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| image courtesy of rappler |
What can Filipinos expect from the local Google team, and what is the Philippine roadmap for 2013 and beyond?
We’re going to have more localization as it’s one of the primary reasons why we’re here. With some of the programs we’ve already put into place, you’ll soon see more of that. An example would be in the field of crisis response. We organized our own crisis response team along with local partners and volunteers during the time when Ondoy and Pablo hit the Philippines.
Another example is our partnership with DepEd and local universities. Around 600,000 teachers from the department and 60,000 students from different universities are now using our own platform, applications and products. Filipinos could expect more as we ramp up operations here in the Philippines.
Will we see greater locations of Google’s apps and services to cater to the needs of local businesses?
Without a doubt, locations of Google’s apps and services is bound to happen in the near future. For one, search is becoming more localized thanks to the increasing market for smartphones in the Philippines. As people migrate to these devices, we see a spike in local search since most people wander about either in the mall or some place in the Philippines, and they’re using their smartphones to look for deals, movie times, and places to eat. This creates tremendous opportunity, not only for the users because they have more access to this information as they’re walking around, but also in terms of what it does for the publishers.
Google Philippines Wants to cater to the Filipino community by making local content easily accessible for the users and partnering with business to further their growth through our own services.
Filipinos are increasingly connecting via mobile. how is Google Philippines going to capitizalize on this continuing trend?
Mobile users, especially smartphones users, create increases in search queries made through our search engines. These queries give birth to advertising opportunities. Using our advertising platform, advertisers are easily able to target these smartphone users even before the point of sale or at the point of sale.
We’re huge proponents of the phrase we coined, ZMOT, or the zero moment of truth. When you see products and you’re spurred on to purchase something, the actual purchase decision is made way before, it’s when you’re actively search for the product. That is what we call ZMOT.
With this in mind, we plan not only capitilize on this trend, but also help out local business through our own platform
Source: HWM Philippines
