Politics in New Media

Ever since the pandemic started, we have seen the actions of our government against the pandemic. Many lives were lost, a surge of COVID-19 cases up to this day, economic degression, and corruption. Our country might have not prepared well on how we should react to this kind of situation, but this doesn’t give them the pass to take advantage of these vulnerable times.  The filing of candidacy for President in our country has officially begun for this coming election in 2022 and I can’t help but notice the candidates who are about to run for the presidency. Every time I think about this election, I always have this sense of hope that we will now open our eyes to reality and not be blinded again by the corrupt people. 

Ever since I was in my senior high school, I was already exposed to political issues by using social media. At first, I really don’t take it as a big deal as those issues don’t really affect me and my family. But as days go by, as I mature and be more exposed to different people and technology where social media is now being used for broadcasting the news and current events in our country, I can now slowly understand how affected I am as a citizen in these societal issues.  During the first phase of the pandemic, we have witnessed a weak response from the government that led us to have a very long duration of quarantine in the world. During this time, this is where I got the instincts that I need to be politically aware and call out what hasn’t been done and what was taken advantage of by the government. As a citizen of the Philippines who has also witnessed the incompetent leaders of our country, we have experienced enough and it’s time to open our eyes and vote who is rightful for the position. The one who will rightfully protect the citizens and make our economy get back the way it is supposed to be.  

In relation of what I’ve learned to politics and new media, in this emerging technology, social media already allows the formation of public opinion and direct communication. Unlike before, where our way of getting information and how we interpret are all based on the old traditional media like in television and radio. But now, new mediums became available that are made to have an easy access not just to the information that we’re getting from the broadcasting and news companies but also with the different perspectives of public opinion on different issues. This digital age really gave the young generation a platform to speak up and not be silenced. From social media being just mainly used for communication and entertainment, this has now been a big avenue for everyone to practice their freedom of speech with regards to different issues and events that are happening in the entire world. But despite these good opportunities being brought to us, the more we consume and rely on this medium, it may give a negative impact to the majority mentally, emotionally or physically.

According to Siapera, The openness and directness of the internet and the new media as means of communication have given rise to hopes regarding the political system and its further democratization.Their open and informal character, their interactive attributes, as well as their wide reach provide new opportunities for politicians to communicate with citizens, for citizens to communicate with each other, and for people to mobilize in order to achieve certain political goals. Ever since the filing of candidacy for presidency happened last October, 2021, these aspirants have dominated the social media scene by producing their political campaigns for the upcoming elections. This is actually a good way of politicians campaigning themselves to be seen by its users; however, with the rise of fake news in the country, I can’t help but notice some aspirants take advantage of this. And this is what we should be careful of. I know that these trying times, we rely everything on social media and everyone can make their own statement and public opinion. But with regards to news and information, especially about politics, we should be critical when it comes to citing information like this as it can easily spread to the public.

As part of the generation z that uses social media and a first-time voter in this coming election, our generation has never been vocal when it comes to politics compared to other generations. I hope that we can advocate media literacy on social media to educate the citizens to vote who is truly rightful for the position.We may have different beliefs, and bets on who we want to win for the position but I just hope that everyone should consider the qualities of the leader that they want. A leader who has no background with corruption, a leader who has a sense of responsibility, a leader who is transparent, and a leader who will protect their country.

references:

Siapera, E. (2018). Understanding New Media. In Understanding new media (2nd ed., pp. 19–26). 

Photo: graphis.com

The Journalism in Social Media

New media has formed a new mode of journalism, one which relies much more on collaboration than independent reportage, and which removes authority from traditional journalistic sources. 

Now that digital media has become more progressive in how it is being used, every user of social media can easily portray themselves as someone who is credible. When they see someone who has a big reach of engagements and following, it can easily manipulate its audience that they’re credible enough in transmitting facts, news, and information to the public. Some use their platform to give facts with credible sources and some utilize for trolls, memes, and fake news. And because of this, users of this digital age mostly rely on these platforms when it comes to getting updates in history and current events in the Philippines. Having this basis in relying on information and news on social media, we cannot just avoid the fact the fake news has been prevalent on social media, and we cannot trust everything that we see on these platforms as there have been so many things that happened because of this. But why there are still some people who turn a blind eye to it? 

Traditional media has become our way of information about the current events in the Philippines ever since. And as the digital age continuously emerges,  I cannot deny the fact that this new media has really helped journalists disseminate factual and unbiased information to the public. This medium has also been the way for broadcasting companies and businesses to rely on news and information in just one click. But at the same time, social media made these broadcast companies and journalists oppressed as users of this can easily make themselves as someone that people should believe in. Trolls, memes, and fake news has dominated these platforms and that’s what makes us all confused what now to believe in. and because of this, this also affects the profits of journalist as by some business and broadcast companies starts cutting them down on journalistic jobs as this may result in the repetition of the same news across different journalistic outlets. 

According to Siappera, Journalism never had clear criteria as to who qualifies as a journalist, as the profession was traditionally open to all kinds of people, regardless of whether they had university degrees or any other kind of training. This is probably because journalism does not actually possess a kind of specialist knowledge as such, although of course, it requires drive and motivation, interest in the commons, as well as some kind of talent and knowledge of writing. In addition, laws on free speech mean that anyone is allowed to publish whether they are a journalist or not. In this digital age, this has kind of gave a negative impact on all users of social media as some of us now cannot identify what is true or not. But Siapera also mentioned in her book that this difficulty in professionalizing journalism is not necessarily a negative thing. Journalism has always stood in between people and politics, and its remit is to serve the public good: as a closed profession, journalism would not be accountable to the people nor would people be able to criticize journalism. But this contradicts what’s happening in the social media scene today. Users are now criticizing that the journalism before and today is a biased source of information and that history that is taught to schools is just a one-sided story. It’s very disappointing to know that most people nowadays think like this. They now more rely on the videos that they see online than research and books.

One example that I can give was the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. This has been a very hot topic on social media as Bongbong Marcos officially runs for the presidency in this coming election. There have been various arguments and allegations about the Marcos regime that might repeat if the son of the dictator will win the election. I know that we are all aware of how bloody the regime of Marcos was before, and yet, people still try to disregard the history that has happened before. I’ve seen numerous posts, trolls, and other content about how many people had their peaceful life during the Martial Law. These people might be fortunate during that time but that doesn’t give them the authority to disregard those people who were killed without mercy.  Supporters even try to put down the media and the journalists for giving false accusations to the Marcoses during that time. My opinion has nothing to do if you’re a Marcos supporter or not. My point is to accept what has proven factual on what happened during Martial Law and not to rely our beliefs on social media contents that we may see online. We have historians, researchers, professors, and books that we can rely on what is true, why depend on something that could’ve been curated on social media?

Sometimes, It’s really hard to educate someone who doesn’t want to be educated with credible facts and sources. Especially on social media that most people do even rely now on TikTok and YouTube content to support their claims about certain issues and information. But as a person who is privileged to have the education in learning the societal problems in the country, I always think how fortunate I am to have this and it is my job to educate and make other people aware of some issues that they might have misunderstood. As an aspiring content creator, I always try to utilize my platform not just in doing contents that I love but also in educating the public especially now that electoral campaigns for the presidency have officially begun and numerous trolls and fake news has dominated the social media scene today. In this digital age, everyone can now be a journalist, and I just hope that we utilize this power to unravel the truth and voice out what was being silenced.

Siapera, E. (2018). Understanding New Media. In Understanding new media (2nd ed., pp. 19–26). 

The Curated No Filter On Social Media

We’re now living in a world where everyone’s going digital. When technology started to transcend in our society, it has already been part of our lives to document everything and post it on social media. But why do we do this? Aside from the fact that people can now share pictures and videos and communicate with their close ones to strengthen their relationships in bringing families and friends together in a way that was not possible in the past, we cannot deny the reason why we post is to show off and get validation from the other users to fit in and to feel included in society. 

As normal people, we don’t want to be called fake, I mean, who does right? Everyone doesn’t want to be called fake and everyone hates being fake. But in the world of social media, here we are curating our posts because of the standard that social media has built on what we should be. We try to be someone else even if we say that we’re authentic. We rely on the definition of being beautiful on what we see and what’s on-trend on social media. Numerous articles from media practitioners and psychologists have produced write-ups about how dangerous social media is to society. One from the Highlander said that Social media often does not reflect reality but rather someone’s idea or hope of reality. (Forest, Carol 2020) Many images have been altered and it is difficult to know in what way. This platform allows us easy access to voice out our opinions from others and It’s ironic to think about how we criticize public figures, celebrities, and influencers on that platform where we also filter things that we post online. But why do we need to rely on these standards? Social Media has become our way of entertainment and leisure to get away from reality and we tend to post something that we’re not because popularity and social status are now the criteria to be related, included, and relevant. The more we practice this kind of mindset on social media, the more we set unrealistic expectations and goals to pursue.

In the year 2012, The Body Positive Movement campaign surfaced on Instagram and aimed to confront the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of people in social media and advertising. This movement tried to help avoid the curated filter that we post on social media. However, this campaign somehow made another standard on what we should be. In today’s generation, I believe that there’s already progress on the acceptance of our own flaws on social media especially in physical appearance but I think these campaigns portray that “you should be good at something else if you’re like this.” These body positivity campaigns and projects may have given us the freedom to accept our flaws and appreciate them but now, we tend to curate our personalities. We try to be woke, vocal, and conceited on social media. We always try to alter things about ourselves for validation and appreciation from other people. But in reality, the only validation that we all need is from ourselves.

It’s frustrating and sad to see that some of us are now being comfortable with curating their photos and videos on their social media platforms because they know this is how it really works. They know that there’s no such thing as no filter on social media because this is how everybody uses it. Technology may have given us the ability to do things easily but I can’t help but notice that this technology now controls our society. It now affects our way of thinking on how we should view things negatively and positively. We let technology define our society. 

With the photos, videos, and texts being posted on social media by its users, all of these could be used to make great and deeper content if we know how to properly use it to inspire others to put away the “no filter” filter mindset. Because the more we comply with these things, the more we curate our lives for other people. A good practice of this is knowing the limitations of your usage on social media and knowing who you really are. We are more than what we post and what we see on that platform and we are better off using filters just to get validation from others. It’s better to make a difference instead of joining the hype on what social media feeds to you. It’s time to control our society and don’t let technology define who and what we should be. 

Gelsinger, A. S. (2021). A critical analysis of the Body Positive Movement on instagram: How does it really impact body image? Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.9741/2766-7227.1003

The Highlander . (2020, October 28). Toxic beauty standards on social media. issuu. https://issuu.com/the_highlander/docs/the_highlander_-_issue_one_-_october_2020/s/11214349. 

The use of Social Media in Political Election Campaigns in PH

The use of social media has become more progressive compared to how we use these platforms before. Aside from this medium being used as a way of communication, socialization, entertainment, and news, social media is now being used for business and political campaigns. With our new generation specifically the generation z and millennials, we have become more vocal using these platforms when it comes to our beliefs may it be political or personal. With this way of using social media, businesses and politicians took the advantage to utilize social media as their marketing and PR tool to catch the attention of users and to attract potential votes for them in elections. But what makes for a successful political campaign on social media? And is utilizing social media for political campaigns is a positive way of strategy to strengthen the PR of a certain person who runs for elections?

As part of generation z, I consume social media as a way of staying connected with my friends and family. But at the same time, I’ve been using this to voice out my opinions on certain issues that we’re dealing with right now in our country.  Since the coming elections for the presidency are approaching, I can’t help but notice politicians are already starting their social media campaigns with articles about their purpose of running for president and It’s funny to see how these candidates try to hide their allegations about their stand on certain societal issues for the sake of having a good image as a candidate running for president. I can agree that social media has now being used for this kind of business as most people nowadays are already on digital platforms. But according to Gibson, the people behind these social media campaigns lie with the users and the supporters, not the candidates themselves. But how are these campaigns being made by the supporters? 

One thing I noticed is that this way of campaigning politicians on social media already exists ever since the presidential elections back in 2016 when President Duterte was elected as our President. Duterte’s presidential social media campaign has become controversial as he had a wide reach on social media during the campaign proper. According to Sinpeng et al., there are three ways how social media campaigns are being done by politicians during the electoral race; the first is the Broadcast Model. As stated in Sinpen et al.’s paper, these top-down or ‘broadcast’ approaches analyze social media campaigns from the perspectives of the candidates or their political parties—seeking first and foremost to understand their online communication strategies (Grant, Moon, and Grant 2010). There are three sub-types of a broadcast model of campaigning: the savvy, active, and populist communication style. The ‘Internet savvy communication style’ espouses a positive relationship between active, frequent, and professionalized social media campaigning with higher levels of fan engagement (Williams and Gulati 2013; Larsson and Kalsnes 2014). The broadcast model is basically focused on the team and the candidate itself putting themselves on social media with a strategized content about being active and authentic to attract supporters. One example of this campaign is the social media campaign of Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo as part of the Liberal Party back in the 2016 elections. The second is Grassroots model. According to this perspective, politicians and parties should step away from the broadcast model of communication, where they push out information and instruct the public to take particular actions (Wells 2015). Based on Gibson’s study of the 2010 UK general election, this bottom-up approach to digital campaigning is particularly suitable for new parties with few resources. This model is what President Duterte and his team did during the electoral race on social media. Their campaign is initiated by the citizens itself that why he had a huge breakthrough on social media that led him to be liked by so many people. According to Ross Tapsell, During the campaign for the electoral race, President Duterte already projected himself as the strongman who will alleviate crimes and corruption in the country. By doing this, He had his own PR team of paid trolls, a “team of writers and videographers” and used fallacious reasoning and propaganda techniques. To add, those people who helped their campaign on social media were all rewarded with government positions, claiming these influencers are “the new generation”. This strongly supports that President Duterte and his team followed the grassroots model where they let the citizens and people on social media initiate in making him noticeable on these platforms. Moving on to the last model, The Self-Actualizing Model is an intersection of the two models that I mentioned above. It simply says that this strategy includes inviting crowd input for suggestions on actions to take, interacting with the crowd, and providing inclusive and undirected motivation to take action, where the crowd could opt-in and out at will (Lilleker and Jackson 2010; Harfoush 2009; Enli and Skogerbø 2013; Kreiss 2016).

The way of electoral campaigning has already dominated the social media scene but it doesn’t mean that we as consumers of social media and citizens of the Philippines should depend on what we see on digital platforms especially when it comes to knowing the right candidate that we want to vote for elections. We all know that there’s no dirty political campaign and these candidates have their own strategies on how to get the people’s vote and it’s still up to us on how we consume those campaigns to ourselves. We’ve been dealing with fake news for so many years now and it’s sad to see how politicians and people who have power take advantage of this to get what they want. Living here in the Philippines, not everyone is fortunate enough to have an education, and with that, we as privileged people who are able to have the opportunity to study, should all step up and educate people about certain things. The election is coming up in just a few months and the best way we can do is not to leave everyone behind. We had enough for voting the wrong person last election, it’s time to vote who truly deserves to lead the country.

References:

Sinpeng, A., Gueorguiev, D., & Arugay, A. A. (2020). Strong fans, weak campaigns: Social media and Duterte in the 2016 Philippine election. Journal of East Asian Studies, 20(3), 353–374. https://doi.org/10.1017/jea.2020.11

What Technology has brought to us

The relationship between society and media has been a subject of debate. Recent studies have proven different perspectives on how technology has brought us future while some researchers have proven the negative side of it. There were also a lot of opinions, and theories, from different media practitioners on how technology affects our lives today. With these arguments, I can’t help but also think about how this affects my daily life as a consumer of technology and as part of society. Is technology has brought has new possibilities for the future or the opposite of it? 

I am not a “bookworm” type of person who reads a bunch of books and researches but when we discussed this in my major in school, It got me curious on what are the reasons behind why we act like this ever since technology got into our lives. What do I mean by “we act like this” is why this generation has become more vocal, expressive, critical, and free ever since technology got into our lives. As I read the study of Darin Barney in 2004 where he classified three different theories on technology which are Instrumentalism, Subtantivism, and Social Constructivism, he had different approaches and perspectives per theory on how he defined the effect of technology on society. On Barney’s first theory which is Instrumentalism, he discussed having a neutral perspective on technology. It explains it depends on how you consume it in your daily life. The way you see and use technology reflects on what could happen to you. In this theory, Technology can only be assessed on the basis of how efficient it is to a person. You cannot define technology in a way that is good or bad for people.  This theory has a point. After all, we cannot always put the blame on technology because we are the ones who consume it and it is in our hands-on how we properly use it. But in another perspective, this theory is kind of debatable because of the way how dependent people are on technology nowadays, sometimes we don’t know how to properly consume it since not everyone is knowledgeable and educated enough to understand how technology works. Moving on to the second theory, Barney defined Subtantivism as technology that defines society. Technology produces a certain kind of society and human beings. I have to agree with this. Ever since the world of social media influencing and content creation has been relevant to every user, I witnessed how technology has created a standard on what people should post, and act on social media. It creates a stereotype and a barrier on social media. One example is what I’ve experienced on social media. As a person who wants to pursue the career of being in front of the camera and content creation, I use my platform well to produce quality content for my viewers on social media. A content where they can relate to. However, as I keep creating contents and continuously grow my followers, I can’t help but notice that when people’s attention is already on your platform from time to time, people tend to demand what they want to see from you. I need to establish something that might be good in other people’s eyes. It felt like there’s no room for mistake. I need to curate something that would look influential all the time. With this, it just says that as we consume technology and creates its own society and human being, this is where the negative side of technology comes in. where we practice nothing but hatred when we don’t see something that isn’t in our principles. It creates something that we’re truly not. The last theory of Darin Barney is Social Constructivism, where he said that technological outcomes are socially mediated. Based on my understanding of this theory, it simply says if technology controls society, then society also controls technology because technological outcomes 

 While scrolling through my social media platforms, I’ve seen how dependent we are now on technology. Aside from giving us the convenience of interacting with our friends and loved ones virtually, this somehow created a mindset on how we should utilize media in greater things because of the freedom that it gives to every user. If there’s one theory that I can see that is really happening in our society today, technology is controlling our lives. It creates a society that everyone should be like everyone else. Especially in the world of social media. When you create a Twitter account, people did not expect you to tweet about your life updates like before, they now obliged you to use that platform to be vocal and take a stand on your political beliefs because if not, people will find you problematic because that’s how Twitter works today. Full of rants, political arguments, cancel culture, etc. I, myself experience this one that led me for not using Twitter that much these days because of how problematic users are already there because of the application. That’s how we can easily define how technology affects society. It creates a toxic society on social media that reflects in you in real life. If you don’t do this, then your image as a person on social media reflects your personality and attitude in real life. It creates a stereotype that says if you belong or not if you participate in this or that. But I’m not saying that being vocal on social media is not a good practice for everyone because I know how powerful this tool is to be heard by the public and be critical and aware of the issues around the world and it’s good that we care and voice out on these certain issues. However, we should know that not everyone is already like this. Some people are still scared to be vocal on these platforms and we shouldn’t force someone to be a critique as someone on Twitter if they want to keep their political beliefs privately and just use social media for updates and entertainment. Where is the freedom that we call on these social media applications if we cannot respect how other people use these platforms? As we continue to participate with what social media tells us what to do,  the more we become toxic and insensitive to other people because we rely on these platforms on how we should act, or rather how society should react.

We all have our own usage of social media. We all have different ways of how we use it and how we consume it in our daily lives. Some may find it very useful while others not because they find it very toxic. I believe social media has given us the freedom to do what we want quickly. With just one click, we can call out, educate, and share anything that we want. With proper use and limitations with these platforms, I believe that we can consume this new media as something really beneficial to everyone and not a threat. If we are sensitive enough and be cautious about how we use these platforms, then we can agree that technology may give us a brighter future as this may give us a safe space and a good environment where we can voice out, interact, and be entertained. Don’t technology and the people on social media define you nor the society you live in. It’s okay to be different on how you use social media as long as it gives you the freedom to speak your mind with no hesitations and for not pretending something to be that you’re not.

References:

Siapera, E. (2018). Understanding New Media. In Understanding new media (2nd ed., pp. 19–26). 

DON’T LET TECHNOLOGY DEFINE YOU

Writing this blogpost at home while scrolling up on my social media platforms, I can’t help but notice that for every post/tweet that we make, social media controls our standards on what we should be. Sometimes we now try to alter or filter our flaws to look like attractive, natural and influential on our posts online. with that being said, the definition of beauty relies on the comments and what’s on trend on our social media. Another thing that I’ve noticed, our generation today is now vocal on what we want to say online, we use this as our medium to give comments and to criticize things that we don’t like. since we let social media construct our standards, this leads us to misunderstanding on social media that creates chaos on it. I get that we have different opinion and perspective in our lives but let’s be cautious on what we post online so we could not hurt and invalidate someone’s feelings.

It’s sad to know that because of these standards, it now affects our mental health since people are now scared to express what they want online. Technology is made to make things easier for us but does it really help us if we’re experiencing this dilemma right now? Social Media is made to easily share and build connections to each other, but why are we using this for hatred? We must know our limitations on what we post and respect all the things that we see online even if it doesn’t meet our way of thinking and perspective in our lives.

As a victim of cyber bullying back when I was in my junior and senior high school, it really affect my physical and mental health. It felt like I’m not good enough on what I am passionate about. I lost my appetite and drive in writing for my blog that’s why I’ve been inactive posting since last year. It really took a year for me to write again because of what happened few years ago. Last 2014 I was inspired by David Guison to publish my own fashion blog, and it didn’t went well because of the fake people surrounded me. They mocked me, created an issue on social media and called me a famewhore. After what happened, I stopped writing and I started doubting myself in everything that I do, it’s like no one is believing in me. It felt like the whole world keeps rejecting me every time I do something for myself.

after 2 years, college life opened a lot of opportunities, and I was able to gain my confidence again. I realized what I experienced before was very traumatic, but I learned that we must not depend on how people and technology define YOU and don’t let the negativity wipe out the things that we want to do. We cannot deny the fact that there are still people who will try to let you down, but the only thing that you need is to believe in yourself that you can and strive for the best no matter how many rejections you may get as long as you’re happy on what you are doing, because in the end, all the efforts that you do will surely pay off. I’m proud to my old self for being strong to accept all the failures, rejections and criticisms that he had because I am not who I am today without him. My message for those people who are starting to doubt themselves, this is not the end, don’t let the online world define you.

CONTENT OVER ______.

*The content that you are about to read on my blog is our paper work with my groupmates that we wrote for our purposive communication finals. Since our advocacy is for all the social media influencers out there like me, I just want to share our thoughts and opinions on how this kind of industry really works*. xx

written by: Migs Venegas (me), Hans Kho & Godwin Domingo.

Writing this blog with my groupmates while scrolling up and down on my social media accounts,  I can’t help but notice the amount of FreeLancers (a term I derived from the words “freelancer” and “influencer”). They’re dominating the social media scene, sharing their life experiences to influence our generaton. As one who studies Communications major, I believe that CONTENT should be the most important factor that we must consider when writing/shooting your own blog/vlog. You are called to be a "Social Media Influencer" not just to share your daily routines, haul for sponsorship, or show your "OOTDs", but of course to first and foremost, to  INFLUENCE—to inspire—and to give thoughts to your audience; also to help them boost their confidence in dealing with things they're afraid to do. My group has noticed that most numbers of social media influencers today do not put to use the true essence of being an influencer in the digital world, rather they feed off from the attention that they are getting. We are not discrediting the efforts of these influencers today but some of these so-called influencers are being known only for their pleasing physical structures, desirable social status, and what not. Social media has a variety of topics that makes us communicate with others, keep us updated on the current events, and allow us to give comments and opinions on the things we see online. All of these could be used to make great and deeper content. It is important that a social media influencer has fortitude in the product that he/she is promoting, not only to build his/her credibility, but also to give his/her audience the quality content that they deserve. 

 What our group is advocating for is one thing: Choosing content over anything else. Being a powerful tool to communicate information in just one click, social media’s role for the youth is vital. That’s why our team is here to promote making substantial and more conceptualized content for the mass. Yes, of course, we are aware of the different genres that are there content wise, and what we’re just saying is for social media ‘inspirations’ or aspiring social media influencers to consider being more critical, and creating well-thought contents for their respective platforms. Just by being original, having to positively influence and inspire your audience, and promoting positivity all over your platform are just few of the many ways on making such content. 

 CONTENT is the most important criterium, above anything else. However, nowadays, people don’t look for quality contents anymore. Popularity and social status matter now. Connections and publicity are the basis of good quality content. It doesn’t matter if a person produces shallow blogs and vlogs, as long as they’re desirable, they fit in as social media influencers. In order to be called a social media influencer, one must earn the title. One must give good quality content to the society, and maybe it would be less of a mock to be called as such.

(c) LKdoble, MAui Arcilla, & Zachary Tria for the photos

5 Easy Ways on How to Look Comfortable in Front of The Camera

My apologies for the late post! I’ve been doing a lot of school works in the past few days. Since our Senior High week is coming, I need to finish all my requirements for this week, because the following weeks would be a little bit stressful for me. I hope this one could help those ‘camera shy’ teenagers who want to pursue modeling, blogging and vlogging like me, by giving some of my little tips on where do I get the confidence in facing the camera all the time or why I am comfortable in front of the camera.

1.  Practice your Facial Expressions

Practicing your facial expressions in the mirror makes your poses on the camera look natural and charismatic. Most of us tend to pose fiercely in order to express a strong aura but some people find it hard to have that fierce look for it appears to be a poker face. One must practice how to properly execute such poses for you to get the attention of your viewers. Always remember that it is not only how you bring your clothes, but also, how you can get the eyes and feelings of your viewers with that facial expression of yours.

2.    Know the theme of your shoot

It’s important that you know what is the theme and the purpose of your shoot to be aware on what are the things you’ll be needing and what kind of look would you show and share. Knowing the theme of your shoot first before doing it may help you to imagine what are the possible look and outcome on your shoot and to avoid cramming when you’re in photo shoot.

3.   Know The Production you gonna work with/Photographer

You need to know your photographer first to have a chemistry with the person taking photos of you, and also to avoid the awkwardness when doing the shoot. Knowing the photographer makes you feel more comfortable posing on the camera because you already build a different kind of relationship with the person who’s taking photos of you, and the photographer would be able open to suggestions on what and how to pose in front of the camera that would result to a perfect angle that you want to show and share to public.

4.   Know your Angle

In my 3 years of blogging (yes 3 years inactive lang lmao) the first thing I’ve learned when I started my blog, was to know my angles, since you want to inspire other people on your posts and influence them with your appealing clothes, you should know where your angle is. All of us have their own flaws, it is your choice if you want to show to them, knowing your angle on the camera emphasizes the parts you want to show that can make your photo or video more appealing and if possible has message to share.

5. Have A Peg

I have attended several photoshoots in school or for my blog purposes, I always have a peg or style to show off.  What I mean having a peg is not to copycat on how every bloggers/vloggers usually do, having your peg on your shoots in front of the camera could make you feel better and not awkward in facing the camera because the ‘peg’ thing for me would make you feel confident and you have your thoughts on your mind for example “okay this is how David Guison poses on his cam, hmm what else can I do?” “oh this is how Janina Vela usually do when she’s vlogging hey hey hey Janina here!”  you have your peg for David Gusion and Janina Vela on your shoots but with a twist of your own style and better version of what your peg will still look unique and enticing.  

OUTFIT:

SPECS: SPECTA MANILA

TOP: Ralph Lauren

POLO BUTTON DOWN: Old Navy

SHORTS: Oxygen Clothing

(c) KEN PANLASIGUI

My Valentine Thoughts

Month of February is approaching and everywhere we go, we notice a lot of people selling flowers in our schools, offices and in any other public places . Valentine's is a special day not only for couples but for everyone, this is one of the best times to express our feelings to the person we love or we adore by giving something really special or just celebrate this occasion with their loved ones.  Some preferred to go on a dinner date, watch movie together, do travel and too many to mention.

Base on my own personal experience, if you really love or like someone, you should always show and prove to that person that you really love them, that you will be strong for your relationship no matter how many problems may come through and not gonna leave him/her through his/her ups and downs, and make them feel the love they deserve.

When we hear about “Valentine’s Day”, the first thing that comes to our mind, is February, the month of couples. I remember when I was still in junior high–every Valentine’s day, during lunch break & dismissal, people have done so much effort for their crushes, hahaha and OMG I can’t believe we were so clingy that time, but looking back now, we are all just laughing about it. One thing that I have learned during Valentine’s was, when you really love someone, you will be willing to give so much effort to the person you love because others said that when both parties are willing to pay on a date, it means that both of you are willing to invest on each other no matter how small or big it is, and that is how ironic love is.

But there’s this thing that slightly bothers me, these days most people think that valentine's day is only for those who are in a relationship and instead of being happy, some people feel sad during Valentine’s day because they have this kind of mindset that the occasion is only meant to be celebrated by couples. Guys you just need to wait for the perfect timing, it may sound clichè, but you just need to wait and time will come you’ll find the perfect person for you.  So Guys, you can celebrate Valentine's day without being with someone, there are other people who were contented on what they have, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Celebrate Valentine’s day with your families and friends! Make them feel special because in the end, the one who will never leave by your side is your family. Don't rush things guys! just be patient and you'll get the love that you really deserve. Love really takes time and when you already found the right person, make them always feel that you really love them. Time to time, struggles may come to your relationship. Love is a risk also, but, the risk that you're going to take, maybe the best part of loving someone or the worst part of loving someone else.  To end this as a teenager like some of you guys, you should always know your worth and it is hard to be attached  to someone who cannot give the love that we want.  Just always enjoy life and make good memories that would serve as your lesson in the future. 

Advance Happy Valentine’s fam! How about you? Share to me your unforgettable Valentine moment or your thoughts about the Heart month! Spread the love. ;) 

Here’s my photo shoot last January 10, 2018 at Bonifacio High Street, Philippines. x

Thank you so much Ken Panlasigui for these shots!!!

OUTFIT:

Specs: SPECTA MANILA (@spectamnl ong IG)

Top: Ralph Lauren

Jacket: Unbranded

Shorts: Oxygen Clothing

Shoes: Tubulars Adidas

7 things I’m excited to do this 2018!

Before we end 2017, we made a lot of new year’s resolutions, and some of us even made their own bucketlist that they want to do or try this 2018. I am really excited to try something new and open doors to opportunities that may come. Since I’m turning 18 this year, I promised that I’ll be active in blogging since I really want this blog to be successful, I even made a what to do list for 2018 that I haven’t even tried for the past 17 years. Let’s see if I’m going to accomplish these things before 2018 year ends!

1. COLLABORATION WITH ONLINE STORES

One of the highlights of being a fashion blogger is that you influence your readers to be trendy, and to be updated about the latest fashion trends. Some fashion bloggers get only recognized mostly when they're collaborating with online shops especially on Instagram. As an amateur fashion blogger, I want to take my passion of being a fashion blogger into a new level.  The collaboration of fashion bloggers to online stores where bloggers do post their items, give reviews and convince your readers to buy their products. I know its quite hard to get recognized in the fashion blogging industry since there's a lot of fashion bloggers here in the Philippines, but I believe that I would be able to reach my goal as long as I am passionate and persistent with what I am doing.

2. TRAVEL ALONE AFTER GRADUATION

I’m a grade 12 Senior High student, and hopefully graduating this June in UST. Before I go to college, I want to travel and see the beauty of my homeland, The Philippines, specifically in Siargao or Bora! I badly want to try surfing and go to LaBoracay this year. I know It’s kinda risky for a 17 year old to travel alone but I guess it could help me with being independent and a responsible individual, and yeah I’m turning 18 in a few months no worries!!! I also might start vlogging when I got that chance to travel alone this year

3. TO EARN A LITTLE SOMETHING IN DOING WHAT I LOVE (as such, blogging and collaborations)

It’s really hard to be consistent on posting another content weekly on your blog especially when you always have a lot of things to do in school and you’re graduating. But UST gave me 3 days break weekly, I can now give you atleast 4-5 posts monthly (promise gagawin ko yan HAHA).  3 years ago, I was inspired of making my own fashion blog because of  David Guison. I used to buy expensive clothes before just for my blog and be able to give you a good content. I’ve always been dependent on my parent’s income for all my needs and wants, and I’d like to change that mindset this 2018. I’m not getting any younger, and wiseness knows no age. Learning to find my own source of income or discipline myself in proper money handling as a student-blogger. Through this exercise, I would be helping them in focusing solely on the needs of my family, and at the same time, for their own pleasures and not mine.

4. START MY COLLEGE LIFE WITH A BANG!

Being one of the pioneer students of Senior High School was not easy, everything’s temporary and experimental. But Senior High taught me to be strong enough to face all the problems I might encounter when I enter college. I’m currently taking ABM (Accountancy, Business,Management) strand and I’m going to pursue AB Communication Arts in college, yeah I know it isn’t connected to the strand that I’m currently taking due to change of interests from business field to the field of media and broadcasting when I entered in UST. Sadly UST said that the USTSHS were not prioritized in entering for college. I still have doubts if I’m going to pass USTET on the 28th of January or not!!! But I’m very much excited to start my college life where I could build friendships again, join organizations that is connected to my field which is media and start another journey of reaching my dreams.

5. MEET A LOT OF GREAT PEOPLE IN THE SAME FIELD AS I AM 

 As I continue this fashion blog, I also want to meet a lot of new people who are in the same field of blogging. It would be a pleasure to collaborate and build relationships to other influencers inclined to fashion to also help improve my skills in the industry i’m entering. Actually, one of my bucketlist that I’m really craving to attend in the future is the E-bloggers ball. And i believe that through this newly formed relationships, I may be closer into achieving that dream.

 6. INSPIRE AND BE THE EMBODIMENT OF A SOCIAL INFLUENCER

 I want to share what I could to other people, and raise all the confidence of those people who were scared of doing what they want, and erase their insecurities. As an influencer, i’d like to be an inspiration that they’re enough in the way they are, be the voice of teenagers in all their problems and dilemmas they currently face. I want to inspire those teenagers on keep fighting in reaching their dreams because all efforts would be worth it in the end.

 7. TO ENJOY EVERY BIT OF 2018

 Lasty, of course I want to enjoy every bit of blessings may come to my life. I learned from the past years that I’ve been through was don’t ever miss an opportunity that may come to your life, and always be thankful to the person above there for what you have reached and accomplished, because without Him, we cannot do what we want, and we cannot reach what we want to reach. I want this 2018 to be a year full of opportunities and happy moments rather  than full of rejections and heartaches.

There’s nothing bad having big dreams, you just need to work hard for it. ;) how about you? comment down below your thoughts and bucketlist this 2018!! have a great year ahead fam! x.

OUTFIT:

top: oversized shirt from SM YOUTH

Jacket: Denim Jacket from Uniqlo

Pants: Joggers from Oxygen Clothing

Sneakers: Tubulars Adidas

(c) KEN PANLASIGUI

Goodbye 2017.

Better late than never. I know that I’ve been inactive for a couple of months because of personal reasons, and I wasn’t able to post new content for you (sad reax) but I promise to do my best to post weekly!!! Yay hello 2018! 

The month of December is the most awaited time of the year. This is the time when we buy gifts for our friends and relatives.

This is also the time when we prepare what clothes we’re going to wear for Christmas and for New Year’s Eve as we welcome another exciting year for us. I celebrated New Year’s Eve together with my whole family wearing my plain Ralph Lauren shirt with my mustard yellow jacket from Nike as my top, a black shorts from Oxygen Clothing and a pair of triple black airforce from Nike.

2017, wow! This has been the most challenging and dramatic year I have encountered yet, but it’s still worth remembering. I had a lot of ups and downs, kilig vibes, chances to travel, and I met new friends. I learned a lot of things that made me a better version of myself and I thank all the heartaches and problems that I’ve encountered throughout this year. 

2017 gave me a lot of opportunities that changed my life. A lot of doors have opened and now, it seems like I’m already on my first step to reaching my dreams in UST. I’ve also had a lot of rejections, but I’ve learned that all you need is to be strong and take risks. Whatever comes into your life, I swear it would all be worth it! We can’t please everybody and judgments are inevitable, but don’t ever let this kind of negativity distract you. This year taught me that I should not please anyone just to be accepted for who and what I truly am. In the end, the only one who can truly accept and appreciate you is yourself

I’ve met a lot of people, though some are just temporary. It made me feel lonely because it seemed like everyone just come and go after getting what they want, but of course there are still trustworthy people who could give you genuine happiness (you know who u r guys luv y’all). Lastly, thanks to the Guy above there, who never left me.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Cheers to new beginnings and don’t ever miss whatever opportunity may come into your life. Have a great year ahead. x

here’s my photoshoot taken last december 1st taken by Beatx Alminarez and Thank you AM for choosing me to be one of your models on porfolio!!

(c) 

Rockin’ The World Stussy Tribe

Ever since the school year ended - which was last month, I've got nothing to do. But I was also inactive for a month long because of school works.

I was with my friend walking around UST last week (June 28,2017) after recieving my report card (thank God for high grades lol). then I saw this tennis court at the top of the practice gym. Coincidentally, my friend bought his camera with him and I loved the ambiance of the court, so we decided to have a quick shoot there wearing my stussy tribe shirt, black shorts from oxygen,iconic socks, hooded jacket and my triple black airforce 1 from Nike.  

I usually go to far places for the sole purpose of finding a good place to do my shoot. I honestly didn't expect that UST would be a good and recommendable place to do photoshoots and such. Everyone's asking me on my social media accounts where I uploaded some sneak peeks of my shoot,about where I did this shoot but what they didn't notice is it's just inside the campus. (so yeah it is just inside the UST campus, huntingin nyo nalang lmao)

Does your location where to shoot really matter? for me location where to shoot is not a big deal because all in all it is only in you on how you bring clothes and bring new trends to your readers.

I promise to give you weekly posts starting this week cause I don’t think that I would be still needing to go on far places just to find a good location for my shoot since I already found some IG worthy & Blog worthy places inside my school. stay tuned for more blog posts readers!

wonderful shots by Levi Edrozo! pm him for shoots.

LOCATION: University of Santo Tomas, Practice Gym

Turf, BGC

David Guison, Deegee Razon & Michael Macalos are my inspirations of doing this Fashion Blog. One of my goals of course was to go where bloggers shoots for their fashion blog and how they were discovered in fashion industry.

These photos were taken last April 1st at Bonifacio Globaly City, Turf. This place where bloggers usually shoot for their fashion blog. Very big thanks for The Portrait Society. Finally I already had the opportunity to shoot in this mainstream place for bloggers while wearing my customized white longtee, Ripped Jeans from H&M, pair of Tubulars from Adidas & bomber jacket from Zara

BGC is a well known location for bloggers because of its exquisite sights that portrays a modern experience for a lot of people who wants to take aesthetic photos. BGC may be a mainstream location to pick with, but this is the appropriate place for me to share my own fashion that aims to inspire a lot of people.

I want to give my readers a unique photos that they have never seen in others. Especially in places where I shoot, it may be mainstream that I chose BGC to shoot my photos, but its not always about the place, sometimes it’s about how can someone flaunt their style in a unique way and inspire other people.

Photo by: Jewel Basinag , Lance Ipapo & Jan Flores

Photo by: Angelo Sicat

The Portrait Society Insta Meet

After a very long stressful year of being an 11th grader. Look who’s back on blogging. UST really gave me an extreme tiring year and I still have 2 months to go to survive this academic year. But I had a lot of new friends, family and opportunities in the first chapter of my senior high school life. Opportunities that UST gave me that I was given a chance to share my talents to other people, performing, excel my academics etc. but of course I also got a lot of rejections like on blogging before, a lots of haters, bashers that I’m not good enough, that I don’t belong here. But now, I’m fearlessly ready to get back what I’ve started before, Blogging.

(photo by Angelo Sicat)

INTRODUCING KEN LI

Last Thursday (March 30,2017), Mr. Angelo Sicat ( a vlogger and an English professor in University of Santo Tomas - Senior High School) posted an announcement regarding the need of models for a shoot which will be done at Bonifacio Global City. The said shoot will be for his vlog and instameet project. Together with my friend Ken Li , we quickly volunteered to be part of the shoot. Ken is a member of a dance organization in UST-SHS that I also joined handled by Mr. Sicat. We’ve only known each other for a couple of months, but he’s been like a brother to me. We were both inclined in the same field which is modelling, and I’m looking forward to have more shoots, hang, & “walwal” sesh with this chinese fboi lol

(photo by Arvin Bautista)

Big thanks to these teams! The Portrait Society, Team Hermanos, Kalye Manila and especially Mr. Angelo Sicat for allowing me to be one of the models in this shoot. I had the opportunity to meet new people who were inclined with the same field. I took interest in and learned a lot not only in modelling or fashion but also in photography.

Photographers:

Jewel Basinag, Deejay Ang,Ben Melokotom,Arvin Bautista,Jo Erik,Jose Satparam,Jeoy Cedrix ,Kenneth Lotho,Lance Ipapo,Jan Flores,Christian Manangcal

Models:

Angela Frilles, Ken Li, Miguel Venegas (ME)

HEAD:

Angelo Sicat - visit his youtube vlog!

Christan Aguhar

DENIM

A typical photo shoot before summer vacation ends.

Finally I had a time to do this photo shoot before summer vacation ends. I had this shoot last week somewhere in Banawe with my photographer, Shienne De Sagun. For me, wearing light and pastel colored shirts is the best choice to wear with denim pants instead of pairing with black and hard contrast clothes. It’s because wearing Black,White or any so much contrast colored shirts are already mainstream.  So I wore my Long tee from Forever21, Denim Jeans from Oxygen, and A pair of Tubulars from Adidas

© SHIENNE DE SAGUN

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

After almost one and a half year, I am finally back on blogging. It is good to be back on what you love to do. So what can you expect readers on my blog? My blog features my daily life doings. My outfits, Places where I am going, Food trips, Adventures and many more. I am only fifteen years old turning sixteen on October, and my dream is to be the one of the most famous fashion bloggers in the world. I want to share all of my experiences and inspire people on what I am doing. David Guison, Ida Anduyan, Cha Ocampo & Michael Macalos are my insipiration of doing this blog. they inspire me to impress people by being on trend, making their own fashionable outfits and many more. I am Miguel Venegas, a teenage fashion blogger. I hope you enjoy & continue reading my blog until the end. xx

But Where to find me?

my social media accounts can be found at the top of my blog. hope we could friends!! happy reading! 

-migs