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Davao Bloggers Come Out to Party

Published: March 21, 2007   |     |     |   Subscribe: RSS or Email    

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A bloggers’ party held here last week turned into a coming-out party of sorts for the 52 bloggers who showed up at the newly opened NetFront coffeeshop and Internet café. Organizers claimed it was the first blog party outside of Metro Manila.

By Tyrone Velez
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — Look into their blogs, read their journals, or view their photos online but there’s no way you get to know the bloggers until they come out to party. They take comfort in anonymity.

So that when a bloggers’ party was held here last week, it turned into a coming-out party of sorts for the 52 bloggers who showed up at the newly opened NetFront coffeeshop and Internet café. Organizers claimed it was the first blog party outside of Metro Manila.

The organizers were the people behind Davao Blogspace, which posted the event on its website. The turnout was a surprise, a sizable mix of professionals, IT workers, and media people.

Inspired by similar gatherings in Manila where bloggers get to meet fellow bloggers, the event featured discussions on web marketing through blogs (by Aileen Apolo, representative from Google Philippines) and the ethics of blogging and earning money through blogs (by Abe Olandres). There was a “Google-lympics,” a search contest on Davao trivia, the Davao Blogspace design contest, and various fun awards.

Olandres said the ethics of journalism — including accountability, sensitivity and fairness — also applies to blogging. Olandres earlier faced a libel suit for some remarks posted on one of the blogs he hosted.

“Google-lympics” winners bagged various souvenir items, like a Google shirt and notebook. The trivia included the complete list of the city’s mayors, the first diocese where Davao was placed under Zamboanga, of all places) and the origin of the word durian.

Blogger EricZoo won the Davao Blogspace Design Contest while Breathing Space won a photo award for her entry “You know you’re in Davao when…,” showing a shot of the durian sculpture by artist Kublai Millan at the Davao International Airport. Various awards were given out for the “cutest” blog, the “bitchiest” blog, the “wittiest,” the “geekiest,” the most eccentric, the oldest and the “emptiest” blog.

Guests included the web-community Bisaya Bloggers and Janette Toral. Toral said the event was the first blog party outside of Manila and urged bloggers to join the third Philippine Bloggers Summit in Manila slated some time this year.

Organizers — who include Blogie Robillo, Kim Castillo, Jun Macarambon and mydavaocity.com — said the event was only the first of the many gatherings of more Davao-based bloggers in the future. (Tyrone Velez/davaotoday.com)

[tags]davao today, blogging, blogs, bloggers’ party, davao bloggers[/tags]