Social Media Review

LOKAL: English though

Gartner Inc., an information technology intelligence company, recently said that their studies show that the Philippines is leading in the adoption of global social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in Asia. This confirms the study recently released by ComScore as well which ranked the Philippines as one of the top social media hubs in the region.

The same report showed that most of the major countries in Asia Pacific didn’t really buy into Facebook and Twitter immediately mainly because they have their own customized social networking services that are localized to their respective dialects. Also we have to take into consideration the rise of niche networking sites in Japan, China, and South Korea that are centered on online gaming. India also has popular dating and match-making websites. However I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter and Facebook gain more popularity in the next few months since most of the localized social networks aren’t 100% free.

This makes you wonder though if there is room for a localized Filipino social network here in our country. While the answer is probably “yes”, I don’t think there’s a dedicated IT and marketing group here that can push a non-commercialized local social network. SMART tried with Sandbox but it just failed miserably because it was just a mix of random features and it was too branded making it feel to invasive and profit oriented.

Filipinos are using social media platforms 53 hours a week. That’s a whole 11 hours more than the global average of 42 hours!

In a global study called Wave7, Filipinos are using social media to primarily connect with their families living overseas. As of this writing, there are more than 11 million Filipinos living outside the Philippines. Social media has become a way for them to communicate with their families and friends instead of using overseas call and text, which are the traditional ways of communication.

Banyaga : Global

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