
AFTER
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, there are various SearchMonkey applications that transform your Yahoo! Search experience to provide you with highly relevant content and the best user experience at the same time. In other words, it makes search fun, productive and exciting! Check out these examples:
Play videos on the search results page: http://ph.search.yahoo.com/search?p=yodel+contest+video.
Add the latest Flickr photos to all Wikipedia results:
Go here (http://ph.gallery.search.yahoo.com/application?smid=JrLH) to add the application.
Show any geo-encoded Wikipedia content on a map:
Try it yourself by adding http://ph.gallery.search.yahoo.com/application?smid=2D1e.
It’s up to you how you wish to flavor your search experience. And given that this is an open platform, there are so many ways this will grow and continue to improve, it just depends on how users, developers and publishers will build on it. I can just imagine, being able to see what’s being tweeted about a keyword you’re searching for, or being able to see if a person you’re searching for is online and immediately chat with them.
Like I said, the possibilities are tremendous, and you can start experiencing it now by adding more SearchMonkey applications from this gallery: http://ph.gallery.search.yahoo.com. You can also contribute apps by heading over to http://developer.yahoo.com/search/.