The Cable Tow on Social Media

By WB Albert Dumlao (46) Managing Editor

It has been well documented that people have continuously shifted away from traditional media sources for news and features, and are taking more to social media and messaging apps to access information. As newspapers have fallen in usage, and newscasts on national TV have dropped in ratings, the shift to new sources of information has increased exponentially. TV networks have invested in their social media presence, and newspapers have reduced their print volumes moving towards better digital experiences for their users.

Even before the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Cable Tow (TCT) has been experiencing difficulty in the circulation of its printed copies, especially in the provinces. There were many instances that issues of The Cable Tow sat idly in the ante-rooms of Masonic halls and temples across the jurisdiction. As quarantine restrictions set in, the TCT Editorial Team led by Editor-in-chief VW Harold Santiago, with the blessings of MW Agapito S. Suan, Jr., laid the groundwork for the full use of social media to bring The Cable Tow Volume 97 to the Brethren withersoever dispersed, usually on digital platforms, especially on their smartphones.

Up until before the Pandemic struck, previous volumes of the TCT were already being regularly posted in PDF format to the GLP website and shared through various FB Groups, such as the Guild of Lodge Secretaries. However, these PDF copies were only meant to augment the distribution of printed copies to the more than 400 Masonic Lodges throughout the jurisdiction.

The COVID-19 Pandemic presented a unique problem because publishing companies closed shop, courier services were limited, and Lodge secretaries will expectedly find it difficult to distribute the printed copies to individual members. This gave the TCT Editorial Team the opportunity to take advantage of the existing social media accounts of the publication, particularly its Facebook Public Page.

The Cable Tow Facebook Page was created in May 2017 under the term of VW Avelino Sumagui as Editor-in-Chief and VW Jose Avelino Magbanua as Circulation Manager. This term saw the TCT Page being used to great effect, with a total of 77 posts over 12 months. The video with the largest number of estimate reach so far (32.7K) came from this term – RW ROLEN PAULINO AT ANCOM 2017, published on June 19, 2017.

The 2018-2019 Term of EIC VR Samuel Fernandez saw activity for only 4 months from

May to August 2018 with a total of 35 posts. In 2019-2020, there was only one post, a link to the GLP Facebook page published on August 5, 2019, indicating a move to concentrate social media activity to that page.

As the TCT Editorial team assumed labors under the extended term of MW Suan on June 1, 2020, we immediately started work on the promoting The Cable Tow Facebook Page. The first few posts of the new term consisted of introduction of the EIC and of the rest the editorial team; updating of the page’s profile picture and cover photo; and features on some of the TCT’s back issues and articles.

Then, on June 12, 2020, the TCT FB Page broke the internet. The TCT coverage of the Virtual Commemoration of the 122nd Philippine Independence Day reached and estimated 32K FB users, with 17,014 3-second views and peak live viewership of 192. The program consisted of the usual Flag Raising Ceremonies typical of an Independence Day celebration, but with these important historic differences – it was the first time that the Senior Grand Lecturer delivered an online masonic education live on social media; and, it was also the first time that a Grand Master from this jurisdiction addressed the Brethren withersoever dispersed live on the internet.

This maiden live stream would kick of a successful run of monthly Masonic Education Webinars dubbed Third Wednesdays in the West with SGL VW Teodoro Kalaw IV delivering masonic lectures on a wide range of topics, and the MW Agapito S. Suan Jr. regularly addressing the Brethren and giving them updates with developments in the GLP. These broadcasts were co-hosted the Chief of Staff VW Dennis Cunanan and Assistant Grand Secretary VW Oliver Yabut.

Important events in our masonic calendar were also covered by the TCT team and were either live streamed or posted on the TCT Page namely:

More importantly, the TCT Page delivered on its primary function to be the platform for circulation of the PDF file for the issues of Volume No. 97, augmenting the PDF file uploaded on the GLP Website. While the files uploaded on the GLP website were the raw PDF files generated by Edito-

rial Team, the files posted on the TCT FB Page is the link of the file published on Issuu, a digital publishing platform that converts PDFs into digital publications that can be shared via links or embedded into websites. Below is a list of issues of Volume No. 97, indicating online release dates:

Under the supervision of Circulation Manager VW Anthony Tan, and through the efforts of our Head News Correspondents, maximum circulation was achieved by the creation of circulation chat groups in FB Messenger and Viber covering the four major regions. These chat groups consisted of all the Worshipful Masters and Secretaries of Lodges located in those regions.

As of March 31, 2021 the Volume 97 TCT Team has created 181 posts on the TCT FB Page, averaging 18 posts per month. With the increased activity, the number of followers grew almost 3x from 1.948 followers on May 31, 2020, to 5,629 on March 31, 2020.

Having achieved much success in reaching out to the Brethren through the TCT Facebook Page, the Volume 97 Editorial Team is now laying the ground work for accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Using multiple platforms will open up the kind of mediums the TCT can use, as well as the audience scope it can reach.

An Instagram account may be used for mainly visual content, with less scope for text, and may contain links to an article from the latest TCT issue. A video-sharing platform like YouTube can handle all lengthy video content, and even live-streams, upon which a news or feature article may be developed. A TCT Twitter account may be useful for sending short messages or announcements with attached links to yet another article or even a page on the GLP website.

Whichever platform our brethren are accustomed to using, having multiple platforms for The Cable Tow seems like a very exciting prospect, by increasing engagement and enhancing the overall digital experience of our readers, on this, the threshold of one century of existence for The Cable Tow.