comScore puts Filipino Internet Users at 14.8M?

comScore recently released a study showing Filipinos as one of the most engaged and active when it comes to Social Media. In the same report, they said that 84% of all online Filipinos used Facebook. I checked out Facebook’s advertising platform to get the total number of registered Filipinos. As of today, there are 12.4M Filipinos on Facebook. I did some dirty math and it turns out that comScore is saying that there are only 14.8M Filipinos who use the internet. This is inconsistent with all the studies released by other research firms and I highly doubt if their information is correct.

I had a brief Twitter conversation with Nix Nolledo, CEO of Xurpas and President of the IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Association of the Philippines), and he mentioned that Nielsen pegged Filipino internet users at 20M+ while IDC said that there were 23M+ by the end of 2009. This is also what I’ve known based on other studies that I’ve seen in the past few years when I was still working for Friendster and Level Up. Jonas Delos Reyes, Yahoo! South East Asia Community Manager, also said in Twitter that comScore’s study might not include the number of users in internet cafes and mobile phones.

(Before we move on, can I just say I love Twitter? Haha)

People will argue by saying that not everyone owns a computer in the Philippines. Yes, I agree. However don’t forget that 80% of Filipinos get access via internet cafes. You don’t need to own a computer to be online. There are over 10,000 internet cafes spread all over the country and some of them even charge lower than 10 pesos per hour.

I’d like to question the accuracy of comScore’s findings. I’ve already e-mailed them asking what methodology they used for the study because they’re really inconsistent with the studies done by other local and international research firms. I’ll post their reply if ever they respond to my e-mail.