This is a website we found by chance while searching on Google. Strange to be finding the site for the first time when it’s been online since 1999.

Global Pinoy is a website for overseas Filipinos all around the globe. 140,000 registered members visit this site to read and share news about what’s happening back home. It bridges the gap between them and the Philippines. It has a chat facility, an email service, forum and directories.

It also has sections for recipes (extensive data!), news, health, entertainment, music, travel and the really interesting: odd jobs, success stories, certified achievers and artist of the month. The layout design is clean and professional.

The certified achievers section is a revelation. It is truly nice to discover new names that have made our country proud!

Our main issue with this site is poor navigation. The directories are incomplete and how do you even locate it? It will drive you nuts! We found it initially and then clicked on a few other sections then we wanted to go back to it and we couldn’t find the link for it! It wasn’t listed on their sitemap either! We had to do the manual search for “Directory” before we found Directory again!

Find your zip code and you won’t likely find it, same with the telephone area codes. General Santos City for one isn’t listed. But oh, yeah it’s part of South Cotabato so it’s on that section. How would a foreigner know that? and Davao City is under Davao del Sur! See we didn’t even know that, we had to try all Davao’s before finding Davao City! Cagayan is vague. Is it cagayan Valley or Cagayan de Oro? Shouldn’t major key cities be easily accessible?

We just L-O-V-E the Cultural Heritage section which contains relevant information about the Philippine culture from Pinoy games, Notable Pinoy Musicians, Literature, Traits, Traditions and Beliefs, National Atists etc.

However, we’re not very happy that after being online for so long they have not completed their database yet! You will find some sections lacking in information like Gary Valenciano isn’t even on the Musicians list but Martin Nievera is! Or the indigenous people of Lake Sebu in Southern Philippines: the T’boli’s isn’t even on their list of Philippine tribes. The Ifugao’s are not also mentioned when ironically their photo header shows an Ifugao with the background of the Banaue Rice Terraces! What about the Igorots, the Tinguians, the Ibanags among others?

What we also found quite disrupting is we seem to be going in and out of the main theme of the website. This breaks the flow and fluidity of a good browsing experience. You hit the portals for main categories such as Travel, Music, and Health and the designs are totally different from one another and yet it uses the same domain. At least the Travel and Health pages have a GP HOME button to find your way back to the main site but the Music page doesn’t have any and once there, it feels like you’re in a different site altogether- no traces of a Global Pinoy site. The only way to get back to the main site is by hitting the back buttons of your browser many times over to find you way “home” into the main Global Pinoy site. If that isn’t confusing, it totally is distracting.

We really enjoyed this website despite sounding like we’re ranting about them! We only did because we want to see it improved! We’re proud of the site and overall it really does “keep you closer to home.”