MANILA, Philippines - What is a twibbon? The Urban Dictionary defines twibbon as a bumper-plate-like sticker for social media sites. It is used to promote a cause by overlaying an image on your profile picture to show an allegiance to the cause.

A wild guess of mine says that the term "twibbon" is a combination of the social media site Twitter and a ribbon.

A twibbon is the easiest and most powerful way to promote awareness of your cause on Twitter and Facebook.

It is a small icon overlaid onto supporters’ profile images making a visual impactful online statement.

Twibbons started to hog the Philippine social media scene after former President Corazon C. Aquino's death in August 2009. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were bombarded with yellow twibbons to show support and respect to the former President.

The same yellow twibbons also helped the current Philippine President Benigno C. Aquino III win the highest post in government in the May 2010 presidential elections.

Some time back, a black twibbon propaganda spread all over the world when the legendary music icon and king of pop Michael Jackson succumbed to an untimely death.

A pink twibbon, on the other hand, has appeared online to express users' support for a breast cancer awareness campaign, a cause that garnered more than 53,000 supporters.

From then on, twibbons became visible not only on social media sites but also on TV, campaign billboards and other communication media to highlight a cause.

Twibbons’ role

In the latter part of 2009, twibbons helped Filipinos express grief at the loss of almost 60 lives in the Maguindanao massacre.

Similar expressions of grief for the Hong Kong bus siege victims in Manila are starting to catch on in the Facebook world.

During the first automated elections last May 2010, twibbons were utilized by majority of the presidential candidates. Each candidate used a specially marked twibbon in their campaign color to gain popularity not just in social media networks but in the entire country as well.

In the Philippines, university athletics competitions don’t only end within the huge coliseums. University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and National Colleges Athletics Association (NCAA) twibbons are hitting the web as college supporters flaunt their college emblems and symbols.

Television fans are also initiating twibbon campaigns in support of their favorite TV network. Fanatics are posting their profile pictures with twibbons like “Kapamilya ako", "Kapuso ako", or "Kapatid ako”.

But the twibbon saga does not end with the election and other politically related issues. Today, twibbons remain to be the most powerful tool for identity and campaign in the world wide web.

Twibbon me now

Adding a twibbon is a breeze. All you need is a profile picture and a cause, which can be political, social or even academic--no need to worry as twibbons suit all causes.

Special sites are now available online for generating twibbons. Twibbon.com is the largest twibbon generating application. It is also linked to Facebook where you can easily find your statement sticker.

After choosing a specific cause and application website, upload your profile picture and paste your twibbons.