Early this morning, at about several minutes after 7am(+8:00 GMT), a Chinese tourist bus has been hijacked and was hostaged in Manila, Philippines. It was said that a rogue ex-Police Officer commandeered the bus. For the past few hours, local police were trying to solved the crisis.

Shot's had been fired. Bystanders were hurt. Rumors run around that that atleast 15 of the passengers were killed, which was reported by the bus driver who was able to escape the current situation. Although, authorities say that there was no way for them to confirm the information provided by the driver since almost all of the bus' curtains were let down.

The said assailant wants to clear his name due to the charges that were filed against him in 2008, which included extortion, robbery, grave threat and physical injuries. These charges resulted to the forfeiting of his retirement benefits as well as disqualification from government service.

Just several minutes ago, it has been confirmed that the assailant, Capt. Mendoza, has been killed. And 2 passengers were reported to have exited with the assistance of the local SWAT. Several bodies were being brought out from the bus, some of them confirmed to be lifeless which even included a child. This disaster is a big hurdle for the new administration. It is being assumed that most of the passengers are dead.

With the sudden end to this 12-hour crisis, the next questions arises: who is Capt. Rolando Mendoza was and what his reasons were behind this horrific scene.


Even with the heavy down pour of rain and thunder did not stop the flood of reporters and bystanders to know and see how this tragic drama ended.



Is hostaging an excuse to clear someone's name? If so, what was Capt. Mendoza's purpose? If you were in his situation, would you do something of this level to clear your name? Is this the path your willing to tread?

Whether you are into marketing, advertising, management, or even  blogging, you need consumers. Consumers are defined differently depending on your niche. In marketing, advertising and management, it's basically the consumers who help produce profit. On the other hand, in blogging, your primary consumers are your frequent readers. These readers generate your traffic, and if your content is good enough, they'll even refer and recommend your blog to other readers as well.

Learning how to let your readers advocate your product can be acquired by anyone, although I could say that it would be a difficult task. What you do is go to a school and learn it which would take tons of money and time. You then resort in hiring a tutor, that again costs you time and money.
What's best to do is consult the pro's.

The masters. Enter, Jeremiah Owyang, the famed web, content & social media strategist started with a simple rule, focus on customer strategy. Jeremiah Owyang is a Partner focused on customer strategy at Altimeter Group and author of the popular blog Web Strategy, which focuses on how corporations connect with their customers using web technologies. According to Technorati, the Web Strategy blog is in the top 1% of all blogs, and has over 40,000 subscribed readers. Hailing from enterprise web management, a former Industry Analyst, Jeremiah consults and speaks on the topics of disruptive technologies for brand related customer strategies.
 
Jeremiah Owyang is only one among the numerous world-renowned names in marketing and online advertising speakers involved in the The Digital Ripple: 4th Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit which was made possible by IMMAP. Also one of the exhibitors for the event is Search Profile Index run by the 4th Media Internet Technology Corporation.

The summit focuses on digital ripples. It's is what any successful digital campaign could be. It is ‘viral’, ‘long-tail’, and a ‘breakthrough’. It is any campaign that spreads beyond your primary target market to become a part of pop culture. It's like the latest buzz on steroids. It not only motivates your consumers to buy products but also pushes others to do the same. The summit will discuss various topics that will help improve your marketing potential, you can also follow them in Facebook to access the most latest updates with regard to the event.

In the Philippines, where the online market is booming and still continues to grow, it's equally important that marketers, advertisers as well as bloggers to understand and develop how we can improve our influence in this consumer driven society. This not only includes the Internet but as well as mobile devices too.

What are you waiting for? Join and learn from the masters. See you there!