For the second week now, yours truly’s column in the Manila Bulletin asks Filipino bloggers their thoughts on what they consider to be their best blogging achievement(s) for 2007. It’s a feat that is certainly not measured by popularity or blog income alone but also personal fulfillment. By fulfillment, we mean intangibles like friendships made, perspectives opened, horizons widened and how blogging has polished one’s use of the English language, perhaps. I can think of a few more – blogging, because it’s time -consuming, can compel you to use your time wisely. Also, it’s undoubtedly a spark in fostering creativity. If you think of a few more ways by which blogging has inspired your world, then you’re an avid disciple. Welcome to the club! Feel free to share your voice & send me your inputs so we can publish and make this a long-running homage to your “best of blogging” thoughts and experiences.
It has been a colorful, exciting year for local blogging. I warmly thank all those who gamely participated in Blog-O-Rama and the countless more who will support our endeavors in the coming year. We wish our readers the spirit of a meaningful, merry Christmas! 😛
Co-founding the Philippine Blog Awards, helping organize the first ever Blog Parteeh which helped show companies that blogging is a good media for marketing… I consider it a great achievement to be able to do something for the Filipino blogging community 🙂
For me, the greatest blogging achievement for my blog is to reach out to people the wonderful world of graphic design. The fact that complete strangers come up to you and praise you for what you post/write/design is an achievement in its own right.
Noemi Dado, winner – Best Blog in the Philippine Web Awards:
My biggest blogging achievement is reaching out to people who might
need help and comfort. Not only do bereaved family members contact
me but anyone feeling grief or some sort of pain in their life. For
example, there is the heartbroken girl, or the betrayed spouse. I
feel flattered that my readers entrust their problems to me but
unfortunately, I am not a therapist. All I can give is friendly advice
and I refer them to the appropriate person or agency.
Errrrr…hooking up with my female readers? Hahaha.
I was able to connect with a lot of OFWs and my blog was turned into a book.
to have created a Filipino blogging community with pansitan.net it is taxing a lot of times to maintain the site but when I read their entries about how much they love staying at pansitan or when I find out how many people want to join the community, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I also feel so honored that they entrust their websites to me…
I never expected Nostalgia Manila to become such a mainstream success. In just little over a year, the blog has been featured in popular magazines, newspapers, tv shows, and will soon be the main feature in an episode that will be produced and aired by a local cable show in Laguna.
Filipinos today are too concerned about moving forward and adapting to the latest technology and trends, paying no attention to archiving a colorful past. Because of Nostalgia Manila, I’ve been able to promote awareness and the importance of historical preservation. Nostalgia Manila has become an online treasure chest of fond memories enjoyed by every generation. Now that’s priceless!
For 2007, at marketmanila.com, it was definitely the satisfaction of raising over PHP200,000 in donations from readers, mostly ones I have NEVER met, to fund over 11,000 meals for malnourished public school children in Manila and Cebu. For a food blog, I think that is a nice way to say thanks all around…
Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet:
Touching people’s lives through Our Awesome Planet by helping them create awesome experiences for their loved ones. Inspiring people to see the awesome places in Manila…
Toni Tiu of Wifely Steps:
Winning the Best Home & Living Blog Award at the Philippine Blog Awards was a great achievement! I was really happy my blog connected with so many people and that I was doing good in my mission to help others. This win led to a writing gig for Inquirer.net, an article for my favorite food magazine Yummy, several blogging event and food review invites, and most importantly, being able to connect with and help more and more people.
Jayvee Fernandez, b5media:
Endorsing a product for Nokia because of my blog 🙂 *details to follow* 🙂
Hirap ng kuwestiyon. kasi wala naman akong blogging achievement kung hindi to promote world peace by censoring controversial comments in my blog which could lead to wordwars between and among bloggers.mwehehe Seriously though, my blog is the favorite of researchers and students. If you dig into my archives, it is a small Wikipedia for everything about Filipino culture from bugtong to salawikan,from folk song to folk dance, from tula to anecdotes. It is heart warming to receive e-mails that I was able to help them in their projects or assignments.
Wow. Cguro being featured at Blog-O-rama is my best blogging achievement. 😀 Hehe
Seriously though, being able to continue blogging and getting more people to read my travelogues and view my photos to somehow inspire them somehow to travel are achievement enough. Some citations and projects generated from it is just a plus.
My blog hasn’t made much of a change in the world. It’s a fun blog but I can’t say it does anything more than be a catharsis for my issues and a schedule for my tours. Cheers Analyn!
What I consider my best blogging achievement for 2007 is being
referenced by someone in Yahoo!Answer. Somebody asked about the best spot to view the A380 upon its arrival in Manila, and the best answer was quoted from my blog: ” east-west service roads of the South Luzon Expressway near the gates of Villamor Airbase and Merville Subdivision.”
Gigi Santos-Castaneda of Gigi Goes Gaga :
“Gaining the confidence to write again and finding my
voice.”
Dr. Emer of Parallel Universes:
My best blogging achievements are:
1. meeting new friends
2. being able to blog about anything anytime I want to
Toe Oblena of Kurokuroatbp.com:
Getting featured in Blog-o-Rama (haha… but true)
That’s the extrinsic achievement.
The intrinsic achievement – I have always wanted to write. But I
never did. Blogging gave me that. Now, I am writing my stories and
the stories of my family. They could be mundane or peculiar or funny
or spectacular. But the best thing is that I am letting the world
know that I have lived. Here. Right now. And as the world passes by
and this generation disappears, even then, my life would have mattered.
I consider being friends (and meeting) with Liz of wellwhatever.com, Rhiz of guitarchic.net and Joni of taintedsong.com as the biggest blogging achievement I got this year. Blogging brought the four of us together, four different individuals sharing the same passion.
AJ Matela of Baklaako.com:
I would say that inspiring gay men to express themselves freely, come out in the open, become proud of who they are, and break stereotypes is an achievement I have gained not only through blogging but my life as well. Knowing that straight folk now gain a better understanding of a gay man’s world is something I am truly happy with. There’s still too much to do, and so many things to say, but with the help of the blogging community and society at large, we will pull it through!
Richmond Paul Ruiz of Retzwerx.com:
Winning the Best Entertainment Blog in the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards and getting a six-figure paycheck from my blogging!
Ganns Deen of Superblessed:
“Blogging can be a very powerful opportunity to speak volumes to a
limitless audience of the love of Christ. In 2007, GannsDeen.com and
its satellite blogs, Superblessed.blogspot.com and
filipinochristianblog.gannsdeen.com, broke through to become three of
the most popular Filipino-Christian blogs on the Internet, an
achievement that constantly reminds me to be transparent and honest as
one of many Filipino-Christian bloggers who are online ambassadors of
both the Philippines and Jesus Christ.”
Shari Cruz of Misteryosa.com:
“Despite the so-called recognitions my blog and I have received in the past couple of months, I’d like to think that my best blogging achievement is having online-cum-offline friends and acquaintances, which in turn has made me regain my sense of worth. I have always been quite averse to the thought of talking face-to-face with strangers, no thanks to my self-depreciating attitude. Blogging has made me feel more…understood and accepted by – as well as more understanding of – people around me. And, cliche as it may seem, there is that idea that hey, I’m not alone. This feeling sustains me, and this feeling is the best. 🙂
Linnor Rapes of Captured Moments:
“I am basically timid in person. Usually, a person’s initial impression of me borders on being quiet or being snobbish. Through blogging, I’ve been able to express my thoughts better and more openly. I guess blogging has improve my persona.”
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
Ruy Reyes of “A Taste of Married Life”
“Aside from finding a great excuse to eat a lot and eat out often, I would have to say that my best achievement is rediscovering myself as a social butterfly who flits by from one blog to another nibbling little bits of info and trivia like the sweet pollens of life.
Half kidding aside, making friends with amazing bloggers who share the same passion for food and cooking is simply awesome. They inspire me to cook and write and give me wonderful ideas and recipes which I can cook at home for my wife and co-blogger Liv as well as a tip or two on great places to eat and date.
It’s also great to feel like an interesting person when people comment on my posts and appreciate my not too amazing but definitely heartfelt writing
But my best blogging moment in 2007 would have to be the moment I discovered blogging.”
Dine Racoma of The D Spot :
“Through the D Spot ( http://dine.racoma.com.ph) and Pinoy Moms Network (parenting.pinoymomsnetwork.com ) I was able to share with other mothers, future mothers, even fathers, and children alike, a different perspective of parenting. Bordering on the positive, hopeful, and the exciting side of parenting and the challenges as well, the experience was and continues to be a fulfilling endeavor. Oh yes, the D Spot was voted as one of the top 10 influential and emerging blogs of 2007.
Blogging is my network to the world. I became known as Sexy Mom–google search the words “SexyMom”, “Filipina Mom”, “Sexy Filipina Mom”, chances are you see me in page 1, ranked #1. This later branched out to an advocacy called The Filipina Images ( http://filipinaimages.com), with 2 other friends, Noemi Dado and Lorna Dietz). I have successfully re-packaged myself as a professional writer and researcher. In fact, an achievement is being part of the team tasked to write The Nick Joaquin Biography.
And to top that, through blogging I was able to gain friends, meaningful friends.
May your Christmas be filled with love and hope.”
Considering that my blog reaches out to a demographic that may not be that aware or educated of what Atheism is, I think I have made a lot of people think about the reality of the concept. I’m relatively new at this, but in terms of presenting a new perspective that is divorced from the hegemonic views of the dominant philosophy.
There were plenty of Filipino Atheist bloggers before me, but I think I’m among the first to break through and penetrate the so-called mainstream audience. With my growing readership, I plan to direct some of the attention to the others who are also verbose and eloquent enough to talk about their atheism.
Oh, and it wasn’t bad being on TV too. hehe
I loved reading the various achievements of bloggers. It goes to shows how blogging is a useful tool.
I submitted mine but I guess I was too late. Nice to read everyone’s thoughts. 🙂
Thanks for sharing Benj.
Of course Dexie, I will include yours. Preparing it for the next installment 😛 Salamat for participating..and Noemi too.
Merry Christmas, Ajay!
merry christmas!
For me, the greatest achievements are:
1. Rekindling a passion to write.
2. Meeting new friends.
3. Seeing things from a fresh perspective.
I love blogging. Happy holidays.
merry christmas Ajay 🙂
My greatest achievements on Mar Roxas for President in 2010 Blog (http://marroxas2010.blogspot.com) are:
1.) I was able gain more friends in the online community
2.) I was able to met different personalities in which first in the list is Sen. Mar Roxas during the LP event last Nov. 26
3.) I was able to talk with fellow supporters and argue with fellow critics with regards to my advocacy.
4.) Increased exposure, page visits, page views and feed subscribers.
5.) Lastly, I\\\’m getting more encouragement to continue this campaign until the end.
ORAS NA! ROXAS NA!
it’s official.
i’m not the most wholesome blogger after all. hahaha!
happy christmas, ajay!
see you at a food trip soon “,)
And the best piece goes to Mae of Lastleaf.org. Hehe! Thanks for the special mention, Mae! I’m glad I got to know you too. 🙂
Happy New Year to all!
My biggest blogging achievement this year is that I was able to earn money through my blogs and buy stuffs on my own. Talk about semi-financial independence (not really). It is also through blogging that I met people from different walks of life sharing the same passion – blogging.
Thanks to Mae 🙂 I’m grateful to be part of her blogging achievement for this year…akalain mo yun 🙂
I saw that my answer was published on the Manila Bulletin website. Will this get published on hard copy of Manila Bulletin? When will it come out? Thanks 🙂
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. 🙂 Cheers! Sandra. R.
hi everyone– Hats off to all of you for sharing and inspiring other people to press on and move forwarsd– way to go–
meanwhile may i invite you and all your bloggers to join us this Wednesday Sept. 26, 2012.– hope to see you all!!thanks and God bless
Balitaan sa Aloha
BALITAAN SA ALOHA HOTEL MEDIA ADVISORY:
(for News coverage)
TOPIC : How global is Global telecom?(in terms of service/gadgets/etc)
WHEN: Sept. 26, 2012-Wednesday
WHERE: ALOHA Hotel along Roxas Blvd.
TIME; 10 AM
Pls refer to: Lolly Acosta
0918-534-9729
Globe’s $700 million modernization promised to provide the capabilities to accommodate higher volumes of voice, SMS, and data traffic resulting from a growing subscriber base and shifting user preferences.
Globe telecom officials emphasized the modernization program will significantly improve Globe’s network quality, reliability, and customer experience while the network transformation will enhance voice connection and quality, speed up delivery for SMS, improve 3G coverage and increase network resiliency to reduce network outages.
But despite these big strides in information technology, how come an increasing number of disgruntled customers are crying “Foul!” due to unexplained dropped calls, vanishing loads, delayed SMS, and other inconveniences and irritants hounding Globe subscribers?
This and other blazing fast internet browsing issues will be clarified by Globe Telecom’s Yoly C. Crisanto, Head of Corporate Communications , National Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel A.Cordoba and industry stakeholders during the Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel on Wednesday Sept.26, 2012 starting at 10 a.m.
Please come or send your crew to cover the forum. Thank you