Free mode - this is offered to android users when using Facebook and Messenger app which lets you stay in contact with your friends and family, even when you have zero MB of data available on your internet plan.
Free mode allows you to;
View status of anyone
Send and view messages
Send photos (if you are the receiver of this photo, you need data to view it)
Comment and share
Create pages
Create groups
Data or See Photos mode - it lets you enjoy all the features of Facebook and Messenger but you need to have a data available on your internet plans.
Did you get the difference now?
Ever since Facebook launched this service last May 18, 2010 it gained millions of users from Philippines. That's why, it became the leading social media platform among internet users in the Philippines as of 3rd quarter of 2019.
Facebook and Messenger are famous and widely used in the Philippines due to its convenience to the masses and its ability to conform to the culture of society. Aside from that, Filipinos rely on these platforms as a primary source of news and a platform for product placement.
How do we take advantage of this?
There are couple of ways to do that, but first we need to build something that will also be convenient to the masses. Let me present my two ideas.
Build a BCH or SLP tipping bot
Tipping will always be the easiest and fun way to spread adoption. In this news,
Tippr bot since its launch had distributed 25,576 tips on Reddit worth $85,261 (59.9 BCH) and currently have 11,810 users. -news.bitcoin.com
Such a powerful way to spread adoption! But currently, we only have these tipping bots available on the following social media platforms.
You don't see any tipping bots available for Facebook and Messenger because we haven't made one yet. On my recent article, I discussed on why the BCH community should start building a BCH or SLP tipping bot in Facebook and Messenger. The idea may seem good but on a second thought, I think it will be complicated to build. So maybe, let's just settle on a tipping bot alone :)
Build a Bitcoin Cash Payment Service Provider
On May 31, 2016, Facebook added a Shop Section for pages in the Philippines. This free feature is designed to provide businesses with a new way to prominently showcase the products they are selling on their Page. It allows people (the customers) to easily discover and browse products available from the business they care about. - rappler
There were thousands or even a million of small businesses on Facebook. Filipinos are prolific users of it. So instead of building a website, they choose to create a "page" in Facebook for their business. With the new feature, it's a lot easier to setup an online store and customers can easily access it.
There's also no denying that Covid-19 has increased the demand for eCommerce in the Philippines. Our country is already open to online shopping in Facebook. Our shopping culture has turned into a more digital one and this will continue. What is only lacking is proper digital and logistics infrastructure to enable a digital economy.
One of the major problems are low digital payment penetration, security concerns, and internet access and speed. I do believe that Bitcoin Cash will solve the first two major problems but I doubt that we can solve the third one. So, the alternative is maybe build a BCH payment service provider that work with or without internet mobile data on Facebook.
I am thinking of something like BitPay that will help Facebook online store owners setup Bitcoin Cash payment buttons, will create invoice, customers can pay on Facebook or Messenger and etc. This will be a very big help to introduce Bitcoin Cash to Facebook online store owners and finally onboard them :)
Conclusion
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is yet to be known in the Philippines. We need to make a bigger move. We need to take advantage of Facebook. We can use it as a tool. We need to introduce Bitcoin Cash to 55 million Filipinos who only rely to free mode offered by Facebook and Messenger.
In my own opinion, I think its time that we should connect to people in the real world. The real world is 66% of the Filipinos are still unbanked, 75 million users of Facebook and Messenger, poor internet connection and financial struggles. The only way to connect to them is through building a platform, a tool or anything cool :)
I invite everyone to start building on Facebook and Messenger!
Let's do this! #BuildBCH
IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, COMMENTS OR ANYTHING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW :)
