Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Senator Aquino launches ‘Vlog’

November 10, 2009 16:16:00
Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines – After joining the popular networking sites “Facebook” and “Friendster,” now comes a video log or “Vlog” for Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to further boost his presidential bid next year.

For the first time also, Aquino answered questions from the media Tuesday through a video satellite from his residence in Times Street in Quezon City.

The video blog, dubbed as “60 seconds with Noy,” will be a series of 18 episodes to be posted in his various websites starting this Tuesday until November 27 or a day before he files his certificate of candidacy.

Aside from his official website, www.noynoy.ph, the senator also maintains an account with Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, YouTube, Multiply, and other sites created by his supporters.

Aquino’s director for communications, Yoly Ong, said the blog would offer an “unscripted and raw look” of the senator so that voters would better know him, his advocacies and his platform of governance.

A “yellow parol” (yellow lantern) viral campaign will also be launched this week in Facebook and Newsletter.

Melissa Limcauco, Aquino’s deputy director for new media, boasted that since the launch of the senator’s official website last October 13, it has generated 75,000 views.

A tracking by an online portal Yehey.com also showed that Aquino has a combined total of 155,950 friends in Facebook and Friendster, followed by Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero with 81,114 friends, and Senator Manny Villar with 56, 945.

Even on Twitter, Limcacuco said Aquino has attracted more followers than other presidential aspirants with 17, 970, followed by Escudero with 14, 679, and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro with 3, 609.

But Aquino himself admitted that he was not Internet savvy, saying that his generation was not computer literate.

Aquino acknowledged, however, that through this new media, he would be able to reach a wider crowd that has been actively participating in the past elections either through blogging and social networking.

“We want to move to an issue-based campaign rather than personality-based campaign,” said Aquino, a statement that prompted a question from a media practitioner regarding criticisms on the senator’s recent advertisement on television where he, along with various movie stars, were holding a torch of light.

Aquino defended the ad, saying that the darkness depicted the country’s darkest hours during martial law while the torch signified the Filipinos’ desire to “go back to the light.”

Ong also came to the rescue of the senator, saying the ad was the “love offering “of Aquino’s sister, popular TV host Kris Aquino and best friend, Boy Abunda.


Source: http://politics.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&article=20091110-235398

No comments:

Post a Comment