image courtesy of 20-Nothings

In case you have not read yet, the Philippines was recently dubbed as “the social networking capital of the world” by 24/7 Wall Street. This title came about after said outfit compared data from several sources and confirmed that Facebook also dominates the texting capital of the world. The findings include:

• Internet penetration rate to population is 29.7%
• of which 93.9% are into Facebook
• 16.1% are into twitter [where we are # 8 in the world]
• and 1.9% are into LinkedIn

Is this something beneficial? The answer to that is dependent on the actions we will take because social media is a double edged sword and a neutral tool.

Below is my laundry list that I thought is “must” do for us all

• Parents- they need to be involved in the online life of  kids to ensure safety practices are observed. Though digital parenting is something new, parents should embrace this role.
• Dep Ed and School- schools need to adopt to the times and be relevant in educating kids. We suggested in the 2nd international conference on cybercrime conference to 1] include in the curriculum of elementary students cyber wellness and online GMRC and 2] have a cyber bullying policy
• Local government- the local government should not limit regulation to time restriction and distance to school, but to 1[ require operators to display online safety tips in huge posters, 2] require partnership with schools and parents for educational purposes and 3] users will only be allowed age appropriate online games.
• Legislative branch- pass the cyber crime law
• Companies- set-up “e” frastructure [online policy, employee training] to ensure online behavior of employees will not hurt employer reputation, and social media use will be value adding. And to use the medium to create new opportunities.
• Individual users- understand and protect themselves from the risks, use responsibly and manage their online reputation

What else do you think should be done?