Social media…

THU, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

… and the rise or  fall (?) of  global politicians!

With an increasingly globalized world social media have become an invaluable tool of the international political trade, and it will continue to evolve. Just ask our good President Rodrigo Duterte and/or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for example.

We are living in a world where YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter can make you a star, keep you a star or help catapult you to the highest political offices in the world. Or we see the total opposite.

It’s not just ‘entertainment-it-girls’  (or boys!) using the tools of the social media trade. Politicians and heads of government are too, and now they are reaching beyond the traditional marketing avenues to address their constituents and reach an audience that sometimes transcends their own national borders.

I came across Bhupesh Shah, a social media marketing expert and professor at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada, ranking as one of the Top 50 business professors to follow on Twitter. He says that it is helping leaders connect with their citizens in an “efficient and effective manner.” If I meet other business people and ask them about their Facebook or Twitter accounts, I mostly receive a positive smile and answer. Of course, I have!

Back to Shah, who says: “It is absolutely critical for politicians to be accessible and to disseminate their message as wide as possible. Not fully leveraging the tools available nowadays, and sticking only with traditional methods would be fatal. And this is absolutely correct!

Arguably the most successful by virtue of followers and likes are India’s Prime Minister Nerendra Modi and US President Barak Obama. Modi now has over 20 million followers on Twitter, while President Obama has over 77 million and both continue to wrack up the likes on Facebook and have taken to YouTube, whether it’s to be interviewed or to post.

Both have one thing in common when it comes to their social media presence: they get personal.

Rather than just posting canned political messages they’ve stepped out of the traditional political box, posting more intimate glimpses into their lives, like Obama exercising with the Vice Presi-dent or playing football with his dog.

“Social media gets around the so-called gatekeepers and takes the message directly to the virtual street!… You’re typically reaching the younger demographic, those that are keen to have their voices heard,” said Shah.

But social media is also a rapidly changing arena and there are pitfalls that can trip anyone up – or down! Trudeau, Modi and Obama have largely managed to avoid these, although the Canadian PM has faced criticism within Canada over his use of social media, most notably after he answered a question about quantum computing from a journalist that went viral. Some criticized him for planting the question solely for social media purposes.

“Leaders should recognize that anything they say or do can and will be used by the public (and media) for their own agenda. This means that they always have to be ‘on’ – knowing that what they say will be instantly captured and shared,” Shah explains. Correct! We just experienced this with our president Rodrigo Duterte, didn’t we?

With an increasingly globalized world social media has become an invaluable tool of the international political trade and it will continue to evolve. Modi, Obama and Trudeau are pioneers in this realm and their experiences online are shaping what’s to come both internationally and nationally for the next generation of politicians who aspire to the highest offices.

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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me in Facebook or Twitter or visit www.german expatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

Philippines Suspends Scallops Linked to Hawaii Outbreak

By: Associated Press

An employee cleans a logo at the Genki Sushi conveyor belt restaurant chain Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Aiea, Hawaii. The Hawaii State Department of Health Sanitation said Tuesday that Genki Sushi was being ordered to close its 10 restaurants on Oahu and one on Kauai after state authorities identified its raw scallops as the probable source of a hepatitis A outbreak. The disease can cause fever, loss of appetite and other symptoms. AP

The Philippine government has suspended distribution of seafood believed to be the cause of a hepatitis A outbreak in Hawaii.

De Oro Resources Inc. must temporarily suspend distribution of its products, according to an order by the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Hawaii’s Department of Health last month identified frozen scallops served raw at a sushi chain as the probable cause. The scallops are produced by De Oro Resources.

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READ: Cebu scallops blamed for hepa A in Hawaii

Andres Bojos, director of the agriculture bureau in the Central Visayas region, said officials required the company to test workers, including those who shuck scallops and those who work in their plant. All of them tested negative for hepatitis A, he said.

The Hawaii outbreak has sickened more than 250 people.

Bojos said Tuesday that De Oro Resources remains suspended pending completion of the audit they are doing. Aside from scallops, De Oro also exports shrimp.

“We required the operator to subject all their personnel involved in the supply chain from those who shuck the meat of scallops in Masbate to their people in their plant here in Cebu to medical tests, but all of them tested negative for Hepatitis A,” Bojos said. He said those who were tested include around 100 personnel of De Oro in its plant in central Cebu province and 29 people who work in De Oro’s pre-processing plant in Masbate in the eastern Philippines, where the company gets some of its scallops.

But Bojos said a water sample from Masbate was found to have a high level of coliform bacteria, and scallops are not being sourced from that area for the meantime.

He noted that out of 9 restaurants of a chain in Hawaii that get their supply from the Philippines, only two have been identified as having the Hepatitis A-tainted scallops. He said there is also a possibility that the scallops were contaminated during the handling of the food in Hawaii. There are no known cases in the region of Hepatitis A from scallops consumption, he added.

Four other companies in the region export scallops aside from De Oro Resources, said Grace Paguinang, a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources inspector in Central Visayas. But the seasonal product is not a main export of those companies, whose bigger products are crabs and shrimp. There were no immediately available data on exports volume.

Messages left for De Oro Resources remain unanswered. The company had also not responded to previous requests for comment.

Batanes under Signal No. 4 as 'Ferdie" Intensifies

By: Frances Mangosing, Philippine Daily Inquirer

This satellite image from Pagasa shows the location of Typhoon Ferdie as of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Batanes was placed under Signal No. 3 as Typhoon “Ferdie” (international name: Meranti) intensified and posed a threat over extreme northern Luzon on Tuesday.

The typhoon packed maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center, up from 195 kph and gusts of up to 250 kph, up from 230 kph, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Signal No. 2 was raised in Northern Cagayan and Babuyan Group of Islands, while Signal No. 1 was raised over the rest of Cagayan, northern Isabela, Kalinga, Apayao, Abra and Ilocos Norte.

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Ferdie was last tracked 510 kilometers east of Calayan in Cagayan and was moving west northwest at 22 kph.

“Residents in Northern Luzon are advised to take precautionary measures against impacts of very strong winds and heavy rainfall,” Pagasa said.

By Wednesday, Ferdie is forecast over the vicinity of Basco, Batanes and by Thursday morning, it will be 345 kilometers west northwest of Itbayat in Batanes, or outside the Philippine area of responsibility.

Moderate to heavy rains are expected within the 500 kilometer-diameter of the typhoon.

Cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms are expected over Northern Mindanao, Visayas and the rest of Luzon, Pagasa said.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms will prevail over the rest of Mindanao.

In its 7:30 a.m. update, Pagasa said a thunderstorm is affected Bataan, Zambales, Cavite and Batangas. Laguna and Quezon may experience the same in the next two hours, while Metro Manila may get light to moderate showers. IDL