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My next blog for Cnet Asia which I forgot to upload over the weekend... hehe.

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Arguably the newest, most exciting aspect of the world of local movies and television—showbiz in general—is the recent addition and usage of the internet as a viable medium for, well, showbiz!

We all know how it started. One day, we started seeing movie trailers ending with a WWW address. On these websites, you had all sorts of information prepared for the fans—from exclusive footage and images of the upcoming hit, to news and articles and blogs, to downloadable goodies from wallpapers to music, community message boards and more! Quite the spectacle too, as it has quickly developed into a multi-million dollar enterprise, the making of websites for television shows and movies.

With the speed at which information is delivered in this day and age, people like us want more and more, faster and faster! Today however, with the emergence of Web 2.0, show business has to start catching up and staying with the trend, at the same time staying true to its purpose—get more people to buy what you’re selling.

For one thing, Pinoy Big Brother is rounding on its second season on ABS. And to hype it up, they’ve begun promotions obviously on TV. But if you haven’t noticed, PBB clips on YouTube have begun to resurge, PBB only blogs—most notable: Retzwerx.com, aptly named, Pinoy Big Blogger—are beginning to show activity again, and Friendster accounts of the next batch of hopefuls are gaining larger hits per day than Inquirer and Philstar combined.

Recently, Tabloids.com.ph, the reincarnation of the deposed Lihim na Liham, began appreciating a huge influx of traffic as well—over 100,000 page views in less than a month to be exact with close to 5,000 unique visitors in that short span of time—all because it started creating a Friendster, Myspace, and soon, according to the lead editors of the site, a Multiply account, all of which are the more popular social networking websites in the Philippines.

Of course the big network players do not want to be left behind. Just today, I received an invite to be part of the GMA Network group on Multiply, which is another free avenue for them to reach out to their audience and keep them updated on the latest happenings online.

There was also a very entertaining site on the recent collaborative single between Barbie Almalbis and Pupil (two of the bigger hard hitters in today’s local music scene), where the theme song of course was sponsored by Juicy Fruit. Too bad the site is already down, but the single still enjoys mainstream—and online—airplay. Speaking of music online, Janet Toral also wrote about artists who began their careers online and then made the transition to mainstream by finally being able to hook up with a recording company.

Even movie outfits enjoyed a lot of Web 2.0 exposure over recent years, and top of my head kudos goes to the makers of the Crying Ladies website a couple of years back and then Quark Henares (IMDB Info) and his use of the web to make, among the most notable things, a movie blog for Super Noypi.

And I don’t have to tell you how YouTube today is the one place to capture the latest updates on whatever local showbiz topic—from the ever popular Manny “Pooh” Poohquiao to the funniest Bubble Gang skits and song parodies, Pinoys have been using YouTube like TiVo.

The proliferation of Web 2.0 for use in movie and TV and music promotions is not too far on the horizon then. It’s already becoming mainstream and little by little, billions of users—not just Pinoys—are beginning to spend more and more time uploading content themselves.

I guess now it won’t be long before we too start seeing Pinoys becoming mainstream local—and maybe even international—artists because of their blogs, online portfolios or YouTube performances. So what are you waiting for, mga kabayan? Start moving! The world is watching.