Celebs on staying safe, smart online

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — There was a celebratory mood in the air when The STAR joined a media group that recently visited the hometown of the incoming president of the country.   

This provided a festive backdrop for the launch of the latest offering from the mobile broadband SmartBro to Davaoeños called the SmartBro 888. Providing star power and support to the event were two of the “Bro-kadas” or endorsers, namely, former Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and Miss Davao MJ Lastimosa and athlete-turned-TV host Gretchen Ho.

The Davao City stop is simply part of a nationwide caravan that also swings by Cebu City tomorrow. The tour has already rolled into Boracay and Pampanga, with more cities in the pipeline.

Smart’s Consumer Broadband Marketing head and concurrent PLDT VP and HOME Marketing director Gary Dujali said, “These events are in full swing, the Smart ‘Bro-kadas’ are invading cities and spreading great fun nationwide. This is the best time to own a SmartBro 4G Pocket Wi-Fi with our best price offering ever.”

The SmartBro 4G Pocket Wi-Fi is priced at P888 and comes with a free 350mb per month for three months. Users are promised fast and reliable connectivity of up to 10 gadgets. The endorsers said it is ideal for friends and family who bond over streaming videos and music, playing online games and sharing files and photos.

Now, with great Internet connectivity comes greater responsibility in managing one’s online diet and activities. On the sidelines of the launch held at the Marco Polo Davao, lessons and ground rules were learned from MJ and Gretchen when it comes to Netiquette. Read on.

On how often they are online:

Gretchen: “I’m not online, of course, when I’m asleep, when I’m at work, meaning when I’m preparing for my shows (Mornings@ANC, Modern Girls). I’m not online when I’m in the gym and out with friends. Before, I tried to limit my online usage like three hours a day, but it wasn’t effective. I realized that the more you try to separate your online life from real life, it consumes you more instead. I try to see it as part of life already. It’s a need. But also I try and make time to stop and get away from it.”

MJ: “I think the question is how often I’m not online (laughs). Sometimes, for example, I’m working in the province and I don’t have any connection, nakaka-baliw siya, alam mo yun? It’s a very millennial problem when you’re not connected and it’s like you feel alone. Nowadays, connection is important. I always want to be updated. The younger generation of our family, my nieces, their communication with me is always on social media even if we have each other’s numbers. I don’t know why, but it’s our means of communication.”

On the social media accounts they have:

Gretchen: “Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. I have Linkedin and others but I don’t use them.”

MJ: “I’m on Instagram, Twitter and more on Snapchat recently.”

On what sites they follow:

Gretchen: “I follow Huffington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times. Well, not really specific websites, but more on Twitter, I browse through the feed and if there’s something interesting, I click on the links. I follow funny stuff as well as opinionated personalities online like the controversial Teddyboy Locsin, then sometimes tsismis, like the Buzz Basketball, which is sports tsismis. I follow known personalities in politics, sports, entertainment and news. I wanna be well-versed (in these areas) because of my work. I make sure I follow resource people just to get a broader idea of things. I also follow (inspirational) accounts like that of Francis Kong and Fr. Jboy Gonzales, SJ.

MJ: “Yahoo News because when I’m traveling I don’t get to watch news so I follow it to be updated. Also Huffington Post, I love everything I read there. Then, I just browse through the photos of my Instagram. They really are the attraction of social media. I browse through them to know what’s happening to my friends even if we don’t get to see each other often. I follow about 1,000 accounts. But what I really keep tabs on are health-oriented accounts, like Alchemy Bali, because I’m a health buff myself.”

On personal online rules:

Gretchen: “Before, I was less regulated when it comes to what I say online. But because I’m a part of ABS-CBN now, I have to be more careful because what I say can represent the company in some way. (Rules from ABS-CBN?) More of like, you can voice out your opinion but just think it out, then bawal din ma-associate with rival networks, that’s all. And I have to be a little bit more objective in my opinion. I think coming from that standpoint, I try to be more open-minded when it comes to expressing my stand on issues. I try to say something without disrespecting the other.

“Another rule is not to get too emotional online because more people are following me now, my bosses are following me, so I don’t want them to see my emotions (laughs). Another rule for me is to be genuine. OK lang maging regulated ka, maging safe ka but always be genuine, and not fabricated or be a sell-out.”

MJ: “When it’s time to sleep, it’s time to sleep. For a while, social media and Internet in general have had consumed my time to rest. Kasi minsan nakahiga ka na, tapos biglang mag-open ka, tapos mag-browse ka, nakausap mo yung friend mo, tapos tuloy-tuloy na maubos yung time ko, and then I lose the time to gain energy for the next day. So I’m trying to discipline myself that when I’m in bed already, my phone should be off.

“I’ve also become more mindful. Not just in terms of posting comments but also how to respond to both negative and positive comments. I think it has a lot of impact — how you treat people around you. The way you are with them, it’s the way they are towards you.”

On how they keep online accounts safe amidst celebrity hacking issues:

MJ: “Dasal na lang po (jokes). Coming from computer engineering (graduate) hiyang-hiya ako sa sagot ko. (But seriously) it’s an issue nowadays. With me, personally, my passwords are not connected to me. Maybe there are reasons why accounts are hacked because of course, available yung information ng mga artista online. It’s easy to guess passwords.”

Gretchen: “Same here, my passwords are not easy to guess. Even my family, they don’t know a thing. But of course, I’m scared because of that Comelec leak, it can happen. So, you should be very careful with security questions, your password and then also, don’t make yourself a target, like don’t be so scandalous online?”

On dealing with haters online:

MJ: “Oh my God! I think there’s no limit to bashing online. Now, you can fake accounts. So, you have to rely on yourself to filter the things that you read online. In fairness to my personal accounts, hindi naman ako talaga pinupuntahan ng mga bashers maybe because I’m also mindful of the things I put online. I block people who are just seeking attention or delete unnecessary comments so that I won’t get to see them again and I forget about them.”

Gretchen: “My opinion on that is, if you don’t have bashers, then you’re not like being courageous enough in your life. For example, I stand for something and I don’t express it just because I’m afraid of bashers, then that would be sacrificing a part of myself, or not using my influence or something I believe in that’s good. I have bashers, most especially during the May elections, minsan sa volleyball din. It’s normal.

“But if the (bashing) is below the belt already like during the elections, I replied to someone about ballots, advised (them) to complain to the BEI and directed (the inquiry) to a former COMELEC guy, then may nang-away sa akin, na mali daw yung gamit ko sa complaint, that I should be more careful daw kasi nasa broadcasting industry na ako. Nagulat naman ako. I had to defend myself because I’m a news personality now and you’re questioning my credibility. As for sexual comments — which are bastos talaga and degrading — I ignore them outright.

“So, you have to know like when to respond. If it’s a reasonable person criticizing you, I reply to that because I think I have the right to defend myself. But if it’s very unreasonable, para lang may masabi or para sirain ka, I ignore them.”