Last week Anton Diaz of The Awesome Planet posted a video interview of Abe Olandres. I asked Anton if he was the one who interviewed and took the video of Abe, and I got a confirmation. It was a raw and moving synopsis of Yuga and his reason for Problogging.

So I congratulate Anton for a job well done, and may I suggest that he join with other Youtube Directors, as the pinoy bloggers Mike Abundo, Gerry Alanguilan, and Edgar Tadeo.

Looks like homegrown video interview is making rounds across Pinoy blogs, with PCIJ video interviewing Nikki Alfar and Bryanboy.

WHAT IS A PINOY PROBLOGGER?

Anton's video piqued my interest so much so that it got me asking: what is a Pinoy Problogger?

First there is a problem of semantics on what constitute a Pinoy. Does it include only those who grew up in the Philippines? Can a person with a single Filipino parent but who grew up somewhere else enough?

Then there is the question: what is a Problogger, who can you consider Professional? Can a person who earns from a blog be considered a problogger? If so what is the minimum income to be considered one? Is it about a topic, that even personal blogs who earns a lot is excluded? Is it about occupation, that if you don't do anything else but blog, can you be considered one?

BLOGGING BOUGHT

Most of the articles I came across answered only one question: Can Filipinos earn enough from blogging to support say the monthly web host, and domain cost? The answer of course is obvious.

Although reluctant disclose the amount (although some do like Ruth Schaffer on Businessworld Online), Filipino bloggers themselves are saying that yes, it is possible. Blogging can buy you a:

1. Car

2. House Renovation

3. Laptop

4. Digital Camera (here, here, and here)

5. Computer Parts

6. Cellphone

7. … and even (ehem) snacks

At first I was skeptical about it, because I've read somewhere that the earnings are so low for most that the effort is not worth it. But then again, I thought, hey, since I blog for the sheer pleasure of it, what have I got to loose?

The result was an eye-opener. After a month on Adsense, I earned an amount which I wouldn't have imagined was possible with this blog (although I've yet to receive the check). The more surprising thing is I don't even update much. So yes it is possible.

THE PINOY FACTOR

In the sexiest filipina bloggers, and filipino bloggers, my definition of Filipino are those who grew up in the Philippines. That criterion does not apply here. At the sexy pinays and pinoys, I tried to capture the psyche of those who grew up here. Wherein at my post on ranking the pinoy blogs, authority and popularity take precedence.

The only criteria here is that a person be 1st generation or 2nd generation Filipino, and an acknowledgement of his or her Filipino heritage.

Let me give a few example of 2nd generation pinoys: Brian Veloso, who is part of the Automattic team (Wordpresss, Akismet, bbpress), was born and raised in America. Although his parents grew up here, Brian at the onset walks and talks Americana.

But here's the catch, he could have forgotten his roots, and would have blended with the Americans just fine. But in an interview at Philweavers, he acknowledged his roots. In the frontpage of bryanveloso.com, he states that he is a Filipino. That to me is remarkable. Some pinoy after immigrating to other country, deny their roots, Brian did not, so in a way he is more Filipino than those who forgot where they came from.

The sultry Christine Mendoza, like Brian, is a 2nd generation Filipino. Both his parents are pinoys but she grew up in America, yet time and again at interviews, Christine acknowledges that she is 100% Filipino. Caterina Fake, the co-founder of Flickr although technically half-filipina, admit where she came from.

THE RANKINGS

I've rank the pinoy probloggers using the Highest Blog Juice (HBJ) per person. At first I was tempted to use the Total Blog Juice (TBJ), but upon closer inspection, I found out that it can skew the rankings. A person can create dozens of blogs with low-ranking juices, and will rank very high on this list. So I gave a much higher weight on the HBJ, which measures authority or popularity of a certain blogger, which is the purpose of this ranking in the first place.

It is much harder to create a blog that ranks high on juice, than to create many blogs with low juices - it takes time and much effort. So it is an impressive effort when a person creates two or more of blog with high juice. If two people have the same HBJ, I look at the next blog on their list, and rank them accordingly.

TOP PINOY PROBLOGGER CRITERIA

Since I'm listing the Top Pinoy Problogger, and not just any problogger, to qualify a person must at least have:

1. HBJ of 3
2. TBJ of 7
3. The blogs included must have an advertisement
4. Must be 1st or 2nd Generation Filipino
5. Acknowledge that he or she is a Filipino

FULL-TIME OR PART TIME?

Full-time and part-time Problogging is very hard to quantify without the bloggers themselves giving the data. Even the quintessential problogger Darren Rowse, has apart from blogging, income from other engagements such as consulting.

So even if you made a division based on time spent on blogging, how can you quantify it? How can you for example, say that a person spent 75% of his working hours per day on blogging? So until another person found a way to measure it (perhaps a survey?), I didn't factor the time spent on blogging here.

ON GROUP BLOGS

Unlike my previous ranking on pinoy blogs, which measures the blog per se, the ranking on top pinoy problogger, on the other hand, measures the authority or popularity of a person. So unless the person declares that he or she is the sole owner of a group blog, I've divided the BJ of a group blog by the number of members they have.

INCOMES

There is no real way of knowing the exact amount of the monthly income from the bloggers. Most are reluctant to disclose the income, which is perfectly understandable.

However, for those who are curious, we can make an educated guess on the income potential. Using a very conservative formula on Adsense, The #1 Pinoy Problogger Abe Olandres for example, earns at least 50,000 pesos a month from Adsense. But since I respect people's privacy, I won't do an analysis on that.

TBJ, is a gauge of course of how much a person can earn, the income potential.

PROBLOGGER TYPES

Network Bloggers are, as the name implies, those who joined networks owned by other people (b5media, Creative Weblogging, Know More Media, etc.). The blog network owner helps build, maintain, and market the blogs. In return the network owners earn income from the blog.

Independent Bloggers are, again as it implies, those who build, maintain, and market their own blog.

SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME

I know that this is far from complete, so please if you know of anyone I've missed, send me the link I'll try to include them.

RELATED FILES

• The Top Pinoy Probloggers
• Pinoy Blog Ranking
• The Three Inherent Flaws of the Blog Juice Calculator