Historian blogger Mighty Magulang has urged media practitioners to engage the public amid the evolving dynamics of social media and the internet, which affect the production and distribution of news.

“In this time and age, you need public engagement too,” she said at the third national conference on investigative journalism (IJCon) of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism on May 1 at the Novotel Hotel in Quezon City. 

Magulang, whose real name is Mona Magno-Veluz, said that “business is changing” in broadcast news and publishing, stressing the need for journalists to bank on viewers who will consume their content. 

“I don’t think being all serious is the definition of a journalist these days. So [as a journalist], you have everything in your arsenal including the ability to engage,” she said during the breakout session, “Social Media for News and Public Engagement.” 

She said that media organizations have to explore ways to find the “genuine voice” and “genuine persons” that will represent them.

Journalists just need to start, she added.   

Professionalism

Magulang noted that riding with trends doesn’t make a journalist less professional, adding that experimenting and doing skits is part of the evolving definition of news delivery.

She explained that there is no formula for content creation, underscoring the dynamic nature of creators’ content which evolves over time.

“There’s no formula. You just need to find what will work for you,’’ she said.  

Former Rappler reporter Rambo Talabong does explainers on TikTok and has a number of engagements across all social media platforms, Magulang observed.   

In the same session, content creator Queen Mathilda – Vince Monares Quinabadal in real life – acknowledged TikTok as an avenue for everyone, including journalists, to introduce and establish their advocacies. 

For Mathilda, TikTok is a non-monetary platform, but it’s a good entry point to create a name outside the platform.  

For instance, her viral video, “She was a fairy,” has already garnered nearly 160 million views and 24 million reactions. These numbers, however, didn’t translate into  cash, she said. 

‘Baptism of fire’

Magulang, however, made it clear that “we cannot control how people act online; we can only control how we act.”

She recalled her “baptism of fire” when a video she posted about the economic impact of martial law under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. went viral. 

She said she has since tried to converse civilly with her online haters but only gave them three chances before blocking them in her accounts.

“If they continue to spew vitriol there […] dumadami po sila,” she said.

She added that allowing people to foster negative things like online hating can affect the mental health of creators.

Magulang likewise explained that her principles are different from institutions like news outlets that have to “keep the channel open” and not block audiences.

Language

In crafting content, the use of language is a key factor, as far as Magulang and Mathilda are concerned, since this would foster engagement and keep their audience within the platform algorithm’s radar.

For Magulang, the English language is more convenient to use than Filipino, particularly on TikTok.  Since she runs her videos for up to three minutes, she said that English is very useful in writing captions.

There’s no need to manually add captions on CapCut with English, she added.  

Magulang, however, made it clear that the use of language really depends on the content creators – and what they are comfortable with, as it  “defines how genuine their content is.”

For Mathilda, the choice of language depends on the audience of the content one has created.  

“Depende po siya feeling ko pag ginamit ko po ba tong language na to ay  mas maabot ng language na to ‘yung sikmura ng tao… kumbaga yung mga ordinaryo,” she said. 

Given that a huge percentage of her audience is mostly Filipinos aged 18 to 24, she made the effort to simplify jargon, making it easier for them to grasp and understand the message she aimed to convey. She said that she uses English to raise awareness and advocate for issues concerning the world. 

For instance, she created videos to shed light on the dire situation of Palestinians in Gaza. Using #FreePalestine, she called for an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.  

Her TikTok engagement has steadily declined since posting her pro-Palestine video, a development that she blamed on “censorship’’ in the platform.  

Mathilda also acknowledged the short attention span of younger audiences, allowing her to stick with her “pole swinging” strategy as a way to entertain them and keep them following her videos.  

‘Community building’

PumaPodcast’s Pamela “Ela” Robles, who moderated the session, cited some studies which show that public engagement is no longer taking place in the comment sections.

Maguland agreed with this.  

“It is no longer the hashtag, it is no longer the comment, the length of time, the frequency of posting. It is no longer that. But it is when you build a community. So it’s community building, not the traditional engagement per se, that will define how relevant you are,” she pointed out.

She added that it is crucial to recognize  the community or people to “share your values with.”

Robles echoed Magulang, highlighting the importance of “word of mouth” and having the “community that will back you up.”

PumaPodcast is quite small compared to other big companies that have celebrity engagements and active followers on X (formerly Twitter), Robles shared. That was why, she said, she took the initiative to engage more deeply with listeners, by responding personally to their messages and even remembering their names. 

Given that her advocacy was gleaned from her five-year experience in activism, Mathilda underscored how content can ultimately impact people even if the audience can be counted with one’s fingers.  

“Kahit pa lima lang yung nanonood sa ‘yo, these five people can make or break someone else’s perspective when it comes to specific issues in [our] society,” she pointed out, referring to content creation.

She said that she scrutinizes the context of the stories she tells to ensure fairness and understanding, thereby offering justice to them.  “Kahit mahirap sawsawan ‘yung issue gusto kong iparating [sa mga audience] ‘yung importansya kung bakit kailangan mag-engage [in] that,” she said. — PCIJ.org