(Originally published as a column piece on Dec. 27, 2006)
ANOTHER year is almost over, and unbelievably 2007 is just around the corner. A year that I hope will be a better one for all of us.
A lot of things happened this year, some good, some bad. One of the biggest things for me would have to be the new INQ7.net, which you can see from the changes in the homepage, part of which now features stories from GMANews.tv.
You’ve heard, of course, of the new partnership between the Philippine Daily Inquirer and GMA Network, which will relaunch INQ7.net as the doorway to our respective sites, INQUIRER.net and GMANews.tv.
Different people have asked me about the real story behind what some jokingly (or were they joking, heh) refer to as our official “praise release” and all I can say is that it’s funny what you can do with words.
To me, what’s important is that we’ll continue doing everything possible to give the best content and services to our readers. They deserve nothing less, after all the support they’ve given us, not just in the five years of INQ7.net’s formal existence but from the early days of the old Inquirer.net.
It’s useless to talk about what-might-have-beens, when we could move forward and achieve so much more. The partnership will continue because it makes sense for both companies to collaborate, but what’s important is that we will now also be able to concentrate on building our respective online brands.
Of course I have to admit I’m a partisan because I’ve worked for the Inquirer group of companies since 1998, when then Philippine Daily Inquirer Infotech editor Leo Magno took me in as a correspondent, before I eventually became a full-time reporter for the broadsheet. Sure, at the end of the day, success in the online world also depends on your partnerships, as well as in coopetition with your competitors. Nonetheless, I think people will also agree that even among partners or, heck, sister companies, competition is healthy. Hindi dahil partner mo, you’re gonna hold back or pagbibigyan mo.
Now we can concentrate on INQUIRER.net, on developing new content and services and integrating the online properties of the other members of the Inquirer group of companies, which has grown over the years. As you can see from the example of this Mobile Philippines beta site that Jayvee Fernandez has previewed on his blog.
So to our friends over at GMANews.tv — and I do have friends over there at GMA, regardless of what I personally think of some of the decisions of their top brass — good luck.
Pagalingan na lang, dahil mga readers ang makikinabang kapag maganda ang content sa INQ7.net. Readers already know what INQUIRER.net is capable of over the years, and we’re just getting started.
Let’s see what 2007 has in store for Filipino readers.
* * *
If you’re wondering about the future of TV and how free online tools such as YouTube are empowering ordinary people, then check out Happy Slip/Christine’s hilarious video clips.
US-based Filipina Christine is a bona fide YouTube star, with 384,260 channel views as of this writing, and 10,458 subscribers. In fact, she ranks 35th among in YouTube’s Most Subscribed (All Time,) and #26 Most Subscribed (All Time) — Directors.
I’m a bit late to the party, but I love her work and encourage you to subscribe to her videos as well. You can check out her homepage at www.happyslip.com for more information, including why she chose the name Happy Slip. It’s great that she’s been featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and you could check out Mike Abundo’s blog post for more on that.
As I said in last week’s column piece, it’s too simplistic to think of a zero-sum battle between mainstream media and the New New Media that only one side can win.
Having said that, however, I also think it’s stupid and arrogant to think that just because your company has conquered the mainstream media space automatically means that you’ll succeed in New Media and New New Media. For instance, TV companies won’t necessarily produce the best online videos. Quite frankly, I’d rather bet on Web-savvy individuals like Happy Slip and indie content producers than the broadcast network giants that have given us so much crap on free TV. Then again, who knows, the networks might surprise us and come up with more intelligent content for their websites.
The time for giants and traditional mass media is ending. It’s all about addressing the needs of different niches — the groups of people who were once marginalized and deemed unworthy of media coverage.
It’s not enough to reach out to as many people as possible. You have to make sure you’re reaching out to the right people — and that they actually care about your message.
