They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. —-Andy Warhol

Although writing is part of my job, I suffer from writer’s block when it comes to keeping this blog alive. The easy way out was to ignore it till I have something to share. Then, work and other things in life take over and before I know it, this blog is almost dead. I got a reminder email from the company that hosts this blog, checking if I wish to keep the domain name and space for another year, I struggled to make a decision.

In all honesty, I rather watch CSI when i have some time to rest rather than straining more brain cells to write a blog post. Bloggers should know, writing a blog post can some times be very time consuming.

A part of me has alot of things in mind to share – ie: last week’s CommunicAsia, an interesting book I read and some random thoughts about various topics…. The other part of me is just suffering from blog/ writing fatigue and I just don’t have alot of time to structure and write long, detailed posts like i used to…

But last week, Yahoo! invited a group of bloggers to CommunicAsia to share with them the launch of the new Yahoo! Mobile. Some of them are old friends of mine and some I only know them via their blogs. After the session, I read some of their blogs and a couple of them wrote some amazing stuff. When I say “amazing”, i didn’t mean that they wrote positive reviews (well, most of them did anyway) about the product we shared with them, but more importantly, i started reading other posts they wrote and I developed “blog envy”…

While I always find some local bloggers’ blog posts a little too frivolous for my liking, but they have their fair share of readers. What I really admire is their passion for writing, the sharing of knowledge and a platform for expression … Something i used to do.

So, finally,  … (since I am having a day off from work and was just sticking my ass to the couch, eyes glued to Criminal Minds and had some mind space to think), I decided that I’ll attempt to change some things in my daily lifestyle and find time to blog but perhaps, not stressing over the length of the posts but more of the content that matters to me, to people who still drop by this blog.

So, stay tuned for more posts …

It’s coming to the end of March 09 and this is my very first post this year!

Interestingly, even when I stopped blogging, there are still traffic coming to this blog. Readers still comment on some old posts. That is somewhat encouraging.

Although from Brendan’s PR index, this blog just keeps on falling. haa. I really applaud Brendan for pulling together the index, it’s a great resource for me. I enjoy clicking on the links, knowing that they’ll lead me to some interesting PR blogs. Over the last one year, I’ve made several online acquaintances from that list. Number 7 and 13 are folks I follow on Twitter and added as friends on facebook. Number 36 is a friend of mine in Singapore, currently doing his master degree in Australia. There are several others on that list that I read regularly.

So, what have I been up to the last many months? WORK! Yes, work has taken a little too much of my life, but it is getting better and I am still having a great time at Yahoo!

A recently illness (infection causing some problems to ear and nose) had caused some discomfort and more stress. Forced to cancel a trip to Taipei (what a shame!) and I’ve been spending a lot more time in Indonesia.

We are launching the Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards that we ran in Singapore last year in Indonesia. Met some really cool developers and it is getting exciting!

There are alot of good food in Jakarta!

(I don’t know where I ate this but the seafood are all so fresh, yummy and huge!)

The other nice thing about Jakarta is, we stay at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, and you would think it costs a bomb, but it is quite affordable. Spacious and a huge comfy bed.

2008 has been a strange but very blessed year for me. While most of the “wrap-up” posts I read are about trends for this and that, what’s big in 08 in the world etc etc. I am going to make this post totally personal.

So, here’s a quick re-cap of my 2008!

I have 2 more days to my 1-year at Yahoo!. It has been a fantastic year for work. Despite all the ups and downs, I make alot of new friends, visited alot of new countries (I’ve never traveled so much in my life) in 12 months and learnt alot of new things. Broaden my perspectives of business in the region and learn about different cultures in Asia. For a while, I was living out of my suitcase, my boss called me the “little road warrior”. While it was alot of tears and sweat, I had alot of fun. While outsiders commented and criticized about the company, I truly think this is one of the best organisations I’ve been in; with a great culture and I am very blessed with a fantastic “multi-cultural” team and most importantly, I found great mentors.
Socially, I have cut back on time spent on blogging in the second half of the year and invested more time with my girlfriends, family and loved ones. While I sometimes feel bad that I don’t update my blog as often, despite drafting several entries (that are still sitting in the draft folder), I am glad that I chose to take time off to rest. I do, however missed hanging out with the other bloggers and discussing PR and social media/ technology topics that are close to heart.

Few weeks ago, I agreed to co-author a separate blog with an ex-colleague, mainly recording blessings and revelations of God. Completely different from this blog but I see that as more of a journal-writing, helping both of us remember the blessings of God, despite the crisis and turmoils in the world.

Financially, 2008 has been fantabulous! I am crowning myself “THE SHOPAHOLIC!” From the Gucci bags, Tiffanys, to $10 junks and I’ve built a mini library of books! I’ve spent so much this year, which I have to significantly cut down. But again, I had fun!

Other highlights in 08 include signing up with WorldVision on the sponsorship of a kid from Thailand. I am very excited about it and see that as a long-term commitment. Shall share more if i get the chance in next post.

So, what’s for 09?

I am not sure yet. I am still thinking of “resolutions” but a few key things in the pipeline – Make a trip to UK and making plans to volunteer @ Habitat for Humanity. Pay a visit to the sponsored kid at some point and looking for a new house to buy!

I am looking forward to 2009, despite the financial crisis. Life goes on and I pray that all my friends are truly blessed in the new year!

How was your 2008?

I saw Mitch Joel’s twitter link to one of his blog post, asking folks on how you feel about those who are no longer blogging (or have slowed down) because they are busy with stuff? He had went on to ask if “you feel cheated?” as readers. While i figured there are several ways to look at the post and probably more relevant for certain group of people, I still am not sure I agree 100% with the post.

I honestly don’t think it’s an excuse for bloggers to not blog as much. I think blogging shouldnt be “hard work” as well. I remembered a good friend who’s one of those top bloggers telling me “don’t feel obligated to blog because you have to, blog because you want to..”.

For myself, I’ve definitely slowed down, though not stopped. I twitter and interact on facebook more nowadays. It’s not that I didn’t want to write a post every other day but when you are traveling alot, and unlike agencies who might see their responsibilities to “engage in social media”, therefore more blogging and more podcasting, there are alot of people who have endless meetings to attend, endless traveling and endless hours of late nights doing a job that has alot of other objectives to meet (beside engaging the communities), so when some of us get home, the last thing we think of is to switch on laptop and start to write a blog. Personally, all i could think of, most of the nights is – try to get some sleep (and there is family and health to consider).

There are many ways to connect and communicate. Blogging is one of them, not the only means.

Having said that, I am keeping this blog and I’m still writing when I have an opinion to make, when i have something to share or when i want to record some thoughts for future reference.

So, honestly, does a reader really feel CHEATED when a blogger stopped or slowed down blogging? As a reader, I see it as a shame if my favourite blogger stopped completely but i am not sure about feeling “cheated”… I have a couple of friends who are in digital media business who used to blog about wonderful stuff but had to stop because of overwhelming amount of work, do i feel bad or cheated? Not really…

I have decided to try and do occassional posts on bloggers who have interesting blogs. They might not be your typical “celebrity / A-list” bloggers but nevertheless have their pool of avid blog readers.

Note that these might not even be the usual tech/ pr/ social media folks. At podcamp yesterday, I was inspired by Amelia’s and Preetam’s blogs even though they don’t blog about topics that I usually write about.

I shall start with the ones that I actually know the authors (and they are all Asians and none of them really write about the topics I usually cover). Here are the 3 for today -

1) Siew Kum Hong – He’s my colleague at Yahoo! (our senior legal counsel) and also Singapore’s Nominated Member of Parliament. Although I was never quite into politics but Kum Hong’s blog posts are often inspiring and spur discussions and thoughts from members of the public. At podcamp yesterday, someone mentioned that there are more and more MPs writing blogs and going onto facebook.

2) Pluit Solutions – Herryanto Siatono is probably not an unfamiliar name to many. He’s the founder of BookJetty and recently joined Yahoo! too. As an avid reader, I find Herry’s blog really informative.

3) Timothy Go - Tim is a fantastic friend and a great news anchor on Channel News Asia. We used to blog on Livejournal (he still does) and I moved to wordpress and set up this blog. Expect to find a wide variety of topics in his blog, from behind the scenes of his work to his travel adventure (yes, he travels more than i do) and follow up to some cool events (that he always get invited to the chi chi and glam stuff).

Have you read any interesting blogs recently?

Today, I had to drag myself out of my bed (on a cold, rainy morning) to attend the PodCamp 2008 in Singapore, organised by the Singapore Management Universities (SMU).  It is rare to have weekends to sleep in since I am either busy with events/ work or travel, I did have second thoughts about attending.

However, once I was at the event, I was quite pleased that I got out of bed. Although there were no oversea speakers this year, the sessions were quite interesting. I gathered quite a bit of information and was inspired by a couple of the speakers.

Every hour, two sessions of presentations/ discussions happened concurrently in separate rooms. I had a hard time choosing which ones to sit in. A lot of the speakers are old friends and some are “online acquaintances”. Since I was there to learn, explore and hear from everyone, I chose the ones with speakers whom I have not really had much interactions with in the past. I ended up in the following sessions:-

1) Melvin and Walter’s combined session (phew, no need to choose). As usual, the two never fail to impress.

2) Charlie Pownall from Burson Marsteller on the topic of e-fluentials and shared a survey the agency did in US. Pretty insightful but would be great to have a look at the Asian scenes.

3) Preetam Rai - The guy whose brother works in the same company as me and have been an online acquaintance for a while now. Today’s the first time we met in person. I really enjoyed Preetam’s session. I have been looking for interesting bloggers in Asia and Preetam shared his recommended list.

4) Michael Netzley – Again. Another online friend who I have always wanted to meet. Michael’s session was very inspiring – about wikis and educating the Gen-Y. Earlier this year, I stumbled upon the wiki Michael set up with his students as part of SMU’s social media course. I find the wiki very informative. Definitely a great effort by the students.

5) Finally, Amelia Wong shared her experience as a food blogger. Apparently, the pretty lady can bake some really delicious cupcakes. I can neither bake nor take beautiful pictures, so I am just going to admire her work for now and perhaps try to persuade Jon to copy the recipes and bake me a birthday cake!

For more details on the different sessions:-

Claudia has done a very good job – live-blogged at the different sessions. Robin and his team who put together this year’s podcamp had also written about it if you want more references.

The session that I missed and really wanted to sit in was the one on podcasting in Singapore by the tech65 guys

Overall, I thought the 6 hours at podcamp 2008 today were well-spent! And I kicked myself for forgetting my camera battery – have to wait for Mark to upload his photos as I was using his!

Since I was 4 years old, I had always wanted to be a musician. I played the keyboard and piano for 14 years but the music dream didn’t really come true. Ended up doing arts and design and somewhere over the years, started doing something else, completely different. So, here’s where I am now. No complaints though. I love what I do now.

Last evening, I was at Zouk and for the first time, heard the local indie/po punk band – Plainsunset played. When Jonathan and my very cool colleague Ray (who also plays in another local band, Kate of Kale) first told me about Plainsunset some weeks ago, I had never heard of them. I was actually surprised that Jon has their albums. I heard their songs from his iTunes collection and thought they were quite good and last night, hearing them live was pretty awesome!

Ok. I didn’t really go to Zouk for the bands.

It was more for work. And that’s where the other group of local young talents are found. At the Yahoo! Mobile Developer Awards (YMDA) part.

I am trying not to pull anything from the press release into this post. You can find out more yourself, if you are one of those developers who are exploring to develop cool applications for mobile.

Briefly, the competition is about encouraging young developers from tertiary institutes to innovate and create mobile-optimised applications using Yahoo!’s latest mobile development platform - Yahoo! Blueprint based on real business briefs from 4 corporate sponsors, including DBS Bank, Kellogg Asia, Malaysia Airlines and travel portal UEEEU.com.

The party last night was to award 4 winning teams and one Best in Show.

DBS bank widget won the Best in Show

What impressed me most was the quality of submissions from the young developers who created what we called mobile widgets . Check out some of the screenshots of the winning mobile widgets.

IZ Reloded’s who joined us at the party had done some video interviews and shared some pictures of the event.

Looking at the local bands and the young developers, I have to say, we have some really talented people in this city.

A few topics came to mind as I reflect on this year’s Blog Action Day topic – Poverty. I had wanted to write a post personal experience and I thought of writing something relevant to this blog and my job – looking at how mobile phones could help with poverty in some emerging markets. (And some day, I might just post on that two topics).

But i figured, for now, I should highlight some initiatives/ organisations out there, supporting and fighting to end poverty and the opportunities for each of us to reach out and support/ do our part.

For a start, let’s look at what my own country, Singapore is doing? To support the Stand up 2008, a global initiative by the UN Millenium campaign in collaboration with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, Singaporeans are organising a series of activities to “Stand Up, Take Action” together from 17 – 19 October. Check them out!

Thanks to my colleagues (Ray and Gavin) who brought Worldvision to our attention, Jon and I had recently decided to sponsor a child with the help of the organisation. It is a Christian humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tacking the cause of poverty and injustice. We are extremely excited and very blessed to be in a position where we can afford to give and bless. I will probably share more once we finalise details.

Again, thanks to Jeremy, my colleague who knew of my obsession with books – brought to my attention the Room to Read organisation. They are doing things that are very close to my heart. The organisation partners with local communities throughout developing world to provide quality educational opportunities for children in the countries, striving to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.

And there are many other initiatives, organisations and resources out there. Mashable.com has put together a good list.

It’s that time of the year again – the Blog Action Day this year is looking to discuss the topic of proverty. For folks new to the Blog Action Day, it is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. On 15 October this month, all registered bloggers will post a post, video, podcast etc on the topic of “proverty”. Find out more by clicking on the banner on the right hand column of this blog or click here.

Last year, I posted on saving the environment

Using the power of the blogging community globally, discussing one single topic and raise different issues and perspectives on that topic – that is powerful! As of today, there are already 7643 bloggers registered, pledging to write a post on 15 October.

For those who are keen to join in, register your blog here and put up the cool banners on your blog to help spread the word.

A few months back, I attended a conference in the Philippines and one of the speakers presented on the power of word of mouth marketing. I am a big fan of that but the speaker went on to share how he believed that “celebrity endorsement does not work!”.

This is a question a lot of marketers ask. There are also many thoughts around this question.

In a New York Times article, the journalist wrote about “How nothing sells like celebrity“

Using celebrities for promotion is hardly new. Film stars in the 1940s posed for cigarette companies, and Bob Hope pitched American Express in the late 1950s. Joe Namath slipped into Hanes pantyhose in the 1970s, and Bill Cosby jiggled for Jell-O for three decades. Sports icons like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods elevated the practice, often scoring more in endorsement and licensing dollars than from their actual sports earnings.

The speaker at the event showed a bus ad of Rain (a popular korean singer) endorsing a hair product and he went on to ask the audience, “how many of you believe that Rain actually use this product?” It is a valid question. I am not sure if I believed Rain does.

I asked my girlfriends (who are in marcomm and PR) what they think over coffee, and as usual, we all have very different views. The thoughts ranged from “depending on who the celebrity is” to “depending on whether the celebrity and the product are ‘believable’. My ex-colleague believes in celebrity slimming campaigns if she can see the before and after results. And interestingly enough, my best friend, Yen who is currently doing her Master degree in Marketing Communications also thinks that celebrity slimming endorsement works for her.

Jonathan, my other half thinks that celebrity endorsement works only for certain brands, mostly for awareness building, for example Maria Sharapova endorsing the the Canon Powershot cameras caught his attention.

GeekSugar.com posted the top 10 celebrity gadget endorsements that works and created awareness but not necessary resulted in purchase.

For me, while I agree with the speaker at the conference about the lack of credibility of Rain using the cheap hair care product he endorses, I disagree that celebrity endorsement doesn’t work. I think it does. It depends on the objectives. Objectives of the campaign, the image and message the brand or product needs to communicate and what exactly does the celebrity has to do

My good friend, Walter Lim blogged about similar topic some while back – on VISA’s celebrity ad for the Olympic. Walter’s post was looking at effective ads and the celebrity they used. The ad was effective for VISA because it is a good ad or was it because it has Jackie Chan’s endorsement? Maybe both.

For me? It is about association. If i can associate a brand with the celebrity, it works for me. Kiera Knightley as the face for Chanel caught my attention and i could associate the product, brand and the celebrity together.

I am going to leave other thoughts to next post. Anyone believes celebrity endorsement is completely a waste of marketing/ PR dollars?