Part 5 of the interveiw Series: HANNY KUSUMAWATI - THE PRODUCER
Hanny personifies the female multitasking talent. She was the project manager of Pesta Blogger 07 , the first nation-wide bloggers' meeting in Indonesia. She works in the PR agency Maverick, writes for the company blog and on top of that, keeps her own, private blog. Oh, and did I mention she also plans to publish a book?
For Pesta Blogger 08, she will return to her position as project manager and member of the steering committee. As representative of Maverick, she will be the link between organizers, sponsors and bloggers - making it all happen! That's why I call her THE PRODUCER. Here comes the interview... beware, it's quite long, but also very interesting! So keep on reading ya... :)
Hanny, all smiles in a Jakarta ice cream parlor
Maverick company blog
Maverick is a PR consultancy. We deal a lot with the media and the issues of our clients, the most of them are multinational companies. Then we realized that in Indonesia, suddenly people started blogging. And issues and complaints, those are things you can post in your blog. If you’re not a blogger, you will never know about this. You will never know when someone complains in their blog. The dangerous part is, when you realize that most of the journalists are also bloggers. As a journalist, in their newspaper they can’t write about everything. They have an editorial position, space limitations. In their personal blog, they can write about anything. So when these people meet in the blogosphere they can pick up things from other bloggers. Whenever there are negative things circulating, the journalists can pick it up and even publish it in their conventional media. So unless you’re a blogger and you play there, you won’t know. That’s one of the reasons that Maverick decided that we have to keep up with this, we have to start blogging and know the people in it. The other thing is that usually journalists write about companies or about PR because they have the media. We as PR consultants don’t have the media. Now the power equation is equal. We can now talk about journalists! That’s what we do in our blog, we talk about the gossip and rumors in publishing companies, and we talk about journalist, who moves where etc… in a way, it makes our relationship with journalists even stronger. We have the ‘click of the week’ at Maverick, where we feature journalists’ blogs.
The Maverick blog started about 2006. We like to understand the emergence of new media. Today it is blogs, we don’t know what it will be in 5 years. As a company in the communications industry, we have to keep up with everything that comes up in the future. Like with youtube and podcasts, we have to understand what’s going on. That’s one of the reasons why we started this blog. Apart from having a good relationship with bloggers, and also journalists’s blogs. We can monitor what kind of issues there are in the blogosphere. The interesting thing linking, you can link a company, or restaurant to our website… so whenever someone talks about us we know, because they link to our blog and we can reply to them! So it’s good, we know what’s going on, we know what people talk about.
Personal Blog
For me, my personal blog came first, I’m into writing. So when I was still in high school I started blogging, it was just like an online diary. I did not have friends who were also bloggers. So it died down. Eventually it started again, in early 2005, it was only for my personal satisfaction. It’s still like an online diary somehow, because it’s me, it ‘s my personal blog, I can do anything I like. The I started to know, that you have to go blogwalking… leave your comments, leave your track to get feedback from others. Then I joined a writing community, we shared our blog address there, people started coming and commenting, stuff like that. Now after Pesta Blogger of course it’s getting more and more popular!
I want to be a writer. I’m writing a novel right now. The blog for me is a place where I can write and experiment with my writing and get feedback. At the same time its like gathering a community, gathering people who like my writing as regular visitors. So one day when I launch my book I hope they will be there!
It’s always good to find out how people perceive a writing, you get to know people’s taste as well. Mostly it is that people start talking about their own experience, like oooh, I felt that too, I know it hurts and all that. I try to touch their emotional sides. Especially now that there is also the Maverick blog… I think I myself am more interested in personal blogs, because it makes you feel like a human, and people can see you as a human. In the Maverick blog people see me as a professional, read my postings as a professional in PR. I don´t want them to see me that way in my personal blog. So that’s why I keep them separate.
Most of the bloggers in my network are also wannabe-writers, people who love to write. Because the way I write is bad, not literature kind of things… most people I know are also writers themselves. The readers are mostly still men. Maybe because more bloggers are men.
Pesta Blogger
The idea started from my boss, Ong Hock Chuan, he’s a former journalist who moved into PR. He is a geek for tech, he has his own blog as well. When we started the Maverick blog we thought, what about if we have a gathering for Indonesian bloggers. But at that time, it was meant to be a small gathering, maybe 20-30 bloggers, only to get to know the people behind the blogs. And then because we’re so busy, we kind of left if behind for more than six months. Until finally, Microsoft calls. They said: look, we have a budget, we’re planning to do something for bloggers. Do you know what should we do? So my boss said, well actually we were planning this thing with bloggers. We were planning to invite 20-30 but if you’re sponsoring we can invite more people! So we invited 100 bloggers! We started with the media briefing, we told everybody that we were going to hold a blogger’s meeting on national scale. And we contacted bloggers, like Enda and Wimar, inviting them to become the committee. At that time, we were just inviting people we know, it was the first time! Anyone, if you want to help, come help!
We invited journalists to spread the news, and then one of the Bloggers, a former journalists as well, Budi Putra, made a special Blog for Pesta Blogger. Bloggers were protesting: why is it only for 100 bloggers? So we said ok, if we can get more sponsors, so we can get more bloggers to come. We started to look for sponsors, from our former clients as well, and Nokia came in. They said hey we have mobile blogging features on our handphones and so why not, we can sponsor this. Then, one week before the event, XL Comindo, came in also as a sponsor. We could have it big! We could invite representatives from other cities as well!
The motivation for Microsoft… It’s close to their business. It’s how they show their support, to show that they care about bloggers. Nokia have mobile blogging, so they try to grab bloggers as well. So does XL. They realize bloggers are getting strong, especially people who love to talk about technology, gadgets, computers, are close to the net and all that. I think they’re starting to realize that.
The sponsors loved it. There was a lot of coverage. You know the minister was there. They were satisfied with it. Actually they said: This year, can we make it bigger? Can we invite more bloggers? XL actually said hey, what about a road show? We will sponsor a road show, have workshops here and there, teach high school students how to blog. I said oh, if you arrange that it would be fine with us!
The involvement of Minister Nuh
Regarding the minister… our Co-organizer is Bubu.com. The CEO, Shinta, she knows the minister closely because she owns Bubu Awards as well. It’s a web design award on a national scale. She has a close contact with the minister so she is the one who took care of all that. Muhammed Nuh is great, as a minister he realized the importance of blogs and he’s very open minded. He’s willing to listen. That’s why he came around and announced the National Blogger’s Day! That does give him a good image around bloggers as well, because he is very spontaneous. We had a ‘favorite blog’ polling during the event, and the minister said during his speech: Whoever wins this poll will get a laptop. People were not expecting that, even we did not know about that. So he’s very spontaneous. It’s great I think!
I don’t know what he has planned for the support of bloggers on a political scale, but it’s great that in Indonesia, compared to Malaysia where you can’t have as much freedom to blog as it is in Indonesia now. And recently, before Pesta Blogger there were some cases of blogs being banned in Malaysia, and the there minister there claimed that bloggers are liars. I think it’s a great statement for Indonesia that the freedom is there, the freedom to blog, express their opinions. I think it’s great for him as well. It could be an appearance for image as well, but I cannot speak on his behalf. We had readers from Malaysia and Singapore comment on our blog saying hey you are very lucky that your minister supports you to blog. I think it’s good for him, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
A lot of media like Tempo and Jakarta Post have their own blog right now. I think they realize that people need two way communication. They know how important blogs are in this era. A lot of their journalists friends are also bloggers. They are also bloggers. They realize the importance of blogs, especially in bridging the image of Indonesia to other countries. We have as much freedom as anyone. We have bloggers, professional bloggers even. I think for the media this was also interesting because it is new, the first national scale bloggers gathering. So the news were there. The minister came, national bloggers day was announced… so of course the media covers this. The journalists tried to get exclusive interviews with the committee with Enda, as chairman.
The motto of Pesta Blogger
The motto was chosen by Enda: New Voice of Indonesia. It means first, blogs are the new media. People who use blogs are the new generation, the blog generation. And then it conveys our thoughts in a new way. It’s very opinionated, very blunt, very honest. In blogs you can be whoever you like to be. You don’t have to pretend.
It’s a new emerging voice. We used to hear the media talking about one issue… but now you have another voice, the voice of bloggers. You can even have an issue start in the blogosphere and spill over into conventional media. For example, we used to have a consultant at Maverick, Nila Tanzil, she also used to work freelance for a private TV station as a host, for a kind of travel, lifestyle show. One day she was invited to a country to promote their tourist destinations there. But then she did not get what she needs as a journalist, she was not allowed to take pictures here and there, so she was like, why are you inviting us here if we can’t report what’s going on, we can’t take pictures, we can’t take in a camera. We’re not tourists, we’re journalists!
She wrote about that in her personal blog and also in Maverick’s blog. So people stared talking… some were sympathetic for her, some were cursing her… so there were lot’s of pros and cons. And that’s how it started, the blogosphere talking about this, bloggers writing about her experience and then one of the bloggers is a journalist. So he writes about that in his newspaper. And then it started to go out. Other journalists and other media started calling and asked her for an interview.
Plans for Pesta Blogger 2008
Pesta Blogger 2008 hasn’t been planned thoroughly. But hopefully we can invite regional bloggers at least, from Malysia, the Philippines, Singapore. Get them to mingle with us, share our experience. This is what bridge blogging is supposed to do. Bridging differences, bridging cultures. Hopefully we can do that.
We try to get them to see Indonesia through the eyes of bloggers. Anyone can access Indonesian bloggers’ blogs. Many of those living in other countries do not know about Indonesia that well. They might be scared about terrorism and all that. But in the blogs it’s like a new world, that we go clubbing, go shopping in a mall, hang out. And people can see that actually, there is always another side of the story.
It can help us interact with others and help boost the Indonesian image outside. I think it’s also good when people blog in English.
A Bloggers’ Association for Indonesia?
The Bloggers Association is still only an idea. But we are thinking about that. What kind of organization could that be? Is it like an ethical association for bloggers, or can we support bloggers who are being sued for their postings? We’re still trying to formulate that.
As far as I remember there have been 2 or 3 cases of bloggers being sued for what they write. But it died down quickly. Because the bloggers were willing to delete the post or to compromise. But you will never know what might happen, so when something comes up… what should they do? Especially when their newbies… the association could be like an advisor.
Links between blogging and business
I think blogs help companies to interact with their customers in many ways. So when you’re a huge company and people have a complains about you they might call your customer service to complain but then they will go home and feel bad and maybe stop buying from you. But you’ll never know that because it stops there. Great about blogs is when people from the managerial level have access to it. So they can see actual people complaining, or giving input or suggestions, or even thanking them. And they can reply back to their customers. And actually when things happen they can get more insights, more information from the customers. It humanizes your company in some way. You know how frustrated you can get to a company or product and you don’t know who to complain to.
Even though internet penetration is still low, we see that bloggers, or netters, are opinion leaders. Especially those prominent bloggers, they can shape the opinions of othrers. So it’s always important. It starts with a few. But they can share their stories, with their families, even if they are not bloggers. A snowball effect. Not to mention that journalists are mostly bloggers! Those who blog are mostly people who are opinionated, people who want their voice to be heard. I think that’s important to understand.
We try to get our clients to interact with blogs and bloggers. Sometimes, when a certain issue relating to their brand comes up in the blogosphere we inform them, some of them start checking on blogs regularly, blogs that are related to their business. But I think for them to set up their own blogs, or anything like that, it’s a bit difficult because of the bureaucracy. It has to come from the headquarters. So what we do right now is to familiarize our clients with blogs and inform them about the issues generating from blogs.
At Maverick we have a corporate social responsibility program for NGOs. We train them on communications plan, on public relations, so they can improve their communication skills as well. Blogs are also great for non-profit organizations because it’s free, and they can start communicating their activities and be heard.
The NGOs are very interested to start their own blogs, although they are still searching for ways how to manage it. The program is open for NGOs in Indonesia, they can send us an application form and we look at what they have done. And if we think ok they need our help we invite them to our office for a day training, on communication skills, and PR planning.
Restrictions on E-commerce, like Ebay, Amazon and Paypal?
I think it’s because there were hacker’s issues, I don’t know much about that. I think this happened because we do not yet have a cyberlaw that is applicable. People are still misusing. I think like at the Blogger’s Meeting, when you have met these people and you know them, we remind each other. One of the functions of having the Pesta Blogger is to strengthen the community, and as bloggers we can also remind each other not to break the law, behave unethical. And you know, if a friend says that to you, you are much more likely to listen. This is what we can do in the meantime, make the community stronger, like a family. Get them to think I don’t want to ruin the image of bloggers, because they are my friends as well.
I don’t know much about bloggers in other countries, or how they usually interact. But I think in Indonesia, when they have regularly visited their blog it starts to feel like there is a connection, and actually, they start inviting each other to meet up somewhere. Some people say the internet makes social interaction not physical any longer, but I think its just another way of interacting socially. It starts with a blog, and then you have several people commenting there and you feel like you know these people! Then you arrange a meeting, to catch up.
Improvement of the blogosphere
First, the infrastructure of course. Get more people to blog... when you have this culture of writing, you should support that. The literacy is still low in Indonesia. I think infrastructure is a crucial thing when you want to strengthen the blogosphere. Most people here blog from their office because this is where they get free internet. We have to strengthen the community, provide the facilities for gatherings.
Some people are starting to make money from blogging. Some have ads, because they have lots of readers. Some of them get jobs as writers, because a publishing company reads their writing. Or you can get clients through your blog, when you write about your work. There are lot’s of things you can do. There are many ways to make money in the blogosphere.
I haven’t really felt any negative effects. So far it’s been great, really informative. I don’t see any destructive forces!
The private and the professional sphere
One of my business clients knows my private blog and has read it. I think it doesn’t matter. I think everyone has more than one life at a time. Like you’re a student, a sister, a daughter… you play different roles in life. I think as long as my personal blog can also add something positive to my professional life and vice versa this is fine. There are some journalists who visit my personal blog regularly, so when I have good contacts with them, it will benefit me as a professional. Because it’s nice to have the feeling to have met them, to know them. So if I need anything, an information, I can call them up. It has to be benefiting and complementing each other. As long as it is not destructive, my personal blog talking bad about my clients… this would become unethical because I still work for this company.
Free access to everytihing?
It’s a global problem with the net. The best is still to watch your friends, families. It’s the responsibility of the parents to monitor what their kid does. I think the software companies have also provided software where the parents can block some sites. Everyone can participate to ensure the net isn’t abused for anything like that.
Discussion culture
I haven’t heard of anything as extreme as bloggers getting threats to be beaten up because of liberal views, but when it comes to comments, yes there can be very harsh comments. The greatest thing is people can judge by themselves. They can read the comment and say: that is very harsh, I don’t buy that. They can post their opinion there. It opens the chance for an open discussion. Especially in Indonesia, the people are still very passive, so I think in the blogosphere you feel more free because you don’t meet face to face. You can always be honest whether you agree or disagree with something. So in a way it’s good when people start debating over the net, as long as they are still using polite language. Pros and cons are always there.
I think the culture here, most Asian people are a bit passive compared to Americans or Western people. They are hesitant to give their honest opinion about something because they are afraid they will hurt other peoples’ feelings. When you’re in a room and speaker asks: who wants to ask a question? Maybe only one or two people raise their hands. But then when the seminar finishes they will come directly to the speaker and they ask their question. So they don’t have enough courage to ask questions in front of foreigners. In the blogosphere people can do that because there you’re only a thought, an opinion, not a person with all eyes on him. The talk is freer, you can be very honest. You don’t have to be judged. Yes, this can make people also more aggressive. I have noticed that. Several postings or comments can be very aggressive, but when you meet them in person they are more shy and more calm.
For Pesta Blogger 08, she will return to her position as project manager and member of the steering committee. As representative of Maverick, she will be the link between organizers, sponsors and bloggers - making it all happen! That's why I call her THE PRODUCER. Here comes the interview... beware, it's quite long, but also very interesting! So keep on reading ya... :)
Hanny, all smiles in a Jakarta ice cream parlor
Maverick company blog
Maverick is a PR consultancy. We deal a lot with the media and the issues of our clients, the most of them are multinational companies. Then we realized that in Indonesia, suddenly people started blogging. And issues and complaints, those are things you can post in your blog. If you’re not a blogger, you will never know about this. You will never know when someone complains in their blog. The dangerous part is, when you realize that most of the journalists are also bloggers. As a journalist, in their newspaper they can’t write about everything. They have an editorial position, space limitations. In their personal blog, they can write about anything. So when these people meet in the blogosphere they can pick up things from other bloggers. Whenever there are negative things circulating, the journalists can pick it up and even publish it in their conventional media. So unless you’re a blogger and you play there, you won’t know. That’s one of the reasons that Maverick decided that we have to keep up with this, we have to start blogging and know the people in it. The other thing is that usually journalists write about companies or about PR because they have the media. We as PR consultants don’t have the media. Now the power equation is equal. We can now talk about journalists! That’s what we do in our blog, we talk about the gossip and rumors in publishing companies, and we talk about journalist, who moves where etc… in a way, it makes our relationship with journalists even stronger. We have the ‘click of the week’ at Maverick, where we feature journalists’ blogs.
The Maverick blog started about 2006. We like to understand the emergence of new media. Today it is blogs, we don’t know what it will be in 5 years. As a company in the communications industry, we have to keep up with everything that comes up in the future. Like with youtube and podcasts, we have to understand what’s going on. That’s one of the reasons why we started this blog. Apart from having a good relationship with bloggers, and also journalists’s blogs. We can monitor what kind of issues there are in the blogosphere. The interesting thing linking, you can link a company, or restaurant to our website… so whenever someone talks about us we know, because they link to our blog and we can reply to them! So it’s good, we know what’s going on, we know what people talk about.
Personal Blog
For me, my personal blog came first, I’m into writing. So when I was still in high school I started blogging, it was just like an online diary. I did not have friends who were also bloggers. So it died down. Eventually it started again, in early 2005, it was only for my personal satisfaction. It’s still like an online diary somehow, because it’s me, it ‘s my personal blog, I can do anything I like. The I started to know, that you have to go blogwalking… leave your comments, leave your track to get feedback from others. Then I joined a writing community, we shared our blog address there, people started coming and commenting, stuff like that. Now after Pesta Blogger of course it’s getting more and more popular!
I want to be a writer. I’m writing a novel right now. The blog for me is a place where I can write and experiment with my writing and get feedback. At the same time its like gathering a community, gathering people who like my writing as regular visitors. So one day when I launch my book I hope they will be there!
It’s always good to find out how people perceive a writing, you get to know people’s taste as well. Mostly it is that people start talking about their own experience, like oooh, I felt that too, I know it hurts and all that. I try to touch their emotional sides. Especially now that there is also the Maverick blog… I think I myself am more interested in personal blogs, because it makes you feel like a human, and people can see you as a human. In the Maverick blog people see me as a professional, read my postings as a professional in PR. I don´t want them to see me that way in my personal blog. So that’s why I keep them separate.
Most of the bloggers in my network are also wannabe-writers, people who love to write. Because the way I write is bad, not literature kind of things… most people I know are also writers themselves. The readers are mostly still men. Maybe because more bloggers are men.
Pesta Blogger
The idea started from my boss, Ong Hock Chuan, he’s a former journalist who moved into PR. He is a geek for tech, he has his own blog as well. When we started the Maverick blog we thought, what about if we have a gathering for Indonesian bloggers. But at that time, it was meant to be a small gathering, maybe 20-30 bloggers, only to get to know the people behind the blogs. And then because we’re so busy, we kind of left if behind for more than six months. Until finally, Microsoft calls. They said: look, we have a budget, we’re planning to do something for bloggers. Do you know what should we do? So my boss said, well actually we were planning this thing with bloggers. We were planning to invite 20-30 but if you’re sponsoring we can invite more people! So we invited 100 bloggers! We started with the media briefing, we told everybody that we were going to hold a blogger’s meeting on national scale. And we contacted bloggers, like Enda and Wimar, inviting them to become the committee. At that time, we were just inviting people we know, it was the first time! Anyone, if you want to help, come help!
We invited journalists to spread the news, and then one of the Bloggers, a former journalists as well, Budi Putra, made a special Blog for Pesta Blogger. Bloggers were protesting: why is it only for 100 bloggers? So we said ok, if we can get more sponsors, so we can get more bloggers to come. We started to look for sponsors, from our former clients as well, and Nokia came in. They said hey we have mobile blogging features on our handphones and so why not, we can sponsor this. Then, one week before the event, XL Comindo, came in also as a sponsor. We could have it big! We could invite representatives from other cities as well!
The motivation for Microsoft… It’s close to their business. It’s how they show their support, to show that they care about bloggers. Nokia have mobile blogging, so they try to grab bloggers as well. So does XL. They realize bloggers are getting strong, especially people who love to talk about technology, gadgets, computers, are close to the net and all that. I think they’re starting to realize that.
The sponsors loved it. There was a lot of coverage. You know the minister was there. They were satisfied with it. Actually they said: This year, can we make it bigger? Can we invite more bloggers? XL actually said hey, what about a road show? We will sponsor a road show, have workshops here and there, teach high school students how to blog. I said oh, if you arrange that it would be fine with us!
The involvement of Minister Nuh
Regarding the minister… our Co-organizer is Bubu.com. The CEO, Shinta, she knows the minister closely because she owns Bubu Awards as well. It’s a web design award on a national scale. She has a close contact with the minister so she is the one who took care of all that. Muhammed Nuh is great, as a minister he realized the importance of blogs and he’s very open minded. He’s willing to listen. That’s why he came around and announced the National Blogger’s Day! That does give him a good image around bloggers as well, because he is very spontaneous. We had a ‘favorite blog’ polling during the event, and the minister said during his speech: Whoever wins this poll will get a laptop. People were not expecting that, even we did not know about that. So he’s very spontaneous. It’s great I think!
I don’t know what he has planned for the support of bloggers on a political scale, but it’s great that in Indonesia, compared to Malaysia where you can’t have as much freedom to blog as it is in Indonesia now. And recently, before Pesta Blogger there were some cases of blogs being banned in Malaysia, and the there minister there claimed that bloggers are liars. I think it’s a great statement for Indonesia that the freedom is there, the freedom to blog, express their opinions. I think it’s great for him as well. It could be an appearance for image as well, but I cannot speak on his behalf. We had readers from Malaysia and Singapore comment on our blog saying hey you are very lucky that your minister supports you to blog. I think it’s good for him, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
A lot of media like Tempo and Jakarta Post have their own blog right now. I think they realize that people need two way communication. They know how important blogs are in this era. A lot of their journalists friends are also bloggers. They are also bloggers. They realize the importance of blogs, especially in bridging the image of Indonesia to other countries. We have as much freedom as anyone. We have bloggers, professional bloggers even. I think for the media this was also interesting because it is new, the first national scale bloggers gathering. So the news were there. The minister came, national bloggers day was announced… so of course the media covers this. The journalists tried to get exclusive interviews with the committee with Enda, as chairman.
The motto of Pesta Blogger
The motto was chosen by Enda: New Voice of Indonesia. It means first, blogs are the new media. People who use blogs are the new generation, the blog generation. And then it conveys our thoughts in a new way. It’s very opinionated, very blunt, very honest. In blogs you can be whoever you like to be. You don’t have to pretend.
It’s a new emerging voice. We used to hear the media talking about one issue… but now you have another voice, the voice of bloggers. You can even have an issue start in the blogosphere and spill over into conventional media. For example, we used to have a consultant at Maverick, Nila Tanzil, she also used to work freelance for a private TV station as a host, for a kind of travel, lifestyle show. One day she was invited to a country to promote their tourist destinations there. But then she did not get what she needs as a journalist, she was not allowed to take pictures here and there, so she was like, why are you inviting us here if we can’t report what’s going on, we can’t take pictures, we can’t take in a camera. We’re not tourists, we’re journalists!
She wrote about that in her personal blog and also in Maverick’s blog. So people stared talking… some were sympathetic for her, some were cursing her… so there were lot’s of pros and cons. And that’s how it started, the blogosphere talking about this, bloggers writing about her experience and then one of the bloggers is a journalist. So he writes about that in his newspaper. And then it started to go out. Other journalists and other media started calling and asked her for an interview.
Plans for Pesta Blogger 2008
Pesta Blogger 2008 hasn’t been planned thoroughly. But hopefully we can invite regional bloggers at least, from Malysia, the Philippines, Singapore. Get them to mingle with us, share our experience. This is what bridge blogging is supposed to do. Bridging differences, bridging cultures. Hopefully we can do that.
We try to get them to see Indonesia through the eyes of bloggers. Anyone can access Indonesian bloggers’ blogs. Many of those living in other countries do not know about Indonesia that well. They might be scared about terrorism and all that. But in the blogs it’s like a new world, that we go clubbing, go shopping in a mall, hang out. And people can see that actually, there is always another side of the story.
It can help us interact with others and help boost the Indonesian image outside. I think it’s also good when people blog in English.
A Bloggers’ Association for Indonesia?
The Bloggers Association is still only an idea. But we are thinking about that. What kind of organization could that be? Is it like an ethical association for bloggers, or can we support bloggers who are being sued for their postings? We’re still trying to formulate that.
As far as I remember there have been 2 or 3 cases of bloggers being sued for what they write. But it died down quickly. Because the bloggers were willing to delete the post or to compromise. But you will never know what might happen, so when something comes up… what should they do? Especially when their newbies… the association could be like an advisor.
Links between blogging and business
I think blogs help companies to interact with their customers in many ways. So when you’re a huge company and people have a complains about you they might call your customer service to complain but then they will go home and feel bad and maybe stop buying from you. But you’ll never know that because it stops there. Great about blogs is when people from the managerial level have access to it. So they can see actual people complaining, or giving input or suggestions, or even thanking them. And they can reply back to their customers. And actually when things happen they can get more insights, more information from the customers. It humanizes your company in some way. You know how frustrated you can get to a company or product and you don’t know who to complain to.
Even though internet penetration is still low, we see that bloggers, or netters, are opinion leaders. Especially those prominent bloggers, they can shape the opinions of othrers. So it’s always important. It starts with a few. But they can share their stories, with their families, even if they are not bloggers. A snowball effect. Not to mention that journalists are mostly bloggers! Those who blog are mostly people who are opinionated, people who want their voice to be heard. I think that’s important to understand.
We try to get our clients to interact with blogs and bloggers. Sometimes, when a certain issue relating to their brand comes up in the blogosphere we inform them, some of them start checking on blogs regularly, blogs that are related to their business. But I think for them to set up their own blogs, or anything like that, it’s a bit difficult because of the bureaucracy. It has to come from the headquarters. So what we do right now is to familiarize our clients with blogs and inform them about the issues generating from blogs.
At Maverick we have a corporate social responsibility program for NGOs. We train them on communications plan, on public relations, so they can improve their communication skills as well. Blogs are also great for non-profit organizations because it’s free, and they can start communicating their activities and be heard.
The NGOs are very interested to start their own blogs, although they are still searching for ways how to manage it. The program is open for NGOs in Indonesia, they can send us an application form and we look at what they have done. And if we think ok they need our help we invite them to our office for a day training, on communication skills, and PR planning.
Restrictions on E-commerce, like Ebay, Amazon and Paypal?
I think it’s because there were hacker’s issues, I don’t know much about that. I think this happened because we do not yet have a cyberlaw that is applicable. People are still misusing. I think like at the Blogger’s Meeting, when you have met these people and you know them, we remind each other. One of the functions of having the Pesta Blogger is to strengthen the community, and as bloggers we can also remind each other not to break the law, behave unethical. And you know, if a friend says that to you, you are much more likely to listen. This is what we can do in the meantime, make the community stronger, like a family. Get them to think I don’t want to ruin the image of bloggers, because they are my friends as well.
I don’t know much about bloggers in other countries, or how they usually interact. But I think in Indonesia, when they have regularly visited their blog it starts to feel like there is a connection, and actually, they start inviting each other to meet up somewhere. Some people say the internet makes social interaction not physical any longer, but I think its just another way of interacting socially. It starts with a blog, and then you have several people commenting there and you feel like you know these people! Then you arrange a meeting, to catch up.
Improvement of the blogosphere
First, the infrastructure of course. Get more people to blog... when you have this culture of writing, you should support that. The literacy is still low in Indonesia. I think infrastructure is a crucial thing when you want to strengthen the blogosphere. Most people here blog from their office because this is where they get free internet. We have to strengthen the community, provide the facilities for gatherings.
Some people are starting to make money from blogging. Some have ads, because they have lots of readers. Some of them get jobs as writers, because a publishing company reads their writing. Or you can get clients through your blog, when you write about your work. There are lot’s of things you can do. There are many ways to make money in the blogosphere.
I haven’t really felt any negative effects. So far it’s been great, really informative. I don’t see any destructive forces!
The private and the professional sphere
One of my business clients knows my private blog and has read it. I think it doesn’t matter. I think everyone has more than one life at a time. Like you’re a student, a sister, a daughter… you play different roles in life. I think as long as my personal blog can also add something positive to my professional life and vice versa this is fine. There are some journalists who visit my personal blog regularly, so when I have good contacts with them, it will benefit me as a professional. Because it’s nice to have the feeling to have met them, to know them. So if I need anything, an information, I can call them up. It has to be benefiting and complementing each other. As long as it is not destructive, my personal blog talking bad about my clients… this would become unethical because I still work for this company.
Free access to everytihing?
It’s a global problem with the net. The best is still to watch your friends, families. It’s the responsibility of the parents to monitor what their kid does. I think the software companies have also provided software where the parents can block some sites. Everyone can participate to ensure the net isn’t abused for anything like that.
Discussion culture
I haven’t heard of anything as extreme as bloggers getting threats to be beaten up because of liberal views, but when it comes to comments, yes there can be very harsh comments. The greatest thing is people can judge by themselves. They can read the comment and say: that is very harsh, I don’t buy that. They can post their opinion there. It opens the chance for an open discussion. Especially in Indonesia, the people are still very passive, so I think in the blogosphere you feel more free because you don’t meet face to face. You can always be honest whether you agree or disagree with something. So in a way it’s good when people start debating over the net, as long as they are still using polite language. Pros and cons are always there.
I think the culture here, most Asian people are a bit passive compared to Americans or Western people. They are hesitant to give their honest opinion about something because they are afraid they will hurt other peoples’ feelings. When you’re in a room and speaker asks: who wants to ask a question? Maybe only one or two people raise their hands. But then when the seminar finishes they will come directly to the speaker and they ask their question. So they don’t have enough courage to ask questions in front of foreigners. In the blogosphere people can do that because there you’re only a thought, an opinion, not a person with all eyes on him. The talk is freer, you can be very honest. You don’t have to be judged. Yes, this can make people also more aggressive. I have noticed that. Several postings or comments can be very aggressive, but when you meet them in person they are more shy and more calm.
texastee - 4. Aug, 18:53
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