SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – The 7.2 magnitude earthquake of October 15, with its epicenter in Bohol, has claimed 78 lives as of this posting.
It is no surprise then that people have taken their plight to social media to #PrayForVisayas.
But on Tuesday afternoon, the top-trending topic in the Philippines on Twitter was #GetWellSoonDanielPadilla. The teen star is a regular topic in the trending chart.This sparked an online backlash over the perceived insensitivity among Padilla’s fans.
Seriously
#GetWellSoonDanielPadilla
a> is trending more than #PrayForVisayas? What is wrong with you
people?!
— Leonardo Santos III (@lenardsantos) October 15, 2013
WOW,
MAS TRENDING PA SI DANIEL PADILLA SA VISAYAS. ANO BA PRIORITIES
NIYO, PILIPINAS?? #GetWellSoonDanielPadilla <-
-PAKYU ALL
— Mika Ordoñez (@mika1993) October 15, 2013
To be sure, some celebrities were directly caught up in the earthquake. The cast and crew of a film production in Bohol, including Angelica Panganiban and Alex Gonzaga, had gone online or had been interviewed by the press to recount their experience with the quake and express solidarity with its victims.
In past disasters, social media has proven to be an important resource which have been harnessed through hashtags such as #RescuePH, #FloodPH, and #ReliefPH. Because of social media’s immediate, broad reach, social responsibility has become a prevalent concern in deciding what to post and not to post online. The anger in this situation may not be as merited, since majority of the Tweets did not interfere with efforts to harness social media, unlike the “selfie” incidents in the past which involved official hashtags.
Rappler did a quick scan on social media listening tool Radian6 . Here’s the conversation cloud: the larger the word, the more people were talking about it.
Fans of Padilla defended themselves by saying that others should not interfere with their hashtags and that they were just minding their own business. It was their persuasion that, as they were keeping to themselves, they were fully within their rights to wish Padilla well.
immature / bakit
kaylangan nyo g pakielaman ang hashtag namin? get a life pls #GetWellSoonDanielPadilla
a>
— dreia (@sehunxkiss) October 15, 2013
Yes we trended #GetWellSoonDanielPadilla, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care what’s happening in Visayas. We are just people.
Hindi naman ibig sabihin na nagtutweet ng #GetWellSoonDanielPadilla eh wala na kaming pakialam sa earthquake. Syempre nag-aalala din kami!!
— N.J.C.ツ♥ (@imneleybaliw) October 15, 2013
– Rappler.com
Robert Alvarez is a Rappler intern.
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