23 June 2014 - The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong joined a social media forum, together with representatives from both the United States and Australian Consulates General, on June 13 at the Australia Centre in Wan Chai.

Vice Consul Charles Andrei Macaspac joined Public Diplomacy Officer Catherine Muller of the United States Consulate General and Director of Public Affairs Gavin McDougall of the Australian Consulate General. Public relations practitioner David Ketchum, President for Asia Pacific of marketing agency Bite, moderated the forum. The audience was composed mainly of digital marketers and other influential social media personalities in Hong Kong.

The different Consulates General were asked on their Facebook comments policy. Strategies in balancing consular assistance and public diplomacy as well as the clearance process in posting items to the official Facebook page were also discussed.

The second part of the forum saw HKSocial co-founder Jay Oatway discussing the applications Secret and Whisper which are being projected to be the next big things in social media.

The Facebook page of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong was created in January 2012. As of 18 June 2014, it has 51,750 likes. The main purpose of the page is to disseminate to the Filipino and Hong Kong publics information such as:

·         Cultural and health-related activities;

·         Consular services; and

·         Holidays and special events.

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