I started out with Facebook when it was introduced to us during our Web Based Networking Seminar in Thailand September of last year. One of the organizers encouraged us to open a Facebook account so that we can still get in touch even when we go back to our respective countries.
At first, I was hesitant to open a Facebook account. I’m not a fan of social networking sites. They are too teen-ager-ish and their primary purpose is simply to get as many friends as you want. The more friends you have, the more popular you are, so it may seem. Look at Friendster. 90% of its traffic comes from Asia with the Philippines on top with nearly 13 million unique users monthly as of 2008. My country is currently number one based on the average worldwide Google traffic of friendster in all years. That means Filipinos search Friendster the most.
As I have mentioned earlier, Friendster mostly caters to the younger generation. Facebook which appeals to both the young and the young at heart, basically everybody. That includes me. So when I started using Facebook, Whoa! I got hooked! Its interface is easier to use. There are no flashy, trendy but oftentimes eyesore backgrounds, heart pounding sounds, and freakish themes like Friendster. It’s a straightforward, friends-sharing-things-about-friends style. You connect with everybody whom you know. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s getting closer with the ones you love and connecting to your old friends.
Aside from that and of course, hours upon hours of Pet Society, Restaurant City and Scrabble (teeheehee), what appealed to me most is Fan Page. You can join any organization, celebrity, activity, causes, TV programs that you believe in. You can also create one. That’s just what I did.
I created a Fan Page for our school only last December 14, 2009. I figured out that since our school cannot reach all of our alumni and update them about their school’s latest activities, I might as well create one that could solve it. I have no way of encouraging them to visit our official site. I heard from the grapevine that many IT literate deaf are now switching to Facebook. So I guess opening up a fan page would at least keep some of them informed.
During the first few weeks, I posted some news articles I copied from the MCCID official site into the Facebook Fan wall. Then, I occasionally invited my friends, now numbering 334, to become a fan. You can say that majority of MCCID fans are my friends. That is a perfect observation since most of my circle of friends are deaf students and alumni of the school.
I decided to test how “sociable” Facebook is by inviting our Deaf alumni to attend the school’s Sports Fest 2010 Opening Ceremony on February 6, Saturday. We usually don’t generate much interest from our alumni to participate in this yearly activity. Since we started this sporting event a decade ago, we sometimes see ten or more alumni who joined.
In January 29, a week before the event, I made a Facebook Event Entry inviting the deaf alumni. Then, on the day before the event, I made this entry on the Fan Page Wall without expecting any impact on the “fans”:
Sports Fest 2010 Opening Ceremony tomorrow at Lutheran Church Grounds, Sta. Mesa, Manila. Eight students from MCCID Quezon Branch will join us. š
Well, surprise, surprise!!! Aside from the 100 regular students, nearly 50 alumni showed up! Some of them were the schools graduates from our second and third batches (1996-97).
After the ceremony, I greeted the alumni and thanked them for attending. I also made an informal survey as to how they were able to know the event. Almost all of them said, they were informed thru, you guessed it right, FACEBOOK!
As of today (March 20), there are 617 Fans of MCCID College of Technology. Although this is too insignificant compared to the total number of Facebook users in the Philippines (yeah, we are now the tenth largest Facebook users worldwide), we are on the right track. We can now disseminate information to many of our alumni and students faster than ever before. We can now say that we are taking advantage of the available technology.
Last week, I again created a new Fan Page. This time, I made one for Liliane Foundation Philippines, one of our generous funding organizations. You can view their official website here.
I appeal to my WordPress blog readers to subscribe to our fan page. If you have Facebook account, kindly add us among one your favorite pages. We need to reach 1,000 fans in order to shorten the URL or web address from the one that we currently use. š
“Facebook is not a contest as to how many friends you have but as to how long you keep the friends you have.” š
Filipino Deaf from the Eyes of a Hearing Person 
mmm very cool!
Psychologists in Britain suggest facebook is a dangerous place. Relationships are neither real nor relative, nor stood the face to face test, add the extras of ‘friends’ who are in most part total strangers and may not really be or act as they are really, makes it a no-no for me as a deaf person. Deaf rely very much on ‘face to face’ relationships. No matter how appealing a text grouping (!) of back slapping and apparently empathetic people are on your FB pages they are not real. In reality it may just be deaf on their own at home not out there socialising relying on a computer for company, not on. it is a false reality, a cyber one and imaginary one. The old joke is the best “I have 150 friends on facebook and more are joining !”, “That, is because they have never MET you….”
Yes MM. I agree with you on that. Deaf really do need to interact face to face, just like hearing people. That’s one downside in this fast developing Internet technology, it makes us feel close without touching each other.
What I believe to be the best benefit in using Facebook is that I was able to broadcast information faster without costing any cents (well except for the bandwidth and electricity). And I have proven that when our school announced about the Sports Fest. š
However, there is still nothing to replace warm bodies. š
People need people, sex not text š
Hi, I’m glad to have found your site. I am a hearing person but I have always wanted to learn sign language just out of sheer interest. And so a couple of weeks ago, I enrolled in a basic sign language class and I am enjoying my experience, especially interacting with the deaf. I am learning slowly but I will be patient about it š
Thank you very much for your comments. I hope you continue to enjoy learning sign language. š
That really makes lots of sense. I’m glad I came across your site and this post. More Power. Mabuhay ang Pinoy!
I can’t believe I never thought of this. Its so true. Facebook is really helps.
..i need female nd male friends……… this my email address ”””””””janethsarah@yahoo.com..