It has been two years ago since I was invited to join the ASEAN Bloggers Exchange in Jakata, Indonesia with fellow netizens from Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and the host country. It was a big opportunity for me to join the gathering of the ASEAN Blogger Community in Jakarta which fellow bloggers thought me to be open with fresh ideas and stories from their respective countries and the chance to share my own thoughts and opinions as a Filipino including how we use social media in airing our views, deliver information and tool to reach out to others in times of emergency and calamity. The ASEAN Blogger Community became a haven for netizens in the Southeast Asian countries to have that constant exchange of ideas, discover interests and gain new friends. Those were the things I actually encountered in my 3-day experience in Jakarta in 2011.
That’s why I want to experience more especially that they opened bigger slots per country and thank you Air Asia who is the official carrier of the participants to the wonderful place of Indonesia that offers breathtaking sceneries that are worth bringing home to our respective countries. Given the chance to take part on the ASEAN Blog Festival this year it will be a learning experience to me that I will surely bring home and share with fellow netizens through my blog and social media accounts. At the same time having the responsibility to share my views on how social media use as a tool for advocacy. Two years ago I only had a limited time to share my thoughts in going beyond our respective niches in terms of blogging. I hope this year I can share more in pushing food blogging as tool for culinary tourism and travel blogging promoting culture and heritage aside from the breathtaking photos that I think will really drive tourists and empowering local merchants that will surely help in the economy of the respective countries.
I also want to share which is also I envision ASEAN Blogger Community in 2015 in encouraging fashion bloggers to empower young and independent local designers with their materials that are worth sharing online. Also for tech bloggers who will be pushing on the sustainability and efficiency of each products in connection with the cost that will surely cater to the bigger number of consumers. Lastly, promoting the concept of advocacy in every bloggers making themselves as advocates for a certain organizations, charities, and campaigns. The idea I envision is utilizing our social media accounts for social good. Right now, I see there’s a big hope in the Southern Asian countries where bloggers can work together as a team promoting nationalism, heritage, culture, and goodness through out their online and offline lives like the campaign of Asianita that is currently active on Facebook and Twitter.
Aseanita, an online character that promotes culinary exchange among ASEAN countries will strengthen the cultural spirit among nations through their foods as tool for inviting tourists to visit their countries. Which I wrote in this blog few days ago, Aseanita is one of the great things that ASEAN nations will have to encourage dynamic exchange of thoughts wherever they are no matter what language or faith they have.
I would love to meet all the participants in the ASEAN Blog Festival 2013 and have a great exchange of thoughts with them and at the same time gain new friends. So for those who wanted to know more about the wonderful event I am talking about visit http://2013.blogfest.info and follow @aseanblogger and @blogfestid on twitter for updates.
