It can be easily—and mistakenly—identified with Facebook and other social-networking sites, but Oneline.ph targets a different breed of individuals.

Launched last week during a Dialogues@Starbucks session at the coffee giant’s 6750 branch, it hopes to be the venue of “altruistic creativity” for groups and individuals who want to share their ideas and work.

Oneline.ph is a “social communication” platform catering creative individuals who want to share their work, as well as nonprofit, mission-based organizations that are in need of some creative material for their respective campaigns. The platform aspires to bring the two together to a venue where they can provide an answer for each other’s need.

The web site is the brainchild of a number of artists making up Ideals Creatives, a social enterprise that helps mission-driven organizations enhance their reach and impact by providing multimedia and creative-communication services.

The platform works just like any other networking site. Users can register either as creatives, the people who create content, or as organizations, mission-based groups who are looking for creative content for their cause. Creatives can complete the registry within a few minutes. Organizations, on the other hand, sign up through an online application that is submitted to and reviewed by Oneline. (Oneline possesses certain security measures in order to make sure the organization is a real and functioning group.)

“We have to double-check,” said Marielle Nadal, executive director of Ideals Creative, on how the moderators ensure the legitimacy of an organization. This is done by using the information entered by the applicant during the registration.

Once approved, organizations can post briefs or notices on what the group needs. Creatives, on the other hand, can answer these briefs and respond by uploading their work. “Details can be outlined in the brief,” Nadal said.  The posted works can be in the form of various media: graphic art, photos, videos, Word documents or audio files.

Creatives who have plenty of unused materials are also highly encouraged to share their work. The idea is for these works to be freely accessed by those who need it, or under an agreement with the creative who published the work.

The platform was developed in recognition of the upsurge of creative individuals who are searching for a platform where they can share their works, specifically those who show interest in putting their talents to the use of initiatives that strive for social impact. Nadal explained that there are plenty of creative individuals “who want to contribute, but they don’t know how.”

“What we did is we organized a venue,” she said, “to show your work; show your skill—for a good purpose.”

When asked what the creatives can get from sharing their work, Nadal gave a simple reply: “Fulfillment.”

People unfamiliar with a social-communication platform can argue that a service can already be found in popular social-networking sites like Facebook. But Nadal explained that as opposed to social-networking sites, where a one can elicit various responses from all sorts of people, social-communication web sites like Oneline draw response from a specific group of individuals—in this case, creatives.

The launch, held at Starbucks 6750, was attended by a number of creatives and mission-based organizations. Dan Matutina, Ideals Creatives creative director, headed the demonstration and road test of the web site. 

Currently, the service is available to organizations based in the Philippines. Creatives from all over the world, however, can register or start uploading their work anytime.

When asked if Ideals expects to earn some revenue from the site, Matutina only smiled. According to him, the idea simply is to “extend tulong” to nonprofit groups.

Photo by Romy Florante