Tweet to love, not to hate

Before I say anything else — welcome to the debut column of Oh My G!

Kung Hei Fat Choi must have brought good luck to me because my first article, titled Confessions of a Third-World Celebrity, for The STAR got published on Monday, Jan. 23, which was the first day of the Chinese New Year (of the Water Dragon). It really struck a chord with many of you readers. The response has been quite unexpected and because social media has given me a direct link to all of you, I was able to witness first-hand the power of stories to inspire and create positive energy. If in the ’90s during my heyday, the popular line was “Magpakatotoo Ka,” today, the wordage may have changed but the message is still the same, albeit for the hash tag that volts us all in on Twitter.

So thank you to all of you for encouraging me to share my thoughts and most especially, for not judging me for the blatancy of my OFW experience. Na-touch talaga ako sa lahat ng mga tweets at Facebook messages n’yo, noh!

People I didn’t even expect to hear from came out of the woodwork to compliment me and it reinforces the idea that we CAN be a nation that can be happy for the success of others instead of just being gossipmongers who can’t get enough of their peers’ scandalous affairs. Shame on those who rejoice the downfall of others ha!

I wanted to expound further on the mass of correspondence I have received on FB and Twitter that have changed the media playing field and communication, specifically here in the Philippines.

My experience from a decade ago really gives me the perspective to notice the changes that may seem to be quite normal for the new generation of “twitterers.”

If you remember the days of pocketbell and easycall then AMEN — you can relate to my growing fascination with the way social media has grown by leaps and bounds. SMS exploded in Asia way before America caught on and it just amazes me how business deals here in the Philippines are often closed on text. How impersonal talaga! Pero naman in rebuttal, we are all busy people looking for the next “racket” to fill our pockets, which is why texting is the quickest way to relay information in as less characters as possible. Therefore, if texting is impersonal then Twitter is exactly the opposite — since you have access to let the world know your every fascination, adornment or association.

One-hundred-forty characters are essentially all you’re given on Twitter, even though there are other platforms now that let you tweet longer. Businesses have sprung up trying to monetize how many followers one has and a person’s value is based on the number of followers subscribing to his tweets! This may sound ridiculous but in this day and age, social media gives one the ability to formulate their own cyberspace persona and a lot of it is based on the kind of people one corresponds with. It’s all a big networking game as associations are evident with tweets that either praise you for your character or material possessions being retweeted.

Many of our local celebrities even have more followers than Anderson Cooper who actually has important things to tweet about. What then has this world come to? When Filipino people would rather know where you are or what you’re eating as opposed to life events that actually affect the entire globe? Or haters using other people’s image and persona to tweet negative things at others because they have nothing better to do in their lives? Naku, Twitter is the ultimate self press release because you get the banter straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. At utang na loob, ‘wag naman gamitin ang Twitter para kumaaway ng kapwa lalo na kung nasa korte na ang kaso nyo! It’s the height of ka-cheap-an and it not only shows one’s breeding but also causes others to join the bandwagon. It’s plain negative and uncalled for di ba? I really can’t stand a bully and throw up a little in my mouth when other celebs ask their friends in media positions to tweet about their lavish affairs so that they can just show off. Konting delicadeza lang kasi that Birkin bag can easily feed an entire village here in the Philippines.

Sana people use Twitter to inspire others with life-altering quotes and create awareness on topics relevant to today’s society. And if by chance, something really cool happens, such as Sharon Cuneta joining Twitter — by all means revel in the fact that you have a personal link to her… on cyberspace, of course.

See you all on Twitter @gtongi!