Tularan si Juan Facebook Page Founders Address Accusations of Being Unoriginal

As of 2PM - January 14, 2016, Tularan si Juan FB page has already gotten 268,807 followers or likers since it was opened just three days ago -- making it the first viral community page from the Philippines in that social networking site this year.

David and Gabriel - the two founders of Tularan si Juan - were able to achieve this stellar feat by consistently coming up with hilarious puns and downright witty memes poking fun at some of the often-weird antics of Pinoys both online and 'in real life'.

Following the success of the FB page, many websites as well as individual followers were quick to praise the effective way that 'Tularan si Juan' was able to bring light into many relevant issues in our country -- ranging from the current presidential race to social media etiquette, family life to clinical depression, as shown in this meme.

Quoting Dylan Jarabello, a 'Tularan si Juan' follower, "Sa Admin po neto, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! di ako makapaniwala na mababanggit sa social media yung problema namin na mga nagsusuffer sa clinical depression. Lagi kaming sinasabihan ng mga tao nang ganyan porke hindi kc nila dinadanas ang nararanasan namin. Thank you po tlga sa awareness."

However, despite the positive impact that this page has made on many Filipinos online, there are those who are quick to criticize the founders by calling them 'copycats'. According to detractors, 'Tularan si Juan' memes are merely based on 'Be Like Bill' from the US. Hence, for them, the page and all TSJ images are shamelessly unoriginal.

With that, yesterday, I talked the men behind 'Tularan si Juan' and asked a few questions regarding their very popular page as well as the criticisms that are currently thrown at them by some fellow Pinoys. Here's our conversation:

TechPinas: "What was your goal in creating this page?"
TSJ: "Our goal in creating the page was to remind the Filipino people of the values we have almost forgotten as well as bring a smile to all of our faces as we incorporate in our page those silly everyday things that we tend to overlook."

TechPinas: "How would you address critics who say that you just copied the concept of your page from BLB?"
TSJ: "Be Like Bill isn't really the original, if we look really back we can find a meme called Tim. He's the original Bill. Oh, and one more thing, Juan is Pinoy, Bill is 'banyaga' therefore not catering to the local culture."

TechPinas: "Any message to the many Pinoys who have liked your page and who continue to share your photos?"
TSJ: "We would like to thank all of them for supporting TSJ all throughout this rollercoaster ride. I hope for their continuous support as we release more content along the way. [I hope they can also follow us on Twitter @SiJuanTularan, which is our one true account on that site.] Thanks again!"

Allow me to wrap up this #TechPinasSocialMediaStories post in two ways. First, by quoting Voltaire; "Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another." And second, by saying that - as fellow Filipinos - we should lift each other up instead of tearing one another down.