Rob Angeles
Rob was born in Manila and is living right now in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the founder and author of Social Media Philipines, a blog which main goal is to share techniques, tips and strategies on how to use Social Media in business. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and earned 12 years of IT experience.






1 - Tell us a little a bit about yourself. (work, free time, social media projects, etc.)

I’m currently working as an application security architect for a government agency here in Fort Worth, TX. I’ve been in the IT industry for almost 12 years now and don’t see myself getting out soon. The challenge we see every day is one of the many reasons on why I love doing what I do.

During my free time, I take photos. I’m a frustrated shutterbug and was taught by great people from the Cleveland Photographic Society. I’ve always wanted to be a professional one but I guess I have too much on my plate right now.

When I started social media, I initially had no plans in creating projects since, like what I said above; I had too much on my plate. Eventually, I wasn’t able to escape it. I was invited by the founder of Barrio Siete (http://barriosiete.com), a community for Overseas Filipino Workers and one of the strongest sites in the Philippines, to join them as a writer on topics such as social media and blogging. And as I got involved, I was giving advice on how we can go the next level of being a community. It’s a work in progress and will be implementing changes soon.

We’ve just concluded a fund drive for Topical Typhoon Ondoy victims in the Philippines. It was a huge success! We utilize different social media channels to raise awareness and invite people to give their share for the victims. I’m also helping an experienced CFO build his personal brand at http://edwinjamora.com. We’ve just launched this couple of weeks ago and we’re still doing “tweaks” as we explore the ideal target audience for his topic.


2 - When did you start blogging? What do you enjoy most about it?

I started blogging 5 years ago but I was more on the technical side of IT. Not that it’s boring but content was already repetitive. I wanted something more interesting. I stopped for a couple of years but still participated in forums.

When the social media hype started, we were already creating content for a certain community in the US. I was amazed with the power of conversations. Communication became a 2-way street and that’s when I became more curious on conversations. I waited a few months and started Social Media Philippines.


3 - Your blog socialmediaphilippines.com gives many tips and advices on how to use social media in businesses. From what we've seen, it seems be reaching a big audience. What type of feedback have you been getting from your advices?

Social Media Philippines is still young. Majority of my readers are from the US and the Philippines. US readers participate in conversations since they are familiar with social media strategies. My Philippine readers are more in consuming content. We’re still at the genesis of using social media in different fields and still trying to feel the pulse on how to align it with businesses and other cause.

At present, our connected citizens are more on creating personal content but have seen many who area already doing experiments on how to leverage it on their businesses. We’re on our way there. This is the goal of Social Media Philippines, to create conversations among Philippine readers on how to use social media.


4 - How much importance do you think social media has these days on businesses? And how has it been affecting businesses in the Philippines

In general, social media is something the business community should consider. Why? These channels, social networking, blogs, microblogging, are where people gather nowadays. The need to connect to other people is pushing us to be present on these sites every day. Social media channels are perfect venues for businesses to listen.

The Philippines is a big consumer of information but content creation is still more on a personal level. There are only a few companies who have embraced Web 2.0 and many are still using traditional marketing and public relations.

Businesses are starting to check whether using social media can be feasible for them or if it’s going to be just another waste of business money. And another thing that’s bothering businesses is they’re lack of knowledge on how to measure ROI, the issue on transparency and how open should they be in the public.

There’s still much work to be done. For social media to be successful in the Philippines, we need to rethink about the corporate culture and the way we do work and business and how are we going to be part of a global market. Certain policies need to be formulated first before thinking of a strategy or else we’ll all be chasing our tails.


5 - The Philippines is currently having the 3rd Philippine Blog Awards. How important do you think blogging is in the Philippines? Do you think it has been growing in the last years?

Majority of the blogs you will see from the Philippine are more on politics, activism and personal journals. A few have started professional blogs, building their personal brand, with topics ranging from their respective industry and career. And so far, I haven’t seen any company blogs. Yes, it’s been growing during the past years.

I’m very familiar with the Philippine Blog Awards. I’ve been monitoring conversations around it since it started and I think it’s good to reward influential bloggers who worked hard by creating meaningful content and have contributed by giving valuable information to the community. I just wish they adopt the metrics we use in the AdAge Power 150. I’m sure many will love it and will help in pushing the blogging community to create more relevant content.