“The “New Media experience” as exhibited in the Obama presidential campaign can be replicated in our country to boost advocacy promotions and to even elevate the election campaign system. And we will be in forefront in conveying the necessary inputs in order to utilize and maximize these new technologies,” says Rick Bahague, national coordinator of the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU). “As our launching activity on New Media tools for electoral campaigns, Ms. Mary Joyce, the New Media Operations’ Manager for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is invited by CPU and she is scheduled to speak on July 24, 25 and 26.”

Obama’s resounding victory in the last US presidential elections demonstrated how internet resources could contribute to the success of an election campaign. Using New Media tools, the campaign mobilized 2.5 M donors to contribute over $400M online in micro-donations, inspired 250,000 member-driven events in communities across America and drove over 10M vote-to-voter phone calls by 350, 000 participants.

“It is true that we are not at par to the US in terms of population’s accessibility to New Media but still the statistics that we have in the Philippines show a promising contribution of the maximization of new technology in the success of advocacy and electoral campaigns,” added Bahague. “The presence of new media outfits in the country like Friendster and Yehey.com are also indicators that we have the skills to implement such strategies.”

The following are some of the data gathered to gauge the extent of the scope of information and communication technology in the Philippines:

• Internet access in the Philippines is limited to urban/metro areas
• About 28% of 35M Philippine urban population have accessed the internet based on AC Nielsen-Yahoo 2009 survey
• About 20% of internet users are aged 20-29, students from the middle class, who access the internet outside their homes; majority of internet users (50%) are mostly high school students aged 10-19 [AC Nielsen-Yahoo Net Index, Philippines, 2009]
• Top internet activities are e-mailing, instant messaging, online search, social networking, and online gaming
• About 60M Filipinos have mobile phones
• leading in recent surveys have an online presence (personal website and social network pages)

The “New Media: A Powerful Tool for the 2010 Elections, Winning the Campaign with New Media and the Obama Experience” is scheduled on 24, 25 and 26 July at 1-5 in the afternoon at Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Visit http://www.cp-union.com for details or call CPU office at 632.413.4196.

The “New Media: A Powerful Tool for the 2010 Elections” is co-presented by Friendster.com, the most popular social network in the country. It is also sponsored by Yehey.com, the country's leading search engine and portal with about a million visitors monthly. The Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) is a nationwide organization of computer professionals, students and enthusiasts working in advancing information and communications technology for the people. ###