GDayX Reaction Paper: Synergy at Its Finest

Christine Darla A. Bautista

As an active student, and a member of the Millenial generation, I’ve always seen digital technology as a necessity for my survival. Throughout the years, I’ve been dependent on the Internet for three purposes: conquering schoolwork, strengthening friendships, and discovering modes for self-expression. However, Google Business Group’s event, GdayX Philippines, revealed to me another aspect of the Internet: the Internet as a catalyst for business innovation.

I was able to catch five speakers, particularly, Gail Tan, Herald Uy, TJ Resabal, Trixie Canevel, and Kring Elezano. As the keynote, Tan set the underlying theme: human element in technology collaborations for businesses. I loved how, in highlighting Google’s philosophy about putting the user first, her examples were “uniquely Google” but still hit home. For one, she cited how Google AdSense aided two Cebuanos in their creation of iSTORYA.net through enabling advertising partnerships that generate revenue. Nevertheless, the most thought-provoking part was her discussion on crowd-accelerated innovation. Apparently, all Google products— be it Google Maps or the Google elections page— are mere tools that are indebted to its users, who add content and information that make these tools useful. Through that point, the reason behind Google’s success became crystal clear: Google listens to its users’ needs, provides tools to address those needs, and lets its users develop those tools through content generation.

On a more specific level, Uy and Resabal both discussed collaboration through Google products. More than the entertaining “Gone Google” videos and product demonstrations, I admired how they capitalized on the uniqueness of these two products with testimonies. Google Hangouts has revolutionized office work: meetings can now occur anywhere at any time. Google Drive has developed file synchronization such that massive amounts of users can now edit the same file at the same time.

Likewise, Canevel’s and Elezano’s talks on Google social media, provided a nuance to Gail Tan’s keynote speech. Although I have been an avid user of Social Networking Sites (SNS), I still gained a new perspective on the use of SNS for businesses. Both talks successfully showed how networks of videos and journals can enable businesses to raise awareness, build the brand-consumer relationship, and enhance the presence of a product.

Ultimately, what was most remarkable was the event’s delivery of two striking images: a new vision of Google as a creative digital giant with users at its heart, and technology and society as interdependent entities. Clearly, Google products are trailblazers with striking impacts on businesses, from the development of collaboration with cloud computing services, to the evolution of new platforms for promotions. Furthermore, I appreciated that beyond advertising Google products, the speakers gave insights that are relevant to my overall growth as an STS student. I now have an understanding of how evolution simultaneously occurs in technology and society: as society’s needs change, technology changes to adapt to it; as technology changes, so do society’s needs. Truly, with synergy between digital giants and humans at its finest, we can look forward to more advancement in science and society.