Did Twitter Popularize Mobile Blogging in the Philippines?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief December 29, 2007 · 2 min read

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As we close in on the end of the year, I’d like to go back and review some of the more interesting discussions and debates we had throughout the year. One of them is mobile blogging (moblogging) and its future in the Philippine cybersphere.

Back in April, Jayvee, Marc and I were debating on the viability of mobile blogging in the Philippines (see: Why MoBlogging isnâ€™t hot in the Philippines?).

Different viewpoints were shared — moblogging is expensive, there are usability problems and more. My contention then was that Filipinos aren’t really that hot with personal blogging. Later on, I got a tip that Smart rolled out a mobile blogging platform (via MMS) and it drew over 100,000 users. The bait — it was totally free. Well, until they made it for pay and then the people stopped using it.

Fast forward today, where every other active blogger also has a Twitter account. Add to that the availability of cheap 3G services from Smart. And since Twitter Mobile (http://m.twitter.com) is a click away, you’ve already solve all the earlier issues on usability, cost and accessibility.

Does that mean that Mobile Blogging in the Philippines has started or maybe even reached its peak?

Let’s do a quick survey, shall we? If you are on Twitter, do you:

1) Use your Mobile Phone Regularly to Post and Access Twitter
2) Sometimes Use Mobile Twitter
3) Don’t Use Your Phone to Post on Twitter
4) You seldom use Twitter

I’ve been making some rounds doing spot checks on Twitter and I also found a lot of them are not actually updating for months now. Would also be interesting to do a survey on Filipino Twitters and see how active or inactive we are on the twitterspace.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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49 Comments

roseee · 17 years ago

i got hook to twitter lately that i asked my husband to put up some twitter gateway for fun.for some quick rants/posts, text is the easiest way to do it
anybody interested to try it, can check here http://tweetmoments.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/send-tweets-using-celphone-in-philippines/
tenchu =)

rudy e. · 17 years ago

did i mention http://laconi.ca and http://identi.ca? mobile blogging goes open source. :P

rudy e. · 17 years ago

i have previously thought of mobile blogging as a sort-of-case-study project but has never started it way back. then came twitter, then came phtwitters. just twitting my daily rants through mobile phone.

rai whitenoize · 17 years ago

“So at last, SUN Cellular released a very affordable twitter and facebook service without even connecting to the internet. For only 15 pesos a day (24 hours), you can send unlimited number of twits and updates on your facebook. Yuppee!!!
”

And how do I access that, please?

jared · 17 years ago

i think plurk is just way better than twitter. followers can directly comment on your posts, etc.
i just registered a twitter account today, and cant be bothered to update it very often. i just linked my plurks to twitter instead :)

Shaley · 17 years ago

I am so ecstatic about twittering with my mobile. Last year, I called up SUN Cellular hotline to inquire if they support TWITTER, the agent on the other line didn’t seem to know what it is. I was tempted to by a nother SMART or Globe SIM Pack since these networks offer the service. Unfortunately, I was hesitant to try since a lot of bloggers are saying that it is expensive. So at last, SUN Cellular released a very affordable twitter and facebook service without even connecting to the internet. For only 15 pesos a day (24 hours), you can send unlimited number of twits and updates on your facebook. Yuppee!!!

jessica · 17 years ago

i would 1) Use your Mobile Phone Regularly to Post and Access Twitter. :)

Tiffany · 18 years ago

I’ll be #3.

3) Donâ€™t Use Your Phone to Post on Twitter

Azrael · 18 years ago

moblogging using twitter via sms is helpful.
although i think i have used the sms feats. 5x last year.

marhgil · 18 years ago

i twit on mobile kapag wala talagang internet access. it’s a quick way of telling people that you’re still alive. hehehe.

CallCenterVet · 18 years ago

I’d have to say number 4. I have twitter but rarely use it for blogging. maybe I haven’t figured out twitter yet.

ej___ · 18 years ago

Twitter is cool. Somewhat a daily log of your life if you want to.

There are other moblogs but some have monthly subscriptions.

You can check out these: http://www.winksite.com and mobile.earthcam.com

More power to twitting . . c”, )

Bob Reyes · 18 years ago

Mabuhay ang twitter!

JC John SESE Cuneta · 18 years ago

#2. Via twit ;)

phtwitters · 18 years ago

twittering thru sms doesn’t need to be expensive anymore.

use our local gateway, costs is the same as a regular sms msg which should be at most P1.00 if i’m not mistaken.

http://twitter.com/phtwitters

for more info.

happy holidays ! :)

Fritz · 18 years ago

I follow a lot of people on twitter. I even subscribed to updates via SMS once until deleting the twits became more of a chore, what with the spam twitter tools subscribers had been sending. I still access m.twitter.com daily, before retiring to bed, with Smart’s 3G. It makes me sleep better. Ok, not, but reading twits has become a nasty habit for me.

Tonyo Cruz · 18 years ago

I twit but only through IM.

I haven’t tried Twitting through SMS — its just freaking expensive.

leo · 18 years ago

just another fad i think

Andre Marcelo-Tanner · 18 years ago

i dont think twitter will last, i myself dont visit it much, theres probably a better solution, its a step in the right direction but not executed properly. somebody just has to merge what all bloggers are used to with SMS

The Cebuano Geek · 18 years ago

This is nice!
First time I heard about mobile blogging.
3G and GPRS is still expensive though.

Miguel · 18 years ago

When I’m in the Philippines, it’s “Sometimes Use Mobile Twitter.” using the mobile browser, either GPRS or WiFi.

I barely use mobile Twitter now that I’m out of the country and have no cheap GPRS.

Ian · 18 years ago

I want to tweet more often, but work policies forbid me. I post mostly through the command-line (curl), never through m.twitter.com, and sometime ago through text (expensive, though).

Nick Nichols · 18 years ago

I use my mobile phone regularly to access & post to Twitter using Twitter mobile. Several times a day. Since I have wireless at home, it’s often easier to pick up the N95 than to open up the Mac. It’s essentially how I get my news now.