UP launches the country’s first Social Media ‘War Room’ for Relief and Rehabilitation Efforts

By UP Social Media Operations Center
December 1, 2013

QUEZON CITY – The University of the Philippines through the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy recently launched last week, Nov. 25, 21013, the county’s first ever “social media operations center” for relief and rehabilitation efforts starting with victims of super typhoon Yolanda.

It is a joint volunteer project of the CSSP-UP, public relations firm Brillantes Campaigns, business intelligence company iSentia, and development communication firm Technomedia Asia. It is supported by volunteer students, faculty, and alumni and is located at the CSSP-UP computer lab.

The four main objectives of the operations center are as follows:

1. To provide immediate support to students, personnel, and professors within the UP system affected by Yolanda by mobilizing a social media support structure;

2. To generate actionable information to further help focus the allocation of resources and expertise mobilized by UP and its alumni in Yolanda relief and rehabilitation efforts;

3. To increase social media buzz about the 77 areas affected by Yolanda which still need substantial aid through participation and even activation in trending topics, popularization of memes, posts, videos, etc.; and

4. To track and analyze the social media environment on a long term basis to identify trends, flashpoints, and black holes to help UP fine tune its academic programs, policy advocacy initiatives, outreach projects and direct action on disaster preparedness and mitigation.

CSSP-UP dean Professor Michael Tan, Public Administration Professor J. Prospero De Vera III of UP Padayon, and Political Science professor Ranjit Rye are the focal persons for the volunteer efforts from the UP community.

Eero Brillantes, president and CEO of Brillantes campaigns, is the lead volunteer organizer and focal person for setting up and maintaining the command center.

iSentia volunteered the use of their social media analytics software called Social Express.

Technomedia Asia contributed the GEO-SMS system and is doing the volunteer media work for the initiative.

UP was very much affected by typhoon Yolanda.

In UP Diliman, there are 128 students from Eastern Visayas seeking support to at least finish the semester and for relief goods and financial aid to be sent to their families.

In U.P. Visayas Tacloban College there are 1,543 constituents, and the U.P. Manila School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte, 209 constituents affected by Yolanda. The school facilities have been severely damaged.