Eat Bulaga
Has anyone ever thought why Eat Bulaga has a tremendous staying power? Why for almost 28 years or so, it still hasn't lost its touch of keeping its audience..??
Last Saturday, I was able to watch Eat Bulaga during lunch time. As it has been for a couple of weeks already, they have been airing the recently popular hit "Itaktak Mo". They had many guests there and it was just as if they were featuring that hit song with different renditions from different artists popularizing a distinct genre. They had SouthBorder, Francis Magalona, Kamikazee, and even Mike Hanopol. Each of these artist/group had a different whip for "Itaktak Mo". It was funny and amusing at the same time. Later still, they introduced to everyone the history of "Itaktak Mo" and how it came to be. I myself, has witnessed that scene wherein one vivacious audience was able to bring about that famous phrase. She was a resident of Sta. Cruz, Manila and a kagawad (a local political servant), I believe.
"Itaktak" is a Tagalog phrase meaning, to tap it, or slap a container (i.e, a bottle) to exume it of its contents.
Eat Bulaga is a Filipino noon time show that has been ongoing since around 1978 or so. Its main hosts were and are: Tito, Vic and Joey (although Tito is no longer active).
Aling Ole, was the name of the lay audience who first introduced the "Itaktak Mo" dance step.
More often than not, TV shows would not reveal the history and the source of a certain hit idea. But, for this instance, Eat Bulaga was very generous enough to give back the credit to the lay audience who gave the idea of "Itaktak". Although it was really Joey who came about the idea of creating the recording itself, nonetheless, Aling Ole was the one who brought the idea to the creative mind of Joey.
AJAX
Asynchronous Javascript and XML or more popularly known as AJAX has hit the mark of Web 2.0. Most web appns that has been in the net for quite some time now are moving into application of AJAX onto their site. Not that it has brought so many more users online because of its beautiful interface, but it has cleared and settled some browsing issues. More and more users are feeling that the waiting time is reduced for the actions that they request from the site that uses AJAX. This, I think is the second most appealing nature of AJAX to its users.
Instead of clicking a link and taking you to another page for the whole process, the AJAX enabled site, can just refresh a portion of the screen for you as you need it. The whole click and wait thing is now reduced to a better browsing experience. Along with it, the developer can also be totally creative by making the waiting time a pleasurable experience.. like providing a graphical loading screen (ie., Yahoo Mail Beta's loading screen)
AJAX and Eat Bulaga
So what does AJAX and Eat Bulaga have in common??
I think that the reason why this noontime show has always stayed on air was that, they did not dwell away from what was already there.. just as AJAX does not make you leave your current page..
What really matters is, pinpoint what the users want and love the most, then stick to it. As much as possible, don't give them something they can do to leave your site. Keep them stuck to that thing and nurture it.
I think AJAX and Eat Bulaga works the same. Don't they??