Filipinos among the ‘most engaged’ with Facebook, Twitter

THE PHILIPPINES has been tagged as the sixth market globally “most engaged with social networking sites,” a report published yesterday by US-based Internet marketing research firm comScore showed. “[T]he typical Filipino spent a significantly higher than average 8.7 hours on social networks during the month [of October],” based on the report, which put the average hours spent on social networks globally at only 5.7 hours. The report, entitled “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed,” was conducted in October 2011, and covered two million Internet users from 171 countries. The report said there were 5.5 million Filipinos who visited social networking sites during the month, or 96% of the total 5.7 million Internet users. “In October, social networking accounted for an astounding 43% of total time spent online by Filipinos,” the report read. The top five social networks visited by Filipinos were Facebook (with 5.4 million unique visitors during the month), Twitter (1.2 million unique visitors), Multiply (863,000 unique visitors), Tumblr (677,000 unique visitors), and Yahoo! Pulse (588,000 unique visitors), based on the report. The report also showed the average minutes spent by Filipinos on said social networks: Facebook (500.9 minutes), Twitter (27.6 minutes), Multiply (8.1 minutes), Tumblr (7.6 minutes), and Yahoo! Pulse (2.6 minutes). The top five countries that surpassed the Philippines on the list with the highest average hours per visitor spent on social networks are as follows: Israel (11.1 hours); Argentina (10.7 hours); Russia (10.4 hours); Turkey (10.2 hours); and Chile (9.8 hours). “While some of this is driven by infrastructure [access to broadband, for example], it is also interesting to examine these differences vis-a-vis cultural norms,” the report read. Already, social networking has been found as the most popular activity online, the report showed. “Social networking sites now reach 82% of the world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world,” the report read. ”The social networking adoption trend largely mirrored the global Internet adoption curve, and grew proportionately, showing that as people began to get connected, they immediately began connecting with one another,” the report read. It is interesting to note that the report excluded Internet access from public computers such as Internet caf’s and Internet access from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The report noted however, that mobile devices will further grow addiction to social networking sites in the future. “From a technology standpoint, mobile devices represent the future of social networking as they provide the means for users to connect on-the-go, facilitating real-time interaction,” the report read. Specifically, according to the report, the popularity of smartphones will continue to increase social networking use. However, Internet users who use mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) to access social networks still remains “a fraction” of those who use the classic Web interface or through desktops, laptops, netbooks, etc., the report read. comScore is an Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet’s largest businesses. comScore tracks all Internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior.