How to prepare for the shocks of future events is a challenge many businesses face. The media industry included.
The 35 years of SunStar’s existence was marked last Saturday, and part of the highlight of the evening was on how SunStar prepared for the rise in the use of technology in mass media.
In 1995, a year after the internet was born in the Philippines, SunStar Cebu joined the web as the first community newspaper company to be on the internet, with a web address of www.sunstar.com.ph.
In 1999, as internet reach started to grow, my office, the SunStar Network Exchange or Sunnex, was created to run the SunStar website, to generate online content like breaking news, and to continue to be a venue for newspaper articles to reach a wider audience regardless of age, date, time, place and device used.
Our mandate was to prepare the SunStar media brand for the future. What is that future? This. The digital age.
This is how we future-proof SunStar, how we prepare for the shocks of future events.
We developed a website that connects communities throughout the Philippine archipelago, links them to decision makers at the capital, and brings their voice to the world.
On the mobile phone, you see the website in a format that automatically adjusts to your kind of device for ease of use and to improve your user experience regardless of screen size.
The e-paper or electronic paper is like having the newspaper in your palm. Newsletters we push to your email accounts to bring relevant content.
On social media, we engage with our readers. SunStar robots or bots on Facebook allow users to interact with us.
The SunStar Web TV, a channel on the internet, carries regular programs on news and features. Also on the website are special reports on video, live streaming of events, drone reporting, and reporting on 360 degrees.
Then, the latest innovation, version three of the mobile application called My SunStar. The app was born two years ago with the unique feature of giving users the power to personalize their news selection. No more of the general approach. We gave app users the power to decide what is news to them.
In less than a year after it was launched, My SunStar version 2 was uploaded to the Google and Apple stores with improved design and interactivity.
Now, as we launch version 3 of My SunStar, we introduce a design that is further improved and a revolutionary feature – the classifieds.
Classified ads used to be the domain of newspapers. It could still be for SunStar newspapers as My SunStar version three introduces the ability to post and pay from your mobile phone for ads in the newspaper’s classified ads section, online on the website and on the app itself.
No other media company in the Philippines has this facility.
The app allows you to post newspaper and online ads from your mobile phone. Go to the Google Play Store to download. It will be available in the Apple Store early next year.