Facebook offers $100-M to help virus-hit news media

Facebook said Monday it was donating $100 million to support news organizations globally hurting from the coronavirus pandemic, citing the need for reliable information about the crisis.

"The news industry is working under extraordinary conditions to keep people informed during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Facebook's news partnerships director, Campbell Brown.

"At a time when journalism is needed more than ever, ad revenues are declining due to the economic impact of the virus. Local journalists are being hit especially hard, even as people turn to them for critical information to keep their friends, families and communities safe."

The new funding includes $25 million in emergency grants for local news through the Facebook Journalism Project, and $75 million for additional marketing efforts "to move money over to news organizations around the world," according to a statement.

Facebook said it will offer grants "to publishers most in need in the hardest hit countries."

The move comes amid growing concerns of cutbacks and closures of news organizations hit by lockdowns and a massive slump in advertising resulting from the health crisis.

In recent months Facebook and Google have stepped up efforts to help news organizations, following criticism that their dominance of online advertising has made it difficult for media to profit from digital operations.

Facebook has also supported fact-checking operations with AFP and other media companies, including Reuters and the Associated Press, under which content rated false is downgraded in news feeds so that fewer people see it.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

What type of online user are you?

MANILA – There are five global personas when it comes to online behavior, according to a new study.

MasterCard recently released the results of the Digital Sharing and Trust Project, which showed that consumers usually replace their “real world identities” when they go online, taking on “digital personas.”

Each category, MasterCard said, is based on the kind and amount of information that a person is willing to share.

“Nearly 2.5 billion people around the globe use the Internet every day,” Theodore Iacobuzio, vice president of MasterCard’s Global Insights Group which produced the study, said in a statement.

“This research shows that regardless of who they are and where they live, they all share something in common when it comes to how they act and behave online – these five unique personality types. It also shows us that when consumers go online, characteristics such as age, gender or nationality become secondary and they instead assume a sense of what we refer to as ‘social citizenship.’”

The Digital Sharing and Trust Project included both qualitative and quantitative consumer research conducted from November 2012 to March 2013 in the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, India, South America, United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Colombia.

It covered more than 9,000 digital consumers aged 16 to 65 who are engaged in some type of online activity at least once a week.

Here are the five types of online users, as mentioned in the study:

1. Open Sharers – This persona accounts for 20% of online consumers, and includes mostly males. They are said to be the “most highly digital” group of the five categories and tend to lead less risk-averse online activities. Half of them are online more than ten times a day and when they share their personal information, they expect deals, access and offers in return.

2. Simply Interactors – This persona accounts for 20% of online consumers. They include some of the most dedicated social networkers, but are not particularly tech-savvy consumers. When it comes to online shopping, 80% of them will research products online, but 63% still prefer to shop in person. Though they are aware of targeted marketing, they don’t see their data as valuable and thus don’t express significant concern about it.

3. Solely Shoppers – This persona accounts for 21% of online consumers, and is characterized by their reliance on the Internet for savvy shopping research and purchases. About 90% of them research products online before buying, while half of them use their mobile phones to check for best deals. They have low awareness of target marketing as only 37% know that social media sites use their personal data to inform ads.

4. Passive Users – This persona accounts for 20% of online consumers. They are not fully convinced of the Internet’s value and tend to spend the least amount of time online, whether for shopping or social networking. They are willing to trade their data for something in return.

5. Proactive Protectors – This persona accounts for 17% of online consumers. They are highly aware of targeted marketing, with 82% of them knowledgeable that marketers can target them based on their search and browsing history. They are unlikely to use social networks and the most guarded with their privacy settings of all personas, taking steps to protect and control their digital footprint.

“In today’s digital world, consumers are continuing to spend more of their time and money online,” Iacobuzio said. “That’s all the more reason that understanding these five distinct personas will be important for a variety of audiences, but perhaps most especially for retailers and marketers.”

Other findings in the study showed that 60% of consumers know how to change the privacy settings on their web browser; 64% believe their personal data has value to merchants and advertisers; and 55% appreciate when companies tailor offers to them based on the information they share.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How to protect yourself from identity theft

MANILA, Philippines - You don’t think it can happen to you – until it does and you become one of the growing number of victims of identity theft worldwide.

Through the years, identity thieves have become increasingly resourceful in the ways they steal personal information. They send out phishing email messages, or rummage through garbage dumps, even pretend to be representatives of credible organizations just so they can get enough information to take-over their victims’ bank or credit card accounts.

Once they do, in a matter of minutes, they can process a wide range of financial transactions such as credit card purchases or large withdrawals via ATM. Others would even apply for new credit cards to run up more charges. The resulting damage on the victim’s finances, psyche, and reputation can be devastating, to say the least.

Don’t wait until this happens to you. An ounce of prevention is still better than a pound of cure, so take the necessary steps to secure your personal information both online and off to protect yourself from such a crime.

Safeguard your personal information offline

Secure all official documents pertaining to your identity, from your birth certificate and marriage contract to your passport, as well as all your financial documents and records in a safe place at home, preferably under lock and key. Do a regular check of your documents to make sure that they are in good condition.

Limit the number of identification and credit cards that you carry in your wallet at any given time. At all times, be conscious of where your wallet is, whether it’s in your bag or your back pocket.

Go through every transaction on your bank and credit card statements carefully. Be on the alert for withdrawals that you don’t remember doing or credit card purchases at shops that you are unfamiliar with. These are possible signs that your information has been compromised. Contact your bank or credit card company immediately.

Don’t just throw official receipts, checks, bank statements, insurance forms, and other such documents in the trash can. Shred them into tiny bits, making sure that it bears no recognizable form of information.

Last but not least, do not just share your personal information to anybody. Do not reveal your birthday or your mother’s maiden name to someone who contacted you over the phone offering a deal. At work, at the doctor’s office, or in your child’s school, you might be asked to divulge personal information. Be clear as to how such information will be used – and what measures these institutions have in place to protect your data.

Secure your life online

Protect all the information you have in your gadgets, whether it’s a notebook, laptop, or smart phone, by enforcing a variety of security measures. Lock up your devices with a password. This way, you and only you can get to the information in your devices. In the event that your gadget is stolen, thieves cannot easily procure your data. Install anti-spy and anti-virus software on your devices. These will not only guard your online life against intrusions and infections, it will also alert you on any attempts to break into your firewall, depending on the program you used. The more security measures you use, the better.

Come up with strong passwords, using both lower and upper cases, for your various accounts, whether it’s your laptop, email, or bank account. Make it as unique as possible. It is also advisable to change your passwords every three months or so.

When you get a message from a person or organization that you are not familiar with, do not open the file that comes with it or click on the link attached. These attachments could possibly unleash a virus or spyware on your computer, making your data vulnerable to cyber-thieves.

Free Wi-Fi is good, but only if you are absolutely sure that your information will be protected. An encrypted website only protects the data you send to and from the site. A secure wireless network protects all the data you send on the network.

Examine the information you are sharing over social networks. Over-sharing can make the work of identity thieves easy, especially if you readily and regularly giving intimate details of your life. Make sure that the people who can access your information are really friends, not just acquaintances. Review your privacy settings regularly.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How Pinoys helped Convergys become a global leader

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino call center worker in Cebu managed to impress Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer so much that he sent a commendation letter to the company.

The call center agent is just one of nearly 36,000 Filipinos, who make up 44% of Convergys' global workforce.

Convergys president and CEO Andrea Ayers has nothing but praise for its Filipino employees, who have helped the BPO company flourish since it set up shop in Manila ten years ago.

"We have grown in double digits (in employee headcount), each of those years, year-on-year, a testament to the good work and strong talent here.We now have 35,900 employees in the Philippines and still growing," she said in a press briefing in Makati City on Thursday.

Convergys, the number one provider in US customer management services BPO market, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its operations in the Philippines, where it currently has 21 sites.

Ayers is proud that Convergys is the Philippines' largest private employer, and has received the BPO Employer of the Year award three times. The Philippines is also where Convergys has the largest operations or 44% of its 80,000 global workforce.

Ayers attributed Convergys' successful operations in the Philippines to the deep talent pool.

"The most important thing for us is access to talent, people. Not only agents but the leaders that surround our agents and make decisions... We (also) look for infrastructure, technology, a focus on education is important for us," she said. "We want to be in places where we can sustain a business for years and years. I want another decade here and another decade after that."

Convergys managing director Marife B. Zamora agreed, noting that the Philippines is still a top-notch destination for customer management services to Convergys clients from North America, UK and Australia.

"The biggest advantage continues to be availability and high quality of potential employee pool found in the Philippines," she said. "Another cornerstone of our success is the support of the government because they know this is the second largest revenue generating industry here."

Ayers sees more growth in the industry, but noted there will be a shift to more complex, knowledge-based transactions.

"(Call centers) won't be obsolete.It will just evolve... You need more agents. We see the 10-year trend for growth in our industry, and it shows growth in agent headcount positions," she said

First facility in Mindanao

Convergys is set to open its 22nd facility in Abreeza Technohub, Davao City in September, the company's first in Mindanao.

Ivic Mueco, country manager for Convergys Philippines, noted there were 750 applicants who lined up on the first day of recruitment in Davao.

"We're in the process of hiring our first 400. We are very proud to be in that region, to a certain extent that's a region that needs help," Mueco said.

As for future facilities in other cities in Mindanao, Mueco said the company will still have to assess the performance of the Davao facility before making a decision.

While most of Convergys' contact center facilities are in Luzon, it also has facilities in Cebu and Bacolod.

"We will end with 22 centers this 2013, second to the US which has 30+. We support almost all of the industries under Convergys' array: financial services, technology, cable, satellite, telecommunications, automotive, retail and healthcare," Mueco said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Gabby Lopez on ABS-CBN's 'North Star'

MANILA - ABS-CBN Chairman Eugenio 'Gabby' Lopez III on Thursday reminded hundreds of communication students from different schools about the role of media in the Philippines 60 years after the birth of Philippine television.

In his speech before the Pinoy Media Congress, Lopez said media is like the truthful child in the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

“Media’s role is like that of the child. When everyone else is lying through their teeth and exclaiming how grand the Emperor’s new clothes are, we need media to be like the child who will exclaim for all to hear that the Emperor is in fact, naked,” he said.

“We don’t aim to win friends or even keep them in this business. The role of media as we see it in ABS-CBN is to serve the Filipino,” he added.

ABS-CBN has partnered with the Philippine Association of Communication Educators Foundation (PACE) for the last 8 years in sponsoring the Pinoy Media Congress. This year's theme is "Media: Beyond Information and Education."

In his speech, Lopez confessed to being a “digital migrant” compared to this generation’s “digital natives.”

He admitted that he is in a state of denial after turning 60 last year, and getting his senior citizen’s card.

“I am as old as Philippine Television --- all 60 years of it. I was a kid when the first locally produced black and white television show was aired on a station that was to become today’s ABS-CBN. I was in college when color television broadcasting was born in this country. I was getting my feet wet as a disc jockey in one of ABS-CBN’s radio stations when the network covered the moon landing with the first man walking on the moon,” he said.

Lopez said that like the youth, the media also has a role to play in society, which is “to bring information and entertainment to people in a convenient and cost effective manner.”

He said that while state-owned media has served as tools of oppression, commercial media thrives through the interplay of market forces and gets its reward through excellence in providing information and entertainment.

“We have long recognized our obligation to the public arising from our use of the air lanes, a public resource. This is why successful networks like ABS-CBN spend time and money on news and current affairs. A democracy like ours thrives on information – timely and accurate information. Given the nature of our development, it is also necessary to provide a good interpretation of the significance of unfolding events. That too, is a function we must serve,” he said.

Lopez said ABS-CBN has also sought to educate its audience through the curriculum-based e-learning programs of ABS-CBN Foundation and through the Knowledge Channel of SKY Foundation.

He conceded though that the entertainment side of commercial media tends to reflect current social mores rather than attempts to change them. “Perhaps there should be a more conscious effort to promote positive social values through telenovelas but even here, it ought to be more subtle than many policy makers and academicians want,” he said.

The cost of serving the Filipino

Lopez said working in service of the Filipino captures the essence of ABS-CBN. “The ways and forms of service may change. But our desire, commitment and passion to serve the Filipino will remain. These words are from my father, Eugenio Lopez, Jr. It is our North Star, our constant guide. It defines us and everything we do,” he said.

He said this commitment to service has made the company expand its horizons and take bold stands on public issues, at great risk to personal and corporate survival. He said the commitment also caused misunderstanding with the political powers-that-be.

Lopez reminded the audience of how President Ferdinand Marcos shut down ABS-CBN and its sister media company, The Manila Chronicle, during the martial law years.

He said that while the 1986 EDSA Revolution ended Marcos’ oppression, ABS-CBN still suffered “when unpopular administrators used their powers to try to make us see things their way.”

“It would have been more financially rewarding and less of a headache to follow the dictates of Malacanang but to do so wouldn’t have been of service to the Filipino,” he said.

He added: “The trust and confidence of our people have given us the power to stand up in defense of our people’s rights against an oppressive government. I confess to be very traditional in this respect… in believing that the most important function of media in a free society is to protect its people from the abuses of government. No one citizen can stand up to an oppressive government but an independent media standing up to be counted and leading the people in political action ensures the preservation of democracy and its institutions.”

Partnering with PNoy

Lopez also took time to praise the changes in the nation under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino III. He said that under Aquino, “I see a nation so different from what it was, just three years ago.”

“I see a nation that is more confident of its direction, more determined of the strategy it is taking and more imbued with the moral conviction of its actions. I see a nation about to break out from the debilitating clutches of the past. I also see a nation divided between the old centers of power and a new civil society fighting hard for much needed social change,” he said.

The ABS-CBN Chairman said he personally supports the President’s economic development programs and efforts to rid the bureaucracy of corruption. He said ABS-CBN is ready to partner with the Aquino administration in promoting good government by identifying backlogs in public service, corruption in government and the waste of public resources.

He admitted though that this does not mean that ABS-CBN will always see things the President’s way.

“There are times when Malacanang will accuse us of sensationalism, unwarranted criticism and negativism. And some of it will be accurate. In the pursuit of ratings, in being a network imbued with a commercial interest, we just like any other media outfit can cross the boundaries. But as some wise man once said: ‘Freedom means having to watch some disgruntled citizen burn your flag down.’ This is not to excuse any excesses but it is to recognize that those very abuses are part and parcel of democracy in our society. It is the price we pay. And the solution is an open and continuing dialogue between government and media,” he said.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Google aims to bring 'the best of the internet' to Pinoys

MANILA – Google recently launched its new unit in Makati, in an effort to “bring the best of the internet” to the Filipino internet user.

Narciso Reyes, country head of Google Philippines, described the move as a major step for the tech giant.

“This is a big step for us because it enables us to be closer to our users, our partners and our advertisers,” he told ANC’s “Inside Business”.

Reyes is tasked to lead a sales and marketing team in the country to further the growth of their services by localizing more of their content to fit the needs of Filipino internet users.

“Google is all about bringing the world’s information readily available and we feel that being on the ground here is a step in the right direction,” he said.

Reyes said there are about 33 million Filipinos online, a number they expect to double by 2016.

He noted that in spite of the doors opened by online transactions, opening an office still has its advantages.

“What we found is that we are able to get more in touch with the local pulse and we are able to bring a better user experience to our users,” he said.

Reyes added the reception of Filipinos has been “tremendous.”

“It’s given us an avenue to be closer to our user base and just the excitement generated by that launch is testament of how exciting it is for us to be here,” he said.

Google has started hiring for the Philippine office, but Reyes did not say how many employees they plan to hire.

“It’s kind of a running number depending on how things stack up and how things progress,” he said.

source: abs-cbnnews.com