DO you want to make a profit out of your selfie habit? Do you want to join an advocacy for social change out of that seemingly fun and innocent, yet powerful, self-photo trend?
With the aim to make useful of this habit, especially among the millennials, lawyer Arthur C. Corpuz came up with a social-network site intended solely for Filipinos.
Recently launched after more than five years of trial and error but now fully operational is TayoNa.ph. The site’s Filipino name, which means “Let’s Go,” urges Filipinos to take a more active participation in nation-building, and help elevate the socioeconomic standing of the country.
We’re a social advocacy, according to Corpuz.
“We’re hoping to turn the ‘selfie’ generation into ‘selfless’ generation for better Philippines.”
Corpuz said he thought of making the most out of the common belief that Filipinos are known to top in posting selfies and its variations—“helfie,” a photo of one’s own hair; “belfie,” a snapshot of one’s own backside; “welfie,” a selfie taken while working out.
Corpuz said he is eyeing at least 10 percent, or 4.4 million of the 44 million Filipinos spending an average of six hours per day on the Internet.
If they embrace the foundation spirit of TayoNa, “that will make it easier to accomplish [our] mission,” Corpuz told the BusinessMirror.
He explained that members of the site can enjoy for free the usual features of social sites, such as chatting, video and photo upload and wall postings, etc. They may also use the site to promote their businesses or as a tool for socioeconomic empowerment.
“More than that, [we are promoting] TayoNa.ph to support noble causes, such as regular and sustained scholarship program with the ‘Selfie For A Cause’ campaign or salute to Filipino workers [local and overseas] using the ‘Sipag Pinoy’ campaign,” he explained.
Corpuz added the site’s other feature is e-gift giving or sharing, where the gift giver automatically receives “wish gems” that can be used to “wish for prizes, such as educational assistance,” plane ticket and gadgets, etc. At the same time, the gift recipient gets automatically credited with points that can be used to send e-gifts in order to earn wish gems, Corpuz said.
An ongoing contest on the site is called “Kayganda ng Pilipinas”, which features members’ selfies with the various tourist destinations of the Philippines. Corpuz is asking users to join the contest that he said “costs nothing and provides benefits for yourself, your family and community all for free”.