Sanchez: Social media

FOR the life of me, I couldn’t understand why public utilities have no official social media accounts. Think Facebook. Think Twitter.

And think the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa). More on that later.

One in seven people on Earth used Facebook – one billion people, bragged its founder Mark Zuckerberg. In a decade, the social network has transformed people’s relationships, privacy, their businesses, global news outfits, helped topple regimes, and even changed the meaning of everyday words.

For one thing, “to friend” is now an action word, a verb. It is easy to “unfriend” a pesky casual acquaintance when they are proving to be a pain in the buns in your Facebook newsfeed.

I can now daily read the New York Times, the LA Times, Washington Post, the British Guardian, Asahi Shimbun. Heck, if they’re not so boring, I can read controversial newsletters like Ang Bayan of the Communist Party of the Philippines, or Dabiq in PDF forms.

Indeed, “A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more opportunities, and a stronger society that reflects all of our values,” wrote Zuckerberg in the post.

Even kids as young as four to five years old have Facebook accounts. More and more people are posting their obituaries of loved ones who have just passed away.

Facebook has launched people power in the Middle East, launching the Arab Spring for game change of despotic rulers. Barrack Obama became the 44th president of the United States of America on the strength of social media campaign.

I handled libel or slander cases where a “friend” that has become an “unfriend” because the accused has bad-mouth a best friend forever (BFF) on Facebook, for the entire world to see and read.

It boggles the mind though why Baciwa for one has no official Facebook accounts. As a public utility, it is obligated to be transparent and accountable to the public for its performance – or non-performance.

So am I unable to interact online with it to file a complaint on having no tap water for 13 hours daily? I’m tired of calling them. For one thing, the landline of their Public Assistance and Complaints are almost always busy even on weekends.

Ms. Ma. Fe Jarder, the department manager of its Commercial services, has a Facebook account. I find it disconcerting that as its head, she is not interacting with Baciwa consumers. And yet we have six common friends.

Please, Ms Jarder, use the power of social media to be more accountable to your consumers. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” says Mahatma Gandhi.

I’ll settle for the change in your services in the City of Smiles.

(bqsanc@yahoo.com)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph