Back in the 1990s until the early 2000s, when computerization and the Internet were just starting, who would have thought that we would reach a point in time when having Internet connection would be a basic necessity, akin to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
Nowadays, being updated on social media is a part of our daily routine, especially for those who use the Internet for their work in offices or work from home arrangements. Our children too, are not exempted from this since, due to the current pandemic situation, we have adopted a new educational set-up consisting of blended learning systems of modular and online education.
Indeed, sharing of information is now at the tip of our fingers as we receive it in a matter of seconds, without gluing ourselves the whole day to our radio and television sets. Music, movies and other entertainment videos raking millions of views in less than an hour is a strong validation of this breakthrough. As a general observation, these various social-media platforms have helped celebrities multiply their fan base, supported local and international businesses in expanding their market reach, and assisted government institutions in gaining more interactive engagements with their respective constituencies. The Social Security System (SSS) is not an exemption to this.
As one of the government agencies that set up its social-media accounts during the early days when social media (socmed) was still new, the SSS tapped socmed’s power to reach out to more people all over the world.
With the primary purpose of providing timely and accurate information to our members, stakeholders and the general public, SSS created its first official socmed account on Facebook @SSSPh in June 2009. The platform welcomed questions from members, which are replied to by a team of moderators. The SSS FB Page now has over 3.15 million likes and 3.2 million subscribers, and is the primary source of many members for the latest updates about the institution.
Eventually, as more members followed the page, SSS created more diverse content such as press releases, advisories, videos, webinars, and livestreamed discussions.
The SSS also ventured into using Youtube on March 7, 2011 under the name @MySSSPhilippines. Here, it showcases video tutorials on how to apply for various member benefits, as well as service transactions. To date, it has over 33,000 active subscribers and over 2.6 million accumulated views.
Twitter and Instagram (IG) have also established a strong presence in the country with increasing engagements from Filipino netizens. @MYSSSPH, the official IG account of SSS was launched in July 2019 and has now garnered over 38,600 followers. It showcases eye-catching art cards, IG Stories, and other info materials. Meanwhile, @PHLSSS, the official Twitter account was created in January 2014 where it has accumulated over 27,500 followers. SSS joined Twitter to capitalize on the short messaging format, making its content easier to read and understand, and quicker to share. SSS posts on various benefits and services are seen here, including tweets or queries from members, which are addressed by one of our support departments.
In time for the SSS’s 63rd Anniversary, its Viber Community, @MYSSSPH Updates, was launched on September 4, 2020 to cater to the increasing number of online communities using Viber. Currently, it is like a virtual bulletin where members get updates on SSS programs and services and where a Question of the Day is posted to gauge member’s level of awareness and knowledge about SSS. Within a month of its soft launch, it already has 8,300 followers, and counting.
SSS has 38 million members worldwide. As much as possible, we intend to reach out to our members to promote our programs and services, being the country’s premier pension fund institution. I am happy that we have established our presence in all of these major socmed platforms not just for their reach, but also because this is a big boost to our agency’s marketing and information campaign efforts. Basically, socmed is a free promotional avenue where target audience reach is extensive. For our corporate promotional activities, socmed is the new age of advertising with nary a cost.
Finally, I would also like to remind our members and pensioners to get their information only from the right and legitimate sources to keep themselves safe from unscrupulous individuals and online scams. In an effort to separate the official socmed accounts from the fake ones, we have taken steps to getting our accounts verified. As you can see from our official FB, IG, and Viber accounts, the blue checkmark beside the account name means that these are verified and official.
Who knows, 20 years from now, there may be another technology that will be invented to form part of these online and social-media platforms? To be sure, the SSS will be in step with these technological advances.
Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.
We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss.gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.