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PUBLISH PUBLISH PUBLISH

PUBLISH was one of the classes that made my head hurt whenever I thought about it, not because of the subject or the professor, but because of the schedule of the class. I had to go to school on a Saturday afternoon for this class, which was a big hassle for me because that was the only time that I could go back to the province, so I withheld all my trips back home to attend class, I thought that the class would give me a very hard time, but in the end, I had so much fun.

Going to school on a Saturday afternoon was not as bad as I thought, the school was clear and empty, the school was quiet, the internet was fast, everything I wanted. And to add, PUBLISH was a very insightful and fun class. I didn’t know what to expect in this subject when I first went inside the classroom. I thought it would be a levelled-up version of our Introduction to Print class, I thought we were going to make newspapers again, which I didn’t really enjoy doing.

There were three things I learned in class, first, the internet has a bigger effect on everyone than we might think so. Secondly, I learned that even though electronic and digital publishing are progressing, print media will still be around for quite some time. And lastly, the internet and social media has changed our lives, either for the better or for the worse (I think this depends on the person and the situation).

For improvement, I think the class schedule would be best. I’m sure a number of students cut class because they would be going to school on a Saturday (wink wink, I can name a few, wink wink). Also, I think that the professor can give more class activities? And be a little more immersed with the students? Because I noticed that some students (including me once in a while), would stop listening to the professor at one point and go on the internet instead. And I think that if the professor engaged in more conversations with the class during discussion, this problem would be alleviated.  Lastly, I’ve already mentioned it in my second point, but I think it would be better if there were more interactions during discussion for the students and the professor.

The best exercise that I did this term is the final project. I had so much fun doing the project, although a lot of people were laughing at me when I passed by. I mean, I can’t judge them, if I saw someone aside from me wearing that outfit, walking around Taft, I would probably laugh too. And as I mentioned in class, we could have done a series of episodes instead of just one video. This way, we would have more views and a bigger audience reach.

I also enjoyed doing the Facebook live activity, it was my first time doing it and i t was fun to read live comments and answer them on the spot. i also got so happy when I found out that I had about 1.6k views after I did the session, it was very flattering. Although I think I could have done better if I had faster internet because my video was always lagging and some of the people were commenting that they couldn’t see what I was doing.

Overall, PUBLISH was one of the classes I really enjoyed this term. Despite it being on a Saturday afternoon, I had fun and I learned a lot. And not just lessons, I learned practical advice and knowledge from our discussions.  Despite the hassle from the projects, I had fun. PUBLISH was a really fun class and I’m glad I took it.

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Super Stition

What is Super Stition?

Super Stition is a Facebook-based documentary that focuses on the relevance of superstitions in a more modern Philippines. The short documentary runs for 7:48 minutes, just enough screen time for it get a hold of the viewers’ attentions and at the same time be able to relay enough information without being too overwhelming and overbearing.  It also features a brief introduction on how superstitions came to be in the country, along with insights from a professional. The main objective of the documentary was to scout the streets of Taft Avenue in order to garner insights from different people regarding whether or not they still believe in superstitions. In line with this, these people were given examples of superstitions and they simply have to agree or not. The group chose the topic of superstitions since it is observed that it is a dying and fading aspect of the Philippine culture, disrupted by the growth of modernization and globalization. The group was able to tackle this topic through an informative yet entertaining approach that is fitting for the audience, who generally are regular Facebook users.

Who is Super Stition?

Super Stition is a “superhero” on a quest to find different superstitions in the Philippines and finding out if people still believe in pamahiin or kasabihan. Pamahiin or kasabihan were used by our elders and ancestors to guide them in their actions and the things that are happening around them. It was also said that pamahiins and kasabihans are collective ideas of different cultures from neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and China.   

Strategy for discovery

Our strategy for discovery was that we walked around the school campus and Taft Avenue with Super Stition wearing his super hero costume. We also brought a signage with our page’s name and logo. In relation to that, we also asked random people from different demographics to participate in our short interview for our documentary. This shows that in promoting our page, we did not just resort to the power of social media, but in the process of creating the documentary, we were also able to build awareness about it.

Audience engagement

How to build audience

Our group started by launching our page on Facebook. We had no posts yet just our profile picture and cover photo. We started building our audience by first inviting our friends to like our page and we managed to get 200 likes on our first day. We also enticed our friends to help us spread the word about Super Stition by sharing the page all over Facebook. Moreover, two days after our Facebook page launch, we started posting teasers and pubs to build and hype our audience. In total, we uploaded two photo teasers and three video teasers. The photo teasers did not help us build more audience as much as the video teasers did. The group did not have a specific target demographic in mind, since it is inclusive with various age groups and classes.

How to reach audience

Our main idea in reaching our audience is by social media, most especially through Facebook. It is the most appropriate and fitting social media platform for the task because it is easier to disseminate information and content through Facebook, considering that nearly 500 million people are on it. At first started inviting our friends to like our page, until it grew and branched out to people even outside our social groups.

Results

After 2 weeks of  advertising our logo, teasers, and final video, our page has reached out to a lot of people. In the past week, we achieved a post reach of 17,689 and a post engagement of 1,742. Moreover, as of  April 8, 2017, our final video reached 2.4k views on Facebook and had 162 reactions to it. It is more than what our group expected because it was more than the number of likes of the page and it was only posted just a few days ago. With that said, our group believes that we have accomplished our goal of spreading our knowledge and information.

Post reach this week: 17, 689

Post engagements this week: 1, 742

Tan, Raizza Mae - Writer/

Cruz, Michelle Lorraine - Audio Director/ Assistant Editor/ Scriptwriter                                                         

Mabazza, Feliciano Adams - Super Stition/ Director/ Editor/ Scriptwriter                                                                             

Orlido, Danette Ann Gabrielle - Director/ Camera Director/ Assistant Editor

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Digital or Traditional? Scout Magazine and Preview Magazine’s Take on Digital Publishing

The first magazines were published as early as the 1700’s in America. Magazines were considered a luxury for only the rich and sophisticated were able to afford these periodicals, and it contained series of poems, essays, and even opinions on politics. But soon enough by the 1830’s, magazines were able to cater to the more general public, although it focused more on amusement and entertainment rather than information. As time went by, the life of the magazine started to  branch out; compulsory education and the increase in literacy became directly proportional to the increase in demand. Thus, specialized magazines were born. Periodicals were now created for specific fields; may it be for law, for musicians, for artists, and many more.

Time does indeed prove to be a great and essential factor, as it determined how the magazines are shaped and formed as we know it today.

We are a generation who witnessed the growth of technology and its potential to become greater. News and current events are now easily accessible. As time goes by, we have become accustomed to acquiring tons of information in a matter of seconds; whether the news may be as monumental as Trump’s questionable policies or as mundane as your bestfriend’s online rants. This has become everyone’s default lifestyle that the media - especially the print media -  has adjusted to our silent demands and have begun molding their publications to fit the needs of the modern audience. From having to flip through flimsy pages, digital media now offers information acquisition with just the single touch of our fingertips.

A Traditional & Digital Kind of Rivalry

Several years back during the cusp of technological advancement and the obsoletion of the dial-up, we were still devouring print media like our lives depended on it. Technically, it was the only reliable source of information there is. National Geographic and Reader’s Digest subscriptions filled up our mailboxes, and newspapers would be piled up after absorbing the current events for that day.

That is how life was when print media, or otherwise known as traditional media, was our only option. But now in more recent times, a new contender takes center stage; the era of digital media. From paper to pixels, from flipping to scrolling, reading habits have truly shifted. This is due to a number of factors. Some of which include:

One, readers and their smartphones are practically welded together, and acquiring news and articles is now faster and more efficient than ever. People, especially the workforce, are always on the go, and having up to date news right in the palm of your hand is something that makes life less complicated. And,

Two, digital media takes relatively less time and money to produce. Unlike print media which goes through extensive processes and the production thousands of copies, digital content goes through a less extensive route of codes and links, a single online copy that can be accessed through millions of devices across the world.

As we try to understand the different challenges both traditional and digital publications experience, our group ventured out to two publications - namely Scout Magazine and Preview - to highlight the various aspects in which the digital age has both affected them and also gain an in-depth analysis regarding the media’s ever-changing surroundings. Trying to get in touch with these publications was no easy task especially for us students, but nevertheless we were able to get an interview and get the information we needed.

A Trip to the digital world: Scout Magazine

Scout Magazine is a magazine under Hinge Inquirer Publications that caters to the millennials and is run by millennials themselves. For that reason, it enables them to create articles that genuinely gives interest to the people in their generation a.k.a the millennials. Since Scout is a magazine, it also needed digital presence which led to the creation of their own website around late 2015. Scout decide to start a website because most of their audience are online and also to reach a larger audience.The publication's target audience are clearly the millennials and nowadays most millennials are online.  The website started as a repository just so they have an online presence. However, today Scout’s website also become a full time thing. They focused on building their website as well to produce content.  

A Trip to the Traditional World: Preview Magazine

               In the Philippines nowadays, fashion has continuously becoming a staple topic. More and more Filipinos learn how to dress, what’s in and what’s not. Well, you can say that they don’t just get this from anywhere, that they learn these things from something. Luckily, we got to interview the pioneer magazine that has led to this country’s fashion advancement: Preview Magazine.

            Preview Magazine is under Summit Media, and was founded and launched back in 1995. Preview Magazine was the first ever magazine of Summit Media. Preview Magazine is currently the leading local fashion magazine taking the Philippines by storm. According to Summit Media’s website:

“Preview champions Filipino talent by collaborating with the best photographers, designers, and creatives in the country, giving them a venue to unleash their creativity. Preview prides itself in bringing forth well-curated content, as seen through its unparalleled editorials and pages.”

Preview Magazine has a total monthly readership of 320,000-360,000 and they release their magazines 11 times per year and selling it for P150.00 per issue.                                                                                 

The readers find it easier and more convenient to read online as they do not have to buy magazines and they do not have any spare papers lying around their houses. Luckily, Preview Magazine does not feel that threatened when it comes to digital publishing since they have been digitally publishing their magazines for a while now. Preview Magazine also has their own domain at preview.ph and other social media accounts [facebook.com/preview.ph, twitter.com/previewmag, Instagram.com/previewstylebible] Times are changing and publications must quickly realize that the methods they employed in the past may be obsolete today.

In the upcoming decade and years, willingness of a company to branch out and explore other areas will likely be one of the factors that determine whether a magazine survives or falters. For the print media industry as a whole, there is a pressing need to adjust to a new reality. There are solutions. There are opportunities. And like what Preview Magazine did, they branched out and adapted to the ever-changing trend. Also, they also felt like they had no choice but to follow the trend. Since, if they did not branch out to social media, they might lose readership and they can’t get left behind, and nobody wants to get left behind.

The internet affects the future of publishing because it affects the readers of the paper. Because of the internet, nowadays the reader does not have to use money to get information. They can just go online and read about it, selecting which articles they want to read. There are numerous websites that are available online for this such as Yahoo News, The Huffington Post, and local ones such as Rappler. However, these are only the major ones, there are so much more blogsites that are going around posting blog posts.

Furthermore, Preview Magazine does not only invest on their website, but they also have mobile apps that users can download on their iPhones and/or Android phone so they can stay updated with Preview Magazine. Other than this, they also have this what they call “E-Mags” that people can access through Apple, Newsstand, Buqo, Zinio, and Google Play.

                Preview Magazine doesn’t feel that threatened, as mentioned before, when it comes to the emerging digital publishing. Since they have been, and still are, the leading local fashion magazine. The worry here I think is how they would be able to continue producing good content, which has proven to be not a problem to them since June of 1995, when they launched their first issue.

However, as much as Preview Magazine liked the idea of digital media, since they can branch out to different platforms, they said that it still depends on how you the reader wants to receive information. They said that digital media/publishing is perfect for people who want quick information while the printed materials are perfect for those who want to enjoy whatever they are reading and savor in the glossy pages of the magazine.

Future of the Publications

As millennials, we are on social media almost 24/7 craving for news, videos, pictures; basically information that we desire and heed on. We want to be up to date with the latest news and trends. With these publications striving to relate and interact with its audience, we believe that going for digital media is the way to connect to the modern audience. As how we consume news and information is gradually shifting to fit the flow of the modern age, it is safe to say that we will only continue to experience changes as we go down the road of media innovation. As Bill Gates once said, “The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.”  In other words, the physical world may be large and vast, but because of the Internet and social media, we have all become connected in ways we haven’t imagined before. Because of the Internet and social media, the world only became smaller.

Print media is here to stay. But digital media is here to conquer. Both publications embraced the idea of creating their own digital based content to cater to the changing tides of the media and its audience, while at the same time still sticking to their traditional roots. Other than that, what keeps these publications going is the idea of expanding and reaching out to their target audience, to establish a relationship between content-provider and consumer, and to create their unique identity to everyone.

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valentine’$

Ahhh, February 14, the day single people (like me) dread to go out of their houses in fear of seeing overly romantic couples flood malls and restaurants.  

Bitterness aside, a lot of people actualyl look forward to Valentine’s because the atmosphere is just lovely. Everyone treats everyone better. Friends give friends chocolates, flowers, gifts, and the like. Who said only people in relationships can enjoy Valentine’s?

 Speaking of gifts and people in relationships, they are probably part of that population that looks forward to Valentine’s. The girls mostly, I just don’t know about the guys. 

According to PODER.IO, men actually spend more than women by 65% on Valentine’s day (and we’re only talking about the gifts here.) Men spend this much because the gifts they give usually fall under the seven-word category: JEWELRY

After all, Nicole Kidman didn’t sing on a harness for nothing.

According to PODER.IO’s research, men spend around $210 per gift, while women spend around $127 almost half of what men spend for their gifts. Who said love doesn’t cost anything?

In addition, their research showed that the people who celebrate Valentine’s day more lavishly than others, are none other than our favorite age-group: OUR MILLENNIALS

However, people don’t always need to splurge on gifts and dates during Valentine’s. Some people actually prefer staying and cooking at home as better dates rather than eating at expensive restaurants where you can barely pronounce their entrees and wines. Furthermore, what matters is how you show your love to your S.O. on this special day and not how expensive and grandiose your gift/date is. 

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“Describe your first time using and encountering the internet”

Ahhhh this question gave me multiple headaches while I was thinking about the answer and as I was reliving my memories (which was very hard because I am very forgetful)

 Anyway, after much thought and analysis, I figured out that I first used the internet to play internet games, I mean who didn’t?? 

Once I remembered that I first used it to play internet games, everything came rushing back and remembering the moments were so easy. I first remembered that I used to play internet games all the time when I was young. 

I remember that one of the (many) websites that I first used is a website called “miniclip”. Miniclip is a gaming website wherein you can create your own avatar, and play hundreds of games.

I remember that the game I played the most is a game called Club Penguin. 

Club Penguin is a role-playing game wherein you go on different quests, meet new people, and even get jobs. I remember being super addicted to Club Penguin to the point where my parents literally had to drag me away from my computer just so I would stop playing. 

Also, I remember that I got hired to be a tourist guide and a secret agent (Both of these jobs require a certain number of months of being active) and to think that I got both of these jobs, only proves that I have been playing Club Penguin for a very long time.

Another stupid thing I remember doing is that I made a fake e-mail because I needed a new penguin to supply my current penguin so I could buy a puffle. A Puffle is a pet that looks like a cotton ball that you get to raise and dress-up. Also, owning a puffle would mean that you’re rich and that you have been playing the game for a long time (it’s kind of a low-key social status)

I really loved playing Club Penguin, I really really really love Club Penguin. 

Aside from Miniclip, I was also fond of Yahoo Games, and my favorite games were called “Taxi Gone Wild” and “Snowball” and they were very fun and interesting to play. 

Moreover, the internet played a huge part in my childhood. I was really fond of playing games and while for most people, this would have been a bad idea, it was not for me. Because I have been playing games and communicating with other people from other places through these games, I have been able to develop communicating skills which I still carry until now. 

I could not imagine my childhood without the presence of these games (note that these are not the only games I played, there are still a lot like Pet Society, FarmVille, Ninja Saga, etc.). And I do not regret playing all of these games instead of going out to play (also since I physically couldn’t since I had asthma when I was a kid). 

FINAL NOTE: To be honest, I would still play these games if I had the time or if they were resurrected from the game-cemetery. 

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