Wazzup Pilipinas!
We kept our blog name as WazzupPilipinas.com since its birth on March 2013 and has never changed it because we believe that "a name, whether it has similarities with existing individuals, groups or any other entities, will not be a real burden. Because if you are truly and greatly significant, people will surely notice the difference."
However, for our group name, we decided to change it to avoid the confusion with the blog site. They should be two different entities that are co-existing with each other but of different composition.
Using "Bloggers ng Pilipinas" is a lot better because it directly states that we are bloggers of the Philippines.
Again, our group name may have a similarity with another group, but just like what we did to our blog site when we realized after a while that is has an almost identical name, the group will again rise above the traditional groups of bloggers.
There is another anonymous individual hiding behind the name of "Bloggers Pulis" who is reacting to the group name of "Bloggers ng Pilipinas" and "Wazzup Pilipinas" saying we could not think of a better name and would always come up with names that are somewhat similar to existing ones.
Apparently, the person behind the name of Bloggers Pulis revealed that a member of our group was the one who told her about the name similarities, and he or she warned us that there is evil within our very own group.
It was not surprising since most of us are also members of other groups so there really is no loyalty among members. What should be prominently known is that the Bloggers ng Pilipinas group is not like the other groups in many ways.
Here are our statements enumerated for better understanding:
1. When we think of a name for anything, we don't really make great efforts on finding out who already has used the name, or if it has a similarity with another group name.
2. We use what we feel is appropriate. We were defining a bloggers group that are from the Philippines. So appropriate enough is the group name "Bloggers ng Pilipinas" because the group has bloggers for members and they are all from the Philippines.
3. Our target market are mostly Filipinos, so we used Tagalog instead of using "Bloggers of the Philippines" so that the Filipino readers will know it is a Filipino community.
4. Just as how we thought of the name for Wazzup Pilipinas, when we created it initially as Wazzup Pilipinas.blogspot.com, Blogspot accepted it because there really was no name registered like that. When we bought the domain Wazzup Pilipinas.com, it was also accepted because again there was no domain like that.
5. We didn't even know that the other blog existed when we created our blog site.
6. The original name of the other blog was WazUp Philippines (with only one Z), then the owner changed it to Wazzup Philippines (now with two Z just like mine). He even told us that he bought the new domain name to correct the spelling.
7. We kept our blog name as Wazzup Pilipinas and has never changed it. We never really thought of competing with other blogs. We were just here for the fun of it, and never for financial gain.
8. The other blog owner jokingly told us he was benefiting from the similarity of our names because people mistaken his site for ours. There is truth behind that joke.
9. We even thought of combining our blogs as one. But that didn't pushed through when issues against our blog stained our reputation.
10. Now that he has devoted full time with his blog after resigning from his day job, it has also picked up primarily because of showbiz content which are very viral topics.
11. We all know that the Philippines is a showbiz country. Fans help a lot with the social media sharing so it becomes easier for showbiz bloggers to gain views. All my showbiz content reach thousands of views as compared to the more substantial stories.
12. We wanted balance content so we try not to deluge our site with too many trivial news, and seek more newsworthy stories. We never really cared about the analytics so we pursued more interesting opportunities.
13. Even though there were rumors looming around attacking the credibility of the Wazzup Pilipinas site, its founder and members, we retained our name and has never changed it.
14. The other blog owner once offered to bring down Wazzup Philippines because of the similarity, and he even created another site with a different name. However, he obviously changed his mind and kept the name.
15. We got so many requests to guest in different TV, radio and publications.
16. We got an invitation to partner with the Vigattin radio show at Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990 AM. The owner was well aware of the issues against us but he firmly believes we are above and beyond the issues. He now made our founder an anchor of his radio show.
17. We got an invitation to partner in creating the Wazzup Pilipinas TV show on national TV. But the producer decided to switch to online TV instead since everyone is going digital for a wider audience.
18. The other blogger eventually changed his blog name again to Wazzup.ph when my site was under scrutiny for issues raised by irate bloggers, and other bloggers gullible enough to believe the lies.
19. Again, we sticked with Wazzup Pilipinas as our name because we are on the side of truth.
20. True enough, our popularity as media partner and brand advocate never faded and continued to rise. Our supportive track record is the best judge of our credibility.
21. Now that some people were discovered repeatedly falsely representing Wazzup Pilipinas, we finally decided to change the name of the group so it won't be directly connected to the Wazzup Pilipinas blog site.
22. We believe that a name, whether it has similarities with existing individuals, groups or any other entities, will not be a real burden because if you are truly greatly significant, people will surely notice the difference.
23. You can call us by any name, what will remain true is our commitment to share substantial content that we believe are much more beneficial and useful to the readers.
24. We rarely follow the trending topics with a corresponding article because we believe the Filipinos deserve better. We only come out with one article pointing our very own opinions or the opinions of netizens. We prioritize more intellectually inclined topics rather than what are perceived as popularly trending or viral by the masses.
25. We don't participate in Comment, Like,, Etc Exchange or any similar syndications (like most blogger groups), because we believe that is an obvious form of cheating the public who are unaware of the real gauge to identify which blogs are really engaging and worth reading.
26. We don't force or tempt people to engage with us by offering something in return for their efforts. The people have to naturally Like us because they genuinely feel like it.
27. Majority of the people who read blogs do not usually find the time to click on Like, leave a Comment, or Share the article with others. Our blog analytics will prove our statement.
27. Majority of the people who read blogs do not usually find the time to click on Like, leave a Comment, or Share the article with others. Our blog analytics will prove our statement.
28. We don't restrict our group to a few members because we believe the community should be open to all willing to become active bloggers.
29. We continue to publish better content with our blog, social media accounts like our Facebook fan page and videos on our YouTube channel.
30. We are WazzupPilipinas! Always was and always will be!
30. We are WazzupPilipinas! Always was and always will be!
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
