Let's Talk Superlatives: Deep Fakes, Superfakes and the Big Dipper

 Know our social economy before trusting any.

On one end of the social media spectrum, is an era of superlatives-- from promises to hopes and wealth sail builders, blogs, and sites of individuals wanting to be known, wanting to be rich, and wanting to connect.  On the other, it's all trappings of the super fakes.

It would sound so idealistic to simply trust read-on articles and news we see online. 

That news of unemployment slump, a millionth earning newbie businesses that young kids are trying to help resuscitate the economy. 

But in the doldrums of these social media frenzy to be known, be seen, and those "get rich" schemes, the reality abides in the imperfection of numbers, the roughness of fakes, and the lucidness of people's images who try to be perfect and yet cannot achieve real distinct connection online. 

This is what I call the abyss of social media where an economy thrives in hopes and prospects, but it is trapped in the middle by a conglomerate of disjointed interests.

The first of fakes. The promise of investments.

In the era of micro investors, it is the small-time investors and businesses "trying hards" or "copycats" who would jump right at the opportunity to earn some, earn small, or earn try so as not to let time waste in times of pandemic. 

But investments that give real "big" results and earnings are not really happening, and most are not at all life-changing, offering only coin-purse returns that cannot even help families recuperate from losses after years of joblessness.  

Here I won't mention the specific businesses. 

But there are plenty out there that ordinary moms and dads often try, with a big-bite promise of investing in small packages.  

From light luxury to branded goods, all these are attractive investments for salary earners even before the pandemic kicked in. 

But the truth is, this is a dead-end approach to investing. 

Despite the flaunting of being a multi-billion dollar industry globally, branded luxury does not promise good resale for ordinary investors in times of the great "no earn" pandemic.  

All investments seem to have been dragged into a dumpsite of nothingness, almost worthless. 

And all one could do is keep them without the promise of turning these investments into cash, the often lure of light to heavy luxury items in the market is that these items have good resale value and can be turned into cash in times of drought. 

For light luxury buyers, investing in light to pricey jewelry is not a golden promise to rely on as these are items that have become commonplace and hard to dispose of, and no outlets to receive them as second hands. Preloved luxury thus is not a good term investment for the micro-investing moms and dads who want to delve into the promise of a life of luxury.  

In a sense, this false sense of assurance that one is investing in the good ones with one's precious money and earnings would only go to waste in a social economy that values likes, influence, and followers and not the truths behind branded luxuries.  

The second of fakes. A deeper fake, businesses that run for show-and-tell bragging, but do not serve with a genuine interest for customers.

The second kind of fakes in business is the one that applies to customer relations and business imaging.

In our current state of the economy where social media serves as the front of new and upcoming businesses, even for the brick and mortar kind of businesses, some owners who run their businesses do so for that simple brag-and-drop approach of imposing their status as business owners and solidifying influence. But their hook? They would not hesitate to drop or turn away their customers who do not fit into their bill of prospects or likings.

This kind of business does not show genuine interest in customers. They shun new customers or reply impolitely in the face of callousness.  

They would screen clients as if they are the masters of censorship and true intentions. 

Business owners or managers or staff of this kind of deep fake customer relations integrity would turn down buyers and inquiries that do not ring a bell of prestige or do not present a deep pocket arrive at their doorsteps upon inquiry. 

Some of these businesses include those in the leasing business of commercial spaces, bazaars, etc. 

Even prior to the onset of the pandemic, business owners in this niche are the hardest knocks, offering a no-glance approach, no-response to inquiries even when they prompt invites for lessees through their below-the-line advertising and frequent social media postings.

These kinds of fakes can be leveled as business posturing. The owners simply want to be known for being business owners but would not actually want to open their doors to customers of the "lesser kind" of lesser names or pockets.  A real super fake in business.

And the third kind of fake is the big dipper business. 

In the social economy where businesses thrive because of creativity in advertising and marketing, the big dipper businesses are the kind that lures moms and dads to try, yet once in, these are the businesses that simply eat up their investments and hard-earned money without a promise of tangible returns. 

This kind of business simply gulps down on one's investments much to the heartache of ordinary investors and business starters. 

Entrepreneurs who wallow in big dipper businesses must be helped out by the necessary agencies to recover, and recuperate.  Otherwise, having a business would simply be an ordeal for small to medium business players, starters, and dreamers who have not yet experienced true profits and joy of having a good running business but merely a fake verse of social media and business enterprise centering on personality, stardom, and much influence harking.

THE OBSTINATE HOTLINE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

 Hello, are you there?

 

How has your utility service provider been in times of the pandemic?  With these, the specific utilities being pointed out here are the necessities that provide consumers with the dignity of lifestyle—those utilities which allow the public to live with convenience even in times of pandemic.

Credit must be given to most companies as there have been efforts to provide continuous service to the locals even when a global health pandemic was happening. We could not thank enough the people behind these companies, especially the telcos, which made the shift to digital schooling possible.

However, there is room for improvement that must be initiated by essential providers which have been neglected intermittently at the height of the COVID-19 situation. Herein the frailty of  CUSTOMER SERVICE in crisis situations when most numbers and means of reaching out to express complaints faltered many times.

At the height of the pandemic, the face of service of each utility company was the hotline and phone numbers posted on their company websites that were readily accessible to netizens.  But surreal to say, hotline numbers of many offices, those published for the public to peruse, can be tagged as unavailable and non-responsive.

One cable company cannot be reached at all for immediate service complaints.  Another telephone company had to be called often due to a lagging internet connection. Even when push for subscription modifications have been “drummed up” by random marketers calling for the telephone company.

Regarding the reliability of the water service connections,  it is good that advisories are given out regularly.  But frequent interruptions have become the norm even before El Nino was announced. Also in many instances, announcements of water disruptions did not come early enough for consumers to prepare.  

There cannot be a perfect continuity of service from utility companies.  This is a given.  But when it comes to manning hotlines, there is an obvious need to retain more than a skeletal force to attend to customers.

What has been the trend, when customers reach out for follow-ups, was a machine-run voice prompt would take the incoming call, and customers were left to wait, or be waited for proper dial-up directions, making the service complaints and follow-ups,  a waste of wait.    

CUSTOMER SERVICE is a front-runner of good reputational building for many companies. This aspect lagged behind when the public was served with too often service interruptions of utilities, at the household level.

>>> Commentary. News Review Philippines 2023.

When Comments Throttle, Would You Make Space For the Side Watchers?

THIS ARTICLE TACKLES SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS AND ISSUES ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN ONE INTERLOPED REALITY

 

At the start of the pandemic, as I read fleetingly social media sites, there was one thing I noticed in the local culture that could not be heard, found, or read in the era before the 2010s when social media is not yet peaked in popularity.

The rise of “throttle commenting”. Throttle commenting are sharp comments, given by followers, readers sometimes in an anonymous style, to social media pages and accounts.

The comments can vary from being frank and callous, to "personal"; at times laced with invectives;  to downright repulsive.

You’d wonder after reading and gulping social comments, without restraint (they are not just on social media by the way, sometimes you can find throttle comments on e-commerce platforms as well), if it is a “way of life” in the country.  

It is hard not to balk and wonder: "What hard life social media users in such stride, have come to survive real-world challenges, enough for them to jump on others' pages to “throttle?”. 

There is more to throttle commenters than meet the eye.

Sometimes they bond with others from their flock to brag or intimidate in their comment conquests as if it’s a badge of honor to do so.

Others do the blunt commenting in opposition to the subject, post, or content that is published.

But most of the time, the comments that fall by the throttle come from a personal bias; or ineptitude to be courteous.

Sometimes they want attention to their own profiles and that is how they want it.

In one study, social media use in the Philippines rose by up to 60 percent at the time of the pandemic.

The prospects of more people joining social media could still improve, what with the lack of available opportunities in the country, which pushes locals to find work that is non-traditional.  Social media seems to be a good haunt for this.

Romanticize this idea further and one imperceptive social media throttler could find, there are not many opportunities as well, no matter how you leap page by page on socials.  

And all that’s left are celebrity pages, for throttle commenters to join and follow, so they can get their share of the spotlight or attention.

Don’t get me wrong, comments are fine.

In the industry I worked for, it is an element of press freedom that makes it, “democratic”.

In a way commenting allows for the open sharing of opinion; but the boundary is, opinions must be issues-based before it sees print. It must not be meant to slur or demoralize another.

Most of the time, the throttle commenters are unemployed or have more time to lurk on social media.

Social media lurking is when hours and hours of time are spent on the internet.  Some, they like to take “prize on” on social media sites, like the disgruntled ones who want to pry into others' lifestyles.  

But the disgruntled commenters which is the nature of throttle commenters, are most likely reeling from another feel- the unavailability of opportunities that cannot be found by them.

Tip of the Iceberg: The rise of commenters is reflective of unemployment

Job hunting in the real world is not easy when you’re middle-aged.

But even the young, who are capable of doing the job, can find it hard to land on one.

At times, the unemployed choose to relegate themselves to odd jobs that have no professional dignity; but they accept jobs less than expected to tend and fend for their families.  They are the ones who have most of the hurt as throttle commenters. And one cannot miss out on them.

If “matatag na trabaho” is a phrase in the theme of this year’s Labor Day celebration, that is an idealized dream that cannot be held by the unemployed.

Plenty of throttle commenters live hawking at jobs, they want. But cannot have. 

Albeit even a professional must have suffered from “lost opportunities”, and an unstable job that one has no choice but to bear.

One industry practitioner I know simply dumped the idea of working for the industry she trained for and chose another industry to work at.  Another had to maintain a job and get a "sideline" (others call it a side hustle), while off-work. These are able people trying to make amends for the situations as "workers".

In a statement made by the Department of Labor and Unemployment, the unemployment rate is pegged at 4.8 percent up to February 2023 from 6.4 percent of February 2022, in a media release entitled, “February 2023 LFS reflects improving employment situation…”, dated April 15, 2023. It also claims the labor market is “beyond the recovery stage”. A very optimistic stance on the dismal rate of employers’ response to applications in the real and online world.

At the time of the pandemic, the prospects of online work were much harked about, but it was less of a truth that cannot be found.

In most job sites, resumes are simply “banked” and filed. Response rates to applications would be fast at times, but not promising.

And when a positive response is achieved in an application, the next that ensues is a less-than-encouraging interview and examinations, where the applicant is prompted to take an exam or be privy to an interview that briefs the applicant on the real status of employment benefits.

“This company does not have good benefits it only gives the basics…” one HR personnel shared in one plight or fly attempt to find employment online in what seems to be a stable company.

This is just one.  Meanwhile, another step in the employment process is to “submit samples of work” or portfolio, which is most of the time, primed for the employer to read and be selected; but the applicants’ resume and portfolio seem like “collateral” for finding work in vain. 

There are many scenarios in job hunting that add a burden to the realities of why the unemployed continued to be. 

The DOLE as a recourse, must pry on the why’s or the how’s employers limit, sift through, or filter applications.  

Is there a standard, a rigid standard being followed in giving employment to an individual or is there a bias in giving one?

The truth is, many jobs locally are fished by a “kakilala” or through job recommendations that do not make it fair for the rest of the applicants. 

It is only in the contractualized work that somehow, many can get a fair share of treatment from HR personnel.  In a way, this way of being employed gives workers opportunities, albeit in the short term.  But it is also not really being “fair”, as it does not give security of tenure as a worker.  

LOOK FOR THE COMMENTS THAT MATTER

Most of the throttle commenters can afford to hound on personalities and account owners of social media sites because they have loose time to waste.  But what we need to ask is, “Are they part of the unemployed, that gives social media its landscape of influence? 

The disparity between the employed and the unemployed is reflected well in the commenting ways of the side watchers on social media. This is what job providers need to resolve, to make social media in the line of truth and "educated" commenting.

 

 

 NEWS REVIEW PHILIPPINES 2023

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IS AI THE NEXT WAVE OF THE FUTURE AFTER DIGITAL WALLETS?

AI IS A TWO-LETTER WORD THAT CAN THROW ANOTHER PERSON ASKING, “ROBOT”?

1 OUT OF 3 INTERACTIONS IN THIS CITY CAN EXPOSE YOU TO SLIGHT SHAMING

"Shaded with "slighted"

 There is a better will

 that drives one to move out  of  a city and pursue a phase in his/her life in another. But when it  comes  to the fairness of interactions, some cities may  not impress as expected.  In this city, 1 out of 3 interactions/conversations per day with the locals, in this case, those done in public and  commercial establishments, could expose one to earshot or direct experience of slight shaming.  In a place where there are far more subdivisions than in any other country, this is a surprising sign of backsliding to the bygone years of patronage, bias, and alliances. Slight shaming can occur in sharing conversations and daily tasks that one may value as essential, routine, or trivial. Polite or cordial responses, from staff of business establishments may not always be a norm or a standard. Because in this city, almost everything seems to have a person-to-person reference to a bias, an impression, or a total neglect of business courtesy. Even though there is much room for improvement in this city when it comes to the conduct of business and person-to-person convo, it is ironic that this is happening in an urban location where affluents abound.  When in this city, expect low courtesy; a high risk of bias, and a preferential attitude toward the old residents, locals, and upscale-income  residents. Or to be patronized and have fair treatment when you have old connections and friendships in place.