Wazzup Pilipinas!
They say the most read book in the world is the Bible. Religious & inspirational books are the most popular non-fiction genre,
But for the fiction genre, it's Romance and Erotica that make the most money worldwide
The pandemic has however changed how people buy books
Books about travel, foreign languages, and business are on a downward trend
While gardening and eco-friendly domestic activities are soaring
A solid increase in the cooking category, since everyone is clearly making end meet and making "bread" is a necessity
Children's educational books are in high demand as parents have moved en masse to home schooling
Without any doubt, minus the affluent who have an abundance of funds and resources, the common people are really turning towards how to make themselves more self-sufficient
What is not changing is how Filipinos are still most active on social media. Facebook and YouTube are currently the most popular social media platforms in the country with Filipinos spending nearly four hours online or more on social media. They would even say we've all become critics, media, and "analysts" eventhough we are not experts as per our profession, have no formal training or education on the subject matter, and are not "well-informed" of all the facts on any of the issues we are commenting on.
That means we are the most "engaged" online. ...with the biggest engagement with topics revolving around sex and half-naked men or women flaunting their abs and cleavages respectively or showcasing their dancing prowess while wearing similarly teaseful outfits, showbiz and entertainment stories, more specifically on rumors and scandals about celebrities, the fandom fanaticism that are also keyboard warriors that could make their idols go viral, similarly like the supporters of politicians that has forever stained politics as cultured for corruption, stories with human elements (we do gang up together to either praise and help out, or bash and make lives miserable.... even if we're aware that everyone could be watching....are closely following or equally on the lead.
And the most striking is how creative we are in terms of expressing our opinions and sentiments. Aside from directly criticizing, we use sarcasm, or add humor to the situation via laughable memes, witty words, and other reactions done through photos and videos.
No wonder foreign content creators even go to the Philippines to create their stories here... especially when we look up to other races, well...probably excluding those from China, as if they're celebrities in the Philippines.
We are amazingly uninhibited social creatures roaming around the Internet as if looking for our next prey or pray over.
This is why we are plagued with the so called "fake news" or misinformation...either intentionally or unintentional since there are no formal fact-checkers that would verify the accuracy of every existing content published online.
So would you think books for sale, either as e-books or in its printed form, still have a fighting chance to be picked up now that a lot of those capable to purchase books have the ultimate access to information via their Internet-and-social-media -powered mobile phones?
I still remember when my father bought a lot of books at a garage sale. Many of those he brought home were written by Western authors all featuring non-Pinoy stories and characters. I loved each and everyone of those books for the different niches they offer, but I grew fond of those visually appealing and graphical ones.
It was probably the reason that as I grew up, I loved every opportunity of getting access to comic books and graphical magazines featuring pop culture, but equally adored only "worded" titles that took me into another love for fancy words. Those that use hifalutin words prompted me to buy a lexicon to get the synonyms of common words to write my own stories that would make me sound smart when you read it.
It gave me the interest to join the school and church newspaper as either illustrator or writer. Yup, aside from reading, writing, I also got the itch to draw.... especially when television also made those robot cartoons or animes popular. I made up and drew my own characters and stories.
And eventhough I took up and graduated with an engineering course and took an Information Technology career path due to statements like there's no money in art, I somehow still ended up doing my first love - content creation.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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