Yahoo! to launch Internet café program to grow RP community

Yahoo! to launch Internet café program to grow RP community


By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net


MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- Yahoo! Southeast Asia will launch a program for Internet café businesses in the Philippines to grow its community in the country, an executive told reporters Tuesday.

The Yahoo! program for Internet cafés aims to boost the Internet company's effort to build an "ecosystem" of users in the country, according to Jojo Añonuevo, head of Yahoo! business development of Southeast Asia, in an interview with reporters.

Añonuevo said that Yahoo! Southeast Asia will deploy a group of so-called Yahoo! Ambassadors that will encourage more Filipino users to join its community.

"You can't have advertising if you don't have a large community of users," the executive said, when asked how this strategy would figure in Yahoo! Southeast Asia's business.

There are now 12 to 15 million Filipinos living in the Philippines using Yahoo!'s services, said Jason Coates, Yahoo! Southeast Asia regional communications manager.

Noting that there remains a largely untapped market in the Philippines, Añonuevo stressed that Yahoo! is bent on going "toward more localization" of its services.

Yahoo! Southeast Asia announced recently in one online job portal that it was looking for an online community manager for the Philippines.

Coates said hiring a community manager for the Philippines is part of a global effort to bring more "relevant content" to Yahoo! Philippines portal, which was launched two years ago.

The executive said the online community manager will serve as an intermediary who is expected to be the eyes and ears of Yahoo! in the local community.

"With the Internet becoming social, it's the community that's going to drive it," he added, noting that several online community managers will be hired.

Meanwhile, Añonuevo revealed that there are close to a dozen Filipinos working for Yahoo! Southeast Asia.