This article by ABS-CBN was going around the Philippine Twitterverse non-stop yesterday. Apparently based on a study by comScore, the Philippines has the 6th highest penetration of Twitter in the world. This really makes us one of the social networking hubs in Asia. It’s only natural for a lot of Filipinos to be hooked on social networking sites because traditional media is really pushing it hard down to the masses. Entertainment show “The Buzz” even has a Twitter segment, as well as Pinoy Big Brother. Anyway, I checked the actual comScore article and found some interesting insights.
- This study talks about PENETRATION and not sheer volume. My guess is that it’s the total number of Twitter users versus the estimated total number of internet users by comScore.
- The study says that 14.8% of Filipino home and work internet users visit Twitter. An earlier study of comScore said that the Philippines had around 15M-17M internet users. 14.8% of that is equivalent to 2.1M. This means that there are 2.1M Filipinos who use Twitter based on comScore’s study.
- Note that this study EXCLUDES internet users who access through internet cafes and mobile phones. Since bulk of the Philippine base uses the internet cafe to access the net, this study is actually a bit off.
Hopefully all the buzz social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are getting will really push businesses and marketers to seriously look into digital marketing for their brands.
Digital marketing is indeed starting to make its mark. I’m actually quite surprised that a lot of good businesses still don’t use social networking to fuel their marketing needs. Big foreign companies are already doing it.
Most professionals and middle-class groups in the Philippines use Twitter. Most are still stuck with Facebook?