Filipinos Lead The World In Social Media Use

Way back, Pinoys were considered the world’s most active texters— now, would it still be any wonder if Filipinos earned the distinction of being the world’s most social media active people?

Pinoys use social media to interact

In a study, it has been noted that social networking has become a way to connect and communicate with friends and family. In fact, Filipinos spend 53 hours socializing in a week, 11 hours more than the global average of 42 hours.

A 2017 study has found that Internet users in the Philippines spend the longest time on social media with more than four hours on average.

Hootsuite and social media agency We Are Social, also announced that the user base of social media in the Philippines saw continuous social media growth in 2016.

The report also stated that internet and social media users in the country expanded by over 25%, up to 13 million and 12 million.

The report also noted that mobile is the fastest growing medium for the Web, with the platform accounting for 38% of Web traffic in the Philippines, close to a third higher than 2016.

Some of the key findings of the study state that…

• Internet penetration increased by 10% in the last 12 months to hit 3.773 billion, or 50% of the world’s population.
• Global social media use rose by 21% in the last 12 months, reaching 2.8 billion users across the globe.
• Mobile social media use has increased by 30% year-over-year to surpass 2.5 billion users globally, with 91% of social media users accessing social from mobile.

In the Asia Pacific region, mobile data traffic led significantly over other regions, with 4.12 billion gigabytes consumed, compared with 1.24 gigabytes from North Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Social media growth rates also increased by over 50% year-on-year in the region. More than 1.5 billion people across the Asia Pacific now use social media on a monthly basis, 95% of whom access social via mobile devices — the highest ratio in the world.

Businesses should use these findings to their advantage

As a result, the report said businesses in the region should plan to transform their communications strategy to increase customer engagement and real-time interaction across the customer journey.

“One of the greatest opportunities of a digitally connected world is the ability to have immediate conversations, wherever and whenever customers want,” Roger Graham, senior director for growth and marketing at Hootsuite, stated.

“Social media not only enables organizations to amplify their brand but also build trust, credibility, and human relationships at scale. It is now as much the responsibility of the top executive as the social media manager,” he added.

“Half of the world’s population is now online, which is a testament to the speed with which digital connectivity is helping to improve people’s lives. The increase in internet users in developing economies is particularly encouraging,” noted Simon Kemp of We Are Social.

“Given this latest data, it’s probably time for us to stop referring to social as ‘new media,' and integrate it more seamlessly into our day-to-day activities,” he concluded.