Philippines still world’s social media capital – study

MANILA, Philippines — For the third year in a row, the Philippines has emerged as the social media capital of the world.

A study on the state of the internet showed that an average Filipino spent almost four hours on social media every day in 2017.

The 2018 Global Digital report, conducted by creative agency We Are Social and social media management platform Hootsuite, said Filipinos spent an average of three hours and 57 minutes on social media last year.

The Philippines was followed by Brazil and Indonesia, with an average of three hours and 39 minutes and three hours and 23 minutes, respectively.

In addition to extensive use of social media, the report said that Filipinos spent an average of nine hours and 29 minutes on the internet every day.

It noted that 63 percent of Filipinos, or around 67 million of the total Philippine population of 105.7 million, have access to the internet. 

The number of internet users increased by seven million in the past year.

Almost all Filipino internet users are using social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Facebook topped the most visited website in the country, followed by search website Google and video streaming site YouTube based on data from SimilarWeb.

Internet speed improved, with fixed connections logging in at an average of 15.19 megabits per second and mobile connections at 13.45 mbps.

Internet users hit 4 B

Based on the report, the number of internet users globally has reached 4.021 billion, up by seven percent from last year. The number of social media users also increased by 13 percent to 3.196 billion.

“The latest data from GlobalWebIndex showed that an average internet user spends around six hours each day using internet-powered devices and services – that’s roughly one-third of their waking lives,” read the report.

“If we add this together for all four billion of the world’s internet users, we’ll spend a staggering one billion years online in 2018,” it added.

The Global Digital report said the trend worldwide includes an increase in mobile internet use, particularly through smartphone devices.

“More than two-thirds of the world’s population has a mobile, with most people using a smartphone,” it said.

“Smartphones are the world’s preferred choice for going online too, accounting for a greater share of web traffic than all other devices combined,” the report added.