Xiaomi, a brand that brings out the best in their fans
For Joshua Romero, his life as a Mi Fan started everything with “trying and doing more”. In 2014, he joined one of Xiaomi Philippines’ social media contests via Facebook. The requirement was simple – comment and get a chance to win a Xiaomi Mi3. Instead of just commenting on the post, he did something more – he used his gift to put his thoughts into art.
At the time of this writing, there are over 129,000 Mi Fans in the Philippines. Joshua is one of them – one of the fans inspired by Xiaomi to “always believe that something wonderful is about to happen”. Joshua, perhaps, believed in this idea, which eventually led him to be part of one of the biggest tech-centric online communities in the country.
But… what does it really mean to be part of the Mi Community? I always wondered this myself because I was never a part of it until recently. I wanted to learn more about the culture and this opportunity of interviewing Joshua came in, which made me realize how I missed out on a lot of things. If you want to watch the interview, you can check the YouTube video below.
Mi Fans are involved…. Integrated in Xiaomi’s vision.
The Mi Community is more than just a group of people virtually hanging out. Everyone seems to be involved in every aspect of what Xiaomi does. They are part of developing products, mounting offline and virtual events, and helping people understand the features of Xiaomi’s products. Their talents are tapped, honed, and shared back to the community, which ultimately inspires more members to stick around and contribute. Everything that they do makes everyone in the community feel like they are a part of something bigger and nobler in many ways.
Like most Mi Fans, this is exactly what Joshua feels and continues to experience in the community. As Xiaomi tries to empower its members with art, photography, and music activities, more members (and even those who would want to become a member) are encouraged to believe that something amazing is at the end of every minor or major experience.
The pandemic has changed the way people interact with each other, and so does the dynamics in Mi Community. In my interview with Joshua, he recounted how unfortunate for the pandemic to take out the experience of physically meeting and mingling with other Mi Fans. This change led the community to shift its methods of bringing together all the members in one virtual roof, and still be able to carry out what they are supposed to do.
A Festival of Endless Possibilities
The current Mi Fan Festival is a clear example of how Xiaomi’s culture transcends to its members, which eventually cascades to Filipino consumers. From virtual concerts to discounted prices of Xiaomi’s smartphones, it’s an opportunity for Xiaomi to showcase the amazing things they have in store for everyone.
The very first MFF was held on April 6, 2012 in Mainland China when Xiaomi decided to launch an event to celebrate the two-year anniversary of its founding. The company invited Mi Fan to celebrate its birthday together by holding a big party for them. As such, the party venue was set up like a club and guests celebrated while a DJ performed and interacted with them.
With this year’s theme “explore the possibilities”, Xiaomi is encouraging both members of the community and Filipino consumers to take part in their online sale and discounts on Mi smartphones. Each purchase comes with tickets to a special online concert on May 23, 8PM.
To celebrate MFF 2021, Xiaomi Global Mi Community officially launched its theme song A Melody for Mi, which was co-created in an online Mi Community by Mi Fans from 15 countries. Around 1000 Mi Fans participated in this songwriting project with contributions from 30 Mi Fans were selected and used to compose the music and lyrics.
The song expresses Mi Fans’ pursuit of a better life that is centered on love, passion, innovation, vitality, and smarter life for everyone – the very values that Xiaomi has been conveying to Mi Fans for over a decade. The song A Melody for Mi has been made an official ringtone and uploaded to Mi Theme Store where users from all over the world can download it. The song will also be applied to the customer service hotline on-hold music.
The Future of Xiaomi and its Fans
The future of Xiaomi is bright as day and glittering like the stars in the sky. However, having listened to Joshua’s experience and thoughts about the community, I firmly believe that Xiaomi would not be as successful as it would want it to be without its fans.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
