Whang Od Academy of Nas Daily is a scam

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Online content creator Nuseir Yassin, who maintains the Facebook page Nas Daily, has taken down the online course featuring tattoo master Apo Whang-Od after her grandniece called it out for being a “scam.”

Grace Palicas—Whang Od’s grandniece and protegée—is warning people away from signing up to the course, calling the Whang Od Academy “a scam”. 

The moment Nas Daily posted about the “Tattoo Course” I knew it was impossible. How can someone teach an indigenous tattooing “course” by only visiting a village for days? Hindi lang simpleng body art ang tattoo for them. 750 pesos for what? 

The Cordillerans have already experienced enough abuse under repressive state mechanisms. Clearly, Nas Daily's attempt to capitalize Whang-od's craftsmanship obscures the Cordilleran people's quest for self-determination! 

The Cordillerans are not commodities, they are people! 

Not Nas Daily being cancelled in the Philiipines in just a matter of 1 minute. Okay then, see you tomorrow.

Nas daily, one-handedly, and inappropriately, took a piece of our culture, then sell it to us for ₱750? that has to be the worst, downgrading cultural insult I've ran into. 

We should tell this guy to leave the Filipinos alone. Was he not satisfied with Pinoy baiting, so lemme gentrify and exploit their art and culture, too? He's been milking 3rd world countries for poverty porn since day one. Is Nas Daily a scam and does it deserve our attention? Nas daily has been problematic ever since, not to mention how he supports the Philippine Government.

I mean, just the idea of the 'tattoo academy' for Php750 is already fishy and kinda disrespectful to the culture. 

I Can’t wait for Nas Daily ’s official statement. Trying my best to withhold judgement for now.

But isn’t “exploiting our culture” a bit too defamatory though? Who isn’t exploiting anything to earn money? Is it because he’s a foreigner? I really don’t know where this hate towards him is coming from.

Don't be too quick to cast your judgements. It is vital to hear  both sides so that we are able to see the whole picture, which helps us to find the root cause of the problem and discover a solution that takes the needs and feelings of everyone involved into consideration.

Even if he has reason, Filipinos should stop supporting him too much. His NasAcademy is kinda problematic. It has many issues. He will repeat this again and again.

He’s been Pinoy-baiting for far too long. The guy is literally trying to profit off deceiving an indigenous woman and our culture. He already did that to another Southeast Asian countries. Now he did it again.

I used to be one of the fans of Nas daily, but when I heard the news about him using our cultures just to make money. I came to think that unfollowing is the best solution.

"hear the other side first"

Kinumpirma ng kamag-anak ni Whang Od that she wasn't informed about this. The entire thing is a scam. There is no justifying his actions.

Sure, the government should intervene. But I strongly doubt the current one would intervene. This administration is likewise a scam. I'm doubting that the government will intervene because the tourism department of the Phillippines is also sponsoring him. 

The now-deleted online Nas Daily course appeared to have attempted to instruct subscribers in Apo Whang-Od's methods.

Social media is pop culture and Nas Daily has been exploiting it. In many countries, pop culture is not exactly the most popular because they have sports, arts, literature. In the Philippines, where even petty issues among actors will be trending, then it's not surprising at all.

Nas Daily go to hell challenge. He's the epitome of the cringey and harmful #goodvibesonly culture that people love to eat up.

Please spread this. Nas Daily has been exploiting my country’s culture for years. He even gave light and voice to a homophobic senator who wants to be a president. Foreign content creators, stop using my country’s culture for views and exploitation.

Filipinos are thirsty for global validation, of course Nas daily took advantage of that.

How do we avoid getting Pinoy baited by the next Nas Daily that comes along? 

For starters watch more regional films by regional filmmakers.

I hope the international media picks up Nas Daily / Nas Academy issue with Whang Od.

Subjugation should never be tolerated, Nas Daily is just proving that colonisation still exists and we Filipinos still don't know what to do.

Honestly, NasDaily making content in the Philippines by exploiting the people in it is not new. Irresponsible from the start.

Not only Phllipines content, Thailand and other countries content are also like this. And the way he encoraged people that they don’t need to graduate or get a diploma saying it is not that important while he graduated from Harvard is so hypocrite.

It's clearly begpacking and Filipino baiting.

Exoticism tawag dyan. Branding places with indigenous and unique cultures as "exotic"

As what’s long been clear about foreign content creators, they like to sate Filipinos’ thirst for int’l validation while getting lots of money from it. At this time, this Nas Daily goes after our indigenous culture, & we mustn’t let them exploit it. Let’s protect Whang-od.

So quick to take down the course and posts re Apo Whang Od Academy but where is your public apology, Nas Daily? 

Pnoy legacy lives on with Commemorative Stamps

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

The Philippine Postal Corporation (Post Office) unveiled the Commemorative Stamp to pay tribute to the late former President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III held at the iconic Manila Central Post Office Building on August 02.

This occasion also marks PNoy’s 40 days while coincidentally, was yesterday’s death anniversary of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

Postmaster General Norman “Mr. Postman” Fulgencio thank the family of the late President headed by Ms. Ballsy Aquino-Cruz for allowing to proceed with this special program to honor their brother. Ms. Deedee Siytangco, former spokeswoman of Pres. Corazon Aquino, was helpful in coordinating the intention of the family.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that the launching of the Philippine Postal Corporation’s official “Pnoy Stamp” is to pay tribute and celebrate the legacy of public service he (Pnoy) had imparted to each one of us.

He added, It is also noteworthy tor remember how Pnoy fought for and promoted our democratic foundations of liberty, sovereignty and justice which the Duterte Administration shares and continues to uphold.

Although the Aquino sisters were not present during the launching ceremony for health reasons and the threat of the virus, they requested their cousin Mayor Len Len Oreta of Malabon City to represent the Aquino family.

”We are thankful to the Post Office for paying tribute to President Pnoy”, Malabon City Mayor LenLen Oreta said.

Ms. Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, one of the Aquino sisters sent a video message thanking the Post Office for recognizing his services and contributions to the country. The Aquino family is deeply honored for this recognition”, she said.

Postmaster General Fulgencio said that it is the mandate of the Post Office to immortalize and pay tribute to former Presidents, who in one way or another have served and contributed to the development of the country.

He added, The Postage Stamps we issue symbolize unity, respect, love of the country and concern for one another regardless of color, race or creed. When a former president passes away, we set aside politics and the whole country mourns.”

10 Ways To Reduce Email Bounce Rate

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Email marketing is a rewarding online marketing strategy, but it’s not easy to master!

It takes a lot of effort and hard work to plan and carry out an authentic email marketing campaign. One of the biggest obstacles to a successful campaign is a high bounce rate. Imagine how disheartening it can be if you discover that some of your audience didn't even receive the email since it bounced right after you sent it!

Marketers are trying to fight high bounce rates and are having a hard time in doing so as the reason behind increasing bounce rates and its solution is not always clear.

What Is email bounce rate is and what are its major causes:

Email bounce rate measures the percentage of recipients who did not receive your message as it was rejected by their server.

There are two types of bounces that you can face: soft bounce and hard bounce.

Soft bounce refers to the temporary failure in the delivery of your email caused due to reasons like

no space in your recipient’s mailbox,
server issues,
your message could be too big to be received, etc.

Such factors don’t require fixing and neither are they in your hands.

Hard bounce refers to the permanent failure in the delivery of your message to an email address caused due to reasons like

incorrect domain names,
invalid email addresses,
subscriber’s mailboxes that are no longer active.

Hard bounces are a bigger problem and require attention since they cannot be resolved with subsequent emails.

Any email that does not reach its intended address is useless in terms of persuasion or information, lowering the effectiveness of your email campaign. A high email bounce rate can harm your reputation and, in the worst-case scenario, prevent you from sending emails at all.

A bounce rate under 2% is considered a standard rate. Anything between 2-4% requires attention and efforts to bring it down. A 5% or above rate is serious and can be extremely damaging for your campaigns and should immediately be taken care of. Hence, it is very crucial to check on your email bounce rate and work to keep it low at all times.


How To Reduce The Email Bounce Rates


Verify Your Email Authenticity:

Email authentication is important to save yourself from email fraud, low deliverability, and getting tagged as spam. Especially when you use third-party ESPs to deliver your messages. During the process of delivering the emails, the servers check the legitimacy of your emails by determining their relevance and if the source of the email is secure or not. SPF, DMARC, and DKIM are three fundamental ways of authenticating your emails.

Hence by authenticating your emails you will save yourself from a negative reputation and high bounce rate.

Avoid Free Sender Domains:

. A professional domain is a must-have for email campaigns as using free email addresses such as gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc increases your chances of being categorized as spam, which can harm your email sender reputation and raise your bounce rate.

Instead of using free sender domains, it is better to use your company domain to pass the DMARC policy check. Using your company’s domain for sending out emails increases your credibility as a legitimate business and keeps your newsletters out of the spam folder.


Ensure Your Email doesn’t Appear to be Spam:

If you're not paying attention, you might end up as spam. Spam filters are designed to determine whether or not your email appears to be spam. The difficult aspect is that, because spammers' strategies vary all the time, the filters must update as well.

It implies that you cannot simply set your emails and forget them. You must ensure that the content & the templates used are up to date and don’t have any features that make it appear to be spam. Otherwise, it can increase your email bounce rate significantly.


Obtain Your Email List The Right Way:

Make sure you get your email addresses the right way. If you buy a list of email addresses, you'll run into a lot of issues, such as dealing with outdated and inactive addresses and getting marked as spam by people who have never heard from you before, and it's not worth the risk.

Using an opt-in strategy and organically growing your email lists with your content and marketing activities is far more effective. Every individual on your email list should have given you their email address voluntarily, knowing what they will get in return.

You can gather email addresses in a variety of ways, such as by including an email signup form on your blog or website, and through social media platforms as well.


Regularly Update Your Email List:

Relying on your initial email blast to clean your email list is a major mistake. It's an injustice to both your business and your ESP. Furthermore, if you do not clean and update your email list, you risk being blocked and tagged as spam.

It's time to update your list if it's been a while. To begin, separate the recipients and use a high-accuracy email validation tool to detect invalid, inaccurate, dormant, and suspicious email addresses. You will enhance your deliverability and open rates, as well as reduce your email bounce rate significantly, by filtering out such contacts.

Consider Adopting The Double Opt-in Method:

There is always a debate regarding the use of single-opt-in and double-opt-in methods. Well both of them have their advantages. But if you want better results it is better to go with the latter. The upper hand of using double-opt-in is that you will know if the email address is coming from a real and monitored inbox as double opt-in requires the users to confirm their subscription to your email. This will help you generate a high-quality subscriber list avoiding the chances of facing bounces.

Companies that have previously experienced low open rates or abuse complaints should adopt the double-opt-in method for better campaign performance.


Use Segmentation:

Email segmentation may aid with personalization, which is crucial for the success of your email campaigns. When you segment an email list, you divide it into smaller, more meaningful chunks. This allows you to adapt your email marketing to the exact wants, challenges, and preferences of your target audience. Creating email content that is relevant to your audience lowers your email bounce rate while increasing open rates and conversions.

You can segment your list depending on the factors such as gender, geolocation, age, profession, purchasing history, page views, etc

Produce High-Quality Content:

Your email marketing strategy's nerve is content. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Nobody will like to open an email that does not immediately grab their attention and engage them.

The quality and relevance of your email content impact how servers will interpret your message and whether it will be classified as spam. Thus, any component of your email newsletter, from the subject line to the text and graphics, must be engaging, entertaining, authentic, and direct.

Avoid Spam and Improve Website Security:

Mail servers consider the quality of your content, historical user involvement methods, and other reputational considerations as well. Hence it is advisable to link your website content with your email content to lower your mail bounce rate. For instance, while promoting your brand, its products, or services, ensure that your CTAs and links direct customers to the appropriate pages.

Most importantly, keep your website secure. The use of SSL certificates is crucial for increasing brand visibility and client confidence. Browsers will tell customers that your website is not safe if it does not employ HTTPS. Customers who do not wish to jeopardize their data security will most likely leave the transaction, stop opening your emails, or even mark them as spam. This will result in a higher bounce rate in the long run.


A/B Test Your Campaign:

It's not easy to create an email that's both entertaining and converts straight away. Your target audiences have a variety of interests, issues, and habits. Some emails do better than others, which is unsurprising. The idea is to do A/B tests on important components of your email content to see which ones resonate the most with your subscribers.

A/B testing, in the context of email, refers to the creation of two variants of a campaign and comparing them. The process's complexity varies. To evaluate open rates, you might manually develop and send email alternative subject lines. Most email service providers, on the other hand, allow you to automate this procedure and acquire key insights faster.

You can run an A/B test on subject lines, Content, Visualizations, Emails containing and excluding images, etc.

Analyze Your Email Campaigns

You should never rely on your instincts when it comes to email marketing. Only by tracking the performance of your efforts can you make informed judgments, reduce bounce rates, and increase open rates.

Create a tracking schedule first. Tracking email performance on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or campaign-by-campaign basis should be done. This will help you to track your progress, compare outcomes, uncover improving patterns, and uncover new trends.

Second, you should outline your email marketing goals. This will help you decide what you want to measure and which metrics to use to show how well your efforts are performing.

To wrap up:

Now, it must be clear that email bounce rates can occur due to so many reasons and there is no particular way of keeping it low. We all know that prevention is better than cure, to have the upper hand you should keep a check on your bounce rates and focus on avoiding them from the very beginning rather than trying to fight it after it goes out of your hand.

By keeping the above points in mind you will surely be able to maintain a lower bounce rate and carry out successful email campaigns.