Social networking is one of the most active type of social media in the Philippines. Filipinos are said to be the most active users of social networking sites such as Friendster and Multiply. Social networking has become part of Filipinos' cyberculture.
Friendster is a social networking site introduced in 2003. It slowly gained users from Southeast Asia starting in the Philippines. Jonathan Abrams founded Friendster in Mountainview, California, United States in March 2002 and was privately owned. Based on Alexa, Friendster ranked 2nd most visited website in the Philippines. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of internet users in the Philippines have Friendster accounts. David Jones, vice president for global marketing of Friendster, said that "the biggest percentage of users is from the Philippines, clocking in with 39 percent of the site's traffic.”
Friendster is a social networking site introduced in 2003. It slowly gained users from Southeast Asia starting in the Philippines. Jonathan Abrams founded Friendster in Mountainview, California, United States in March 2002 and was privately owned. Based on Alexa, Friendster ranked 2nd most visited website in the Philippines. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of internet users in the Philippines have Friendster accounts. David Jones, vice president for global marketing of Friendster, said that "the biggest percentage of users is from the Philippines, clocking in with 39 percent of the site's traffic.”
Statistics
A study released by Universal McCann entitled "Power To The People - Wave3" declared the Philippines as "the social networking capital of the world," with 83 percent of Filipinos surveyed are members of a social network. They are also regarded as the top photo uploaders and web video viewers, while they are second when it comes to the number of blog readers and video uploaders.
With over 7.9 million Filipinos using the Internet, 6.9 million of them visit a social networking site at least once a month. Friendster is the most visited website in the Philippines, as well as in Indonesia. David Jones said that in March 2008, Friendster recorded 39 million unique visitors, with 13.2 million of whom were from the Philippines. Meanwhile, Multiply president and founder Peter Pezaris said that the Filipino users of their site comprised the largest and most active group in terms of number of subscribers and of photographs being uploaded daily. About 2.2 million out of more than 9 million registered users of Multiply are Filipinos. Also, 1 million photographs are uploaded by Filipinos to Multiply every day, which is half of their total number worldwide.
Sixty percent of Filipino users of Multiply are female, while 70 percent are under the age of 25. In comparison, Filipino Friendster users are between the ages 16 to 30, with 55 percent of them female.
Filipino Internet Usage
Internet is very popular in the Philippines. Any person can browse through the Internet and can learn new things that can increase their knowledge. Filipinos use the Internet to communicate with their families and friends that migrated or working abroad. They go online to meet foreigners as potential love interest, hoping to get Green Card. Students use the Internet for educational purposes when doing research works for school. Working people also use the Internet for business purposes like transactions online, foreign investments, telecommunications, and the like. Others write blogs on their blogsites sharing experiences, thoughts or new learning. Mostly, people in the young age group take so much time uploading pictures or videos, downloading music or podcasts and customizing their profile in social networking sites.
According to Universal McCann Report Wave 3 as of March 2008, the following are statistics that track growth on social media as far as blogging, social networking, and social media growth in the Philippines is concern:
There are 3.7 million active Internet users:
- 90.3% or 3.3 million read blogs
- 64.9% or 2.3 million have started their own blogs
- 83.1% or 3 million created a profile on a new social network.
- 86.4% or 3.14 million uploaded photos in a photo sharing website.
- 60.5% or 2.2 million have uploaded videos on a video sharing website.
- 98.7% or 3.6 million watch video clips online.
Internet is very popular in the Philippines. Any person can browse through the Internet and can learn new things that can increase their knowledge. Filipinos use the Internet to communicate with their families and friends that migrated or working abroad. They go online to meet foreigners as potential love interest, hoping to get Green Card. Students use the Internet for educational purposes when doing research works for school. Working people also use the Internet for business purposes like transactions online, foreign investments, telecommunications, and the like. Others write blogs on their blogsites sharing experiences, thoughts or new learning. Mostly, people in the young age group take so much time uploading pictures or videos, downloading music or podcasts and customizing their profile in social networking sites.
According to Universal McCann Report Wave 3 as of March 2008, the following are statistics that track growth on social media as far as blogging, social networking, and social media growth in the Philippines is concern:
There are 3.7 million active Internet users:
- 90.3% or 3.3 million read blogs
- 64.9% or 2.3 million have started their own blogs
- 83.1% or 3 million created a profile on a new social network.
- 86.4% or 3.14 million uploaded photos in a photo sharing website.
- 60.5% or 2.2 million have uploaded videos on a video sharing website.
- 98.7% or 3.6 million watch video clips online.
Source: http://philippineinternetreview.blogspot.com/2008/05/23-million-active-filipino-internet.html
Online Communication
Through social networking sites like Friendster and Multiply, online advertising became popular to have profitable local market. Mobile phones were also used as tool for advertising. It is more widespread than of advertising via online since the country has limited Internet access. Multiply Philippines is developed in partnership with ABS-CBN Interactive to grow its user base in the country, as well as tapping into its local advertising and mobile services.
Application in Filipino Culture and Society
The popularity of social networking in the Philippines can be traced in the Filipinos' culture of "friends helping friends."
Social networking has extensive uses in the Philippines. It was used to promote television programs like Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus with its two profiles on Multiply. A call center company posted job openings on its Multiply community site and was able to attract recruits. The power of social networking was tested in the country's 2007 general elections when senatorial candidate Francis Escudero created his own Friendster profile to bolster support from Filipino users. He eventually won a seat in the Senate. Local celebrities and politicians have since created their own profiles on Friendster as their medium to communicate with their fans and constituents.
Friendster was also used as a tool for police investigations. Local police in Cebu City where able to track down the suspects for the robbery and murder of a female nursing student on March 2008. After receiving information and tips from the public and other police operatives, the local police searched through the suspects' profiles in order to get a closer look at their faces. The police printed the pictures of the suspects and launched a series of police operations, which led to their arrest. Meanwhile, Manila Police District arrested a suspect for the murder of two guest relations officers in Tondo on January 2007 after they were able to find the suspect's whereabouts through his Friendster profile.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment