Generation Why: New social networking site BakitWhy.com hopes to bring Filipinos together virtually
November 25, 2008
A new Filipino social-networking website has hit the scene, hoping to offer an alternative to the Web 2.0 major players such as MySpace and Facebook.
Southern California-based BakitWhy.com is a new online community that helps promote discussion about Filipino Americans, their lifestyle and identity, according to Director of Public Relations Kathlyn A. Dumlao-Amidar.
“The site is about bringing people together, interacting, sharing stories, meeting new people — extending the Pilipino American community into the online medium,” said Dumlao-Amidar.
The site is eyeing a potentially lucrative market. Eighty-three percent of Filipinos in the Philippines are members of some type of social network, making the Philippines the social networking capital of the world next to Hungary with 80 percent and Poland with 76 percent, according to a study by Universal McCann in March.
Jeremiah Abraham, founder and director of Bakitwhy.com, said that the site began as a research project at the University of Southern California to find a way to educate and engage the Filipino American community online.
The site acts as a news hub as well as a user-driven blog for Filipinos and Filipino Americans to share opinions about happenings in their respective communities. It also features a list of upcoming events in the Filipino community.
“BakitWhy.com provides compelling, educational and entertaining content,” Abraham said. “It helps users foster a closer relationship to the community as well as one’s identity as a Pilipino American. It’s full of energy and life and celebrates all aspects of the Pilipino American lifestyle.”
Filipinos are active consumers on the Internet. The Universal McCann study showed 83 percent of Filipinos watch video clips, 78 percent read blogs, 39 percent use RSS, 48 percent listen to podcasts, 22 percent have installed widgets or applications, 55 percent have shared photos, 22 percent have shared video online and 31 percent have a blog.
But some web users may have been looking for more than the next viral video online. Rachel Wagoner, the site’s projects and product coordinator, said she joined BakitWhy in search of who she is as a Pilipino American.
“Hearing other people’s stories provides a supportive environment for me,” Wagoner said. “Often I’ve felt excluded and outcast due to not knowing my history or the Filipino language.”
Darren Jimenez, a 23-year-old Filipino American social networker, said that he enjoys the variety that the BakitWhy website offers — from articles and videos to exclusive content.
“It’s like an all-in-one stop for Filipino news that I actually care about,” Jimenez said.
Even the name of the website — simply translated as “Why?” but understood as something second-generation Filipino Americans say to gently mock the use of the redundant phrase among the first generation — is something Filipino people can feel comfortable with, as the phrase is often said in a casual and even joking manner, according to Abraham.
“When I was thinking about the name, I wanted to stray away from ‘Pinoy’ or ‘Filipino’ because it’s our actions and identity that make us who we are as an individual and as a unified community,” Abraham said. “So, while BakitWhy does symbolize the dual identity of being both Pilipino and American, to me, it was more of a statement that we can be more than what others may categorize us.”
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Just check the site BakitWhy! It looks wow! Very exciting… Another Filipino place on the web!