On Christmas eve, I shared an update on Facebook about my experience at the airport earlier that day:

So upon arriving at the airport in Manila, our luggages were nowhere to be found. Instead, gift boxes filled the conveyor belt with the passengers’ names on it.

Well played, Singapore Airlines Manila, well played.

P.S. We did get our luggages in the end after picking up our presents.

Despite having shared it only within my network, the picture and the accompanying text somehow got out and within the next few hours, my post had not only spread on social networking sites, screenshots of it have also appeared on various blogs and websites (from travel blogs to 9gag)

Initially of course, I was a little put off as it reinforced how complex online privacy is and just because you ‘limited’ something to be seen by friends or their friends, there is no guarantee that it will not go public (as FB’s Randi Zuckerberg herself learned recently). But as it is all for good-natured fun, I did not mind. I am all for spreading the holiday cheer.

Judging by the amount of cameras at the airport on that day, it was clearly a planned PR stunt from the airline but a nice gesture nonetheless that made me smile. And clearly, so did hundreds of thousands of others from around the world, looking at the amount of views, shares, likes, retweets and reposts to date from various platforms.

This experience also highlighted a few take aways that may be useful to my fellow communication professionals, specifically those in digital:

1) I stand by my belief that you do not make something viral. It just happens. You can probably help make it become more likely, but virality is an outcome, not the planned execution.

2) A good story will spread organically. Even quickly, if it is relevant and timely. In this case, it was all about Christmas and the post peaked on Christmas day.

3) People embrace relief and happy endings. Although unintended, I later realized that the caption I wrote, brief as it may be, is an archetypal story: from tension (our luggages were nowhere to be found) to twist (surprise presents) and  resolution (getting our luggages in the end).

4) There will always be negative reactions even on light-hearted efforts. Albeit minimal in this case, whether it is a complaint against the airlines for not doing it on other flights, or an attack to me for who knows why, to put it simply: some will always be petty.

5) The picture has been reposted elsewhere with no mention or indication of the original source. In an age of user-contributed content, the boundaries of ownership fade.

It has been a fascinating experience for me, but the real star here is the airlines with their nice little stunt. The attention is certainly  well-deserved and the team behind it has every reason to be proud.

Singapore Airlines, you are welcome.

This Sunday, the Netherland’s biggest annual run – the Dam tot Damloop - will be taking place and I will be among the registered thousands who will run 16.1km from Amsterdam to the nearby town of Zaandam (thus the event name). I have finished a full marathon before (42.1km) but what makes this run special for me is that I am running for a Dutch-founded charity this time around: the Stichting Anak Filippijnen (Anak Foundation Philippines). Anak Foundation helps impoverished children in the Philippines by giving them a chance at a better life through education (scholarships, training and workshops) in hopes that they themselves will break the cycle of poverty.

In addition to the run, I have also decided to raise funds for the foundation, with all proceeds going to charity. It has been an exciting time, seeing family, friends and even strangers, enthusiastically contributing.

You can still help by contributing via the Alvarum fundraising page or simply by spreading the word to others (thank you!). To all the contributors and would-be contributors, I will be thinking of you, all the way to the finish line.

–

Update, 24 September 2012: We did it! Yesterday, I completed the Dam tot Damloop after an hour an a half, running at a pace of over 10km per hour. But a bigger achievement is the amount we raised together for Stichting Anak Filippijnen. With €625, we will be able to send two youths in the Philippines to university for a year. On behalf of Anak, I would like to thank you for your contributions.

In collaboration with Amsterdam High School, Het 4e Gymansium, THEY created a series of Facebook history timelines to make learning more fun.

Here are the history timelines: Magellan’s Voyage Around the World, Inventions of the 20th Century, Fashion 1950-Now and Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.

Since moving to Amsterdam two months ago, I have taken (and will continue to do so!) advantage of some of the endless events and activities in this bustling city. One of these was the World Cinema Amsterdam, which took place from 8th to 19th August. Started in 2010, World Cinema Amsterdam is an annual festival that celebrates the best independent films and filmmakers from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

I volunteered as a reporter, which gave me a chance to experience the festival and chronicle parts of it through photography and writing. (Find the festival reporters’ contributions here) As with most of the film festivals I have attended in the past, meeting the people behind the films is usually the highlight of my experience.

So it was no different when I embarked on my last assignment to interview the award-winning director, Faouzi Bensaïdi. His latest film, “Death for Sale”, was recently selected to represent Morocco in the upcoming Academy Awards (Oscars) for the Best Foreign Language Film category.

“Despite the seemingly dark theme of the film, the interview gives a glimpse of a romantic and idealistic director who believes that love can also be found in the unlikeliest of places and circumstances.” You can read the rest of the interview here.

“At the end of the day, regardless of who we are and how small we may be, love is always a big thing. If we should lose our life to live a big love story, why not?” – Faouzi Bensaïdi

See the rest of the pictures I took as a set on Flickr!

Published on behalf of the European Journalism Centre (EJC), the e-book version is available for free in exchange for a tweet or a Facebook post (you will likely post and share it anyway because it is a good book). For those who prefer a printed copy, a paper version can be purchased.

Click here to download it for free or purchase the paper version.

Believe in me and I will believe in you, meet me where I live and I’ll meet you, serve my lifestyle, the planet and you, tomorrow is beckoning at our door. – The Consumer, Culture of Future

As of today, I’m officially registered as a resident of Amsterdam but I can’t just let this moment pass without giving Maastricht, which was my home for almost two years, a little tribute post, can I? Here’s a well-made video (commissioned by several organizations in Maastricht) that beautifully captures the images and spirit of the place…at least on a sunny day.

This blog post is a follow up to an earlier entry. A condensed transcript of my talk can also be found here.

Last week, I flew to Romania to speak at the second edition of PRbeta, which took place in Timişoara. Headed by Romanian bloggers and PR practitioners Cristina Putan and Oltea Zambori, the annual conference focuses on online public relations and social media.

Prior to the event, I have never set foot in Romania so it was great to finally do so. It was a real privilege to be among the speakers and stand alongside some of Romania’s influential bloggers and social media pioneers. They provided very useful insights, interesting case studies and loads of practical advice.

Sharing my ‘P2P accommodation’ experience in New York City. Photographed by Alina Ghenciu.

My topic, The Culture of Collaboration, looked into the emergence of collaborative economy, a concept that is still relatively new in Romania (with its fair share of skeptics). I was also scheduled to speak immediately after lunch, and knowing how food coma usually attacks around this time, it only made sense to present something light and digestible.

I had several opportunities to speak with the audience after my talk, and their responses were generally good. I was particularly touched when a girl from a local cancer support organization handed me a yellow ‘live strong’ bracelet and told me that the talk gave her ideas that may very well benefit the non-profit she works for. But of course, I was also open to hear some critical comments and it took one tipsy girl at the after party to honestly tell me that I used basically too much. Although my talk was deliberately conversational in tone, I do agree that basically is a word I could go easy on. The same goes with my hand gestures. A friend who was not present at the event asked me if I was beatboxing, upon seeing the pictures. Although that would be a rather interesting way to convey a message, I do not think I will ever be able to pull beatboxing off. So for now, I will stick to talking, albeit with fewer basicallys.

I have spoken in several university-related engagements before, but PRbeta was my first international talk and I am very thankful to the organizers for flying me there and letting me experience Romanian hospitality (except the guys at the immigration, they seem to rarely come across a Netherlands-based Filipino in Timișoara…). Big thanks to Bogdan Albulescu, too, the head honcho at The 4th Floor, who lobbied that I be brought in as a speaker.

Although I was in Timișoara  from May 1st to 3rd, I was really only there for a total of 39 hours, so sightseeing was not a priority. I did make sure to walk around the historic town center after the conference though, and snapped a few photographs while the sun was still shining.

The following is a condensed and edited transcript of my talk at PR Beta in Timisoara, Romania on May 3, 2012. It has been updated and formatted for this post.

THE ACCIDENTAL ‘COLLABORATOR’

Not so long ago, I visited Maxime Leroy, a friend who was studying at Parsons New York. Anyone who has traveled to New York City would know how expensive hotel rooms in Manhattan are, and if you are a student (like I was back then) with a tight budget, your options are quite limited. Fortunately, one of Maxime’s classmates was going away the same week that I was arriving, so I decided to take over his classmate’s apartment for a week, and ended up paying half the price of what I would have spent for a hotel room.

A week later, I went to Boston. Since it was my first time there, I did not want to be introduced to Boston as a tourist. I wanted to immerse myself with the place as if I were a local. So instead of staying in a hotel, I decided to go to CouchSurfing and found a Boston resident who was kind enough to let me use his spare room and host me for a few days. Not only did he give me a place to stay, his company and his stories made my stay more genuine – allowing me to see a side of the city I would never have known if I had remained as a tourist in a hotel room.

In these two instances, not only did I find a cost-effective way to travel, I got to see these two cities in a different light and more importantly, I connected with the locals. 
Furthermore, during this trip, without even realizing it, I became a participant in what is called the Collaborative Economy.

Collaborative Economy is built around the idea of shared consumption and production. There are two keywords here: Collaboration and Sharing. Collaboration is the act of creating or producing something with someone, while sharing involves the joint usage of something. Collaboration and sharing mean different things but because both are intended to result to a common good for the parties involved, their implications are the same. As such, collaboration and sharing in this context will be used interchangeably. Another important term is Peer-to-Peer (P2P), which traditionally refers to a computer network in which no central server is involved. But in this context, P2P refers to a model in which people can connect and collaborate with each other.

What I did in New York City, where I rented someone’s spare or unused room is an example of a P2P accommodation. This is the same transaction that occurs on Airbnb, a social platform that “connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay” (Airbnb Website). It is a collaboration between strangers opening up their homes, and the strangers who are willingly staying in them, like me.

Although Airbnb is known to be the first online platform to specialize in such, there are now many similar websites around the world, with 2012 even being dubbed “the year of peer-to-peer accommodations” by Fast Company. But P2P Accommodation is just one part of the collaborative economy.

Mitfahrgelegenheit, a German carpooling platform for instance, allows you to share a ride with people who are going to the same destination as you. But why just share seats when you can share the car itself on a platform like RelayRides?

How about sharing your next meal on SuperMarmite? This French platform allows you to check out what people in your neighborhood are cooking and have the opportunity to purchase a portion. Or if you are an aspiring cook and opening your restaurant is out of the question, the platform allows you to find people in your area who may want to try the dish you cooked.

If you are a freelancer or self-employed, renting an entire office space does not make sense, so you can try using coworking spaces instead. Spotz, a company in Maastricht (the city I currently live in) allows you to subscribe as a member, like you would in in a gym, and gain access to working facilities.

There are also crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, allowing you to raise funds through small contributions from the public, instead of depending on a big shot investor.  These platforms also connect you with different projects and help fund them. The idea behind these platforms is to allow everyone to participate in projects that they have an affinity with and help make these projects happen.

These are just some examples of collaborative consumption and production. Collaboration continues to shape the way we conduct business, the way we work, or to put it simply, the way we live.

Collaboration continues to shape the way we conduct business, the way we work, or to put it simply, the way we live.

THE BIG SHIFT

How did this collaborative economy emerge?

Human beings have always collaborated with each other. It is in our nature as social beings. We have always been part of tribes and belonged to communities. We give, we take. Collaboration has allowed us to progress. Human civilization would not have been possible if we did not form communities and collaborated with each other.

But then came the world wide web, transforming collaboration as we know it, facilitating and making it more efficient and practical. Airbnb is the new version of our grandparents hosting travelers on the road. Ride-sharing, you can say, is the modern day hitchhiking.

What we are seeing here is a big shift, a switch from Hyper Consumption which relies on owning things, to Collaborative Consumption which is based on sharing things. (Rachel Botsman, ‘What’s Mine Is Yours‘)

The traditional business mind frame relies on owning the product in order to get the benefits. We largely purchase products to get the experience. For example, we own a car but on the very basic level, what we really are purchasing is the experience of being transported from point A to point B conveniently. Collaborative economy distinguishes between the product and the experience we get from it. We gain access to the experience, bypassing the hurdle of having to own the object first before being able to use it. And not having to own the car saves us from the troubles of ownership such as maintenance and repair, therefore making it economical.

Collaborative economy distinguishes between the product and the experience we get from it. We gain access to the experience, bypassing the hurdle of having to own the object first before being able to use it.

ADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION

• Economical: It is cost-effective since you only pay for what you need or the time you are using it.
• Sustainable: It makes the most out of the product’s lifecycle by having multiple users and encouraging less production. Less production means less waste.
• Social: It relies on people working together, fostering community ties. It depends on trust between strangers.
• Practical: Through the internet, communications and exchanges have been made fast and easy.

So a collaborative economy is no doubt beneficial for consumers, but what does it mean for the traditional business model that relies largely on ownership (to maximize profit)?

Collaborative economy is not a threat to traditional commerce that relies on ownership, but rather something that must exist with it. I will never advice sharing a toothbrush or underwear for example for obvious reasons. But I would still rather own my laptop, than have to rent or share it with anyone. The point of collaborative economy and why I believe we need to embrace it is we have reached a point in time where we have too much, and it is taking a toll on the environment, on our wallets and our behaviors. There will always be things that are better with individual ownership, but some things, depending on circumstances, are simply better shared.

Some things are simply better shared.

THE RESURGENCE OF ‘WE’

What is truly wonderful in the emergence of this collaborative social movement is that it marks the resurgence of the we mindset. It is no longer just about me or the things I own, but about the community and the things we share. Our interconnectivity online translates to real life connections and actions. And that, perhaps is the real power of collaboration, as it empowers us to make positive changes together.

Couchsurfing for instance, the platform that I used to find a host in Boston, is not about finding a free place to stay, but a host to connect with. It is about developing a relationship and making new friends.

Kiva, a microlending platform, allows you to help entrepreneurs from developing countries by lending as little as $25, which will be paid back once the recipient’s business flourishes. This is not about aid, but empowerment through entrepreneurship.

Phylo is an online game developed to help scientists map diseases within the human DNA. Even without a scientific background, you can help advance health science by simply playing online.

Then there is Sparked, an online “micro-volunteering network that allows people to volunteer on-demand and on-the-spot using mobile phones and the Internet”. It is not just about giving money, but sharing your skills to help non-profits and charities. If you are good at blogging, you can write, if you are good at design, you can create a banner and so on.

And of course, one of the best modern examples of collaboration is Wikipedia, which relies on people who voluntarily participate by submitting entries and editing them, helping advance knowledge.

These are just some examples. With collaboration, the possibilities are endless in helping improve not just our own lives but those of others too. In the words of Herman Melville, “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.”

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men – Herman Melville

COLLABORATIVE CITIES DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

In closing, I would like to share a project I am part of, directed by Maxime Leroy, the friend I visited in New York. Collaborative Cities is a participative web documentary that will take us to the most vibrant cities, exploring with you inspiring places where people and communities are creating and participating in collaborative services and experiences. Read more about it, here.

In recent years, fueled by the internet and the growing need for a more economical and sustainable way of living, we have been witnessing the rise of collaboration (shared production and consumption). From crowdfunding and coworking spaces, to carpooling and p2p accommodation (or p2p anything for that matter), an economy built around collaboration has been flourishing, spanning business models, working styles and lifestyles. My presentation aims to provide an overview of this social revolution and how it affects (and will continue to shape) our lives. I will not say much for now, but I will be writing a blog post after the event, summarizing the main points of my talk.

To the lovely folks at PRbeta (especially Cristina, Oltea and Bogdan) and all the attendees, see you in Timisoara!