Filipinos spend most time online, on social media worldwide – report

Gelo Gonzales

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

For the 4th straight year, the Philippines is tops in worldwide social media use. The Philippines also beats Thailand this year for most time spent online.

MANILA, Philippines  We Are Social and Hootsuite released their annual digital report, which gives a global overview of the number of online users, social media users, the amount of time people spend online, and the most popular social apps we use.

Their scope spans the entire world, and have specific reports for each country.

Globally, here are the key stats:

  • There are now 5.11 billion unique mobile users today, increasing by 100 million in the past year.
  • Total number of internet users has grown from 4.24 billion to 4.39 billion, a growth of 9 percent, since January 2018.
  • A year ago there were 3.19 billion social media users. Now there are 3.48 billion, representing a 9% growth as well.
  • Of these 3.48 billion users, 3.26 billion of them use social media on mobile devices, growing by 10% from the past year.

In the Philippines, time spent online daily soared from 9 hours and 29 minutes last year to 10 hours and 2 minutes this year, the highest in the world. Coming in second is Brazil, clocking in at 9 hours and 29 minutes, while Thailand is third at 9 hours and 11 minutes. Last year, the Philippines came in second to Thailand at 9 hours and 38 minutes.

The worldwide average is 6 hours and 42 minutes, with Japan spending the least amount of time online at 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The Philippines also tops the world in terms of internet usage in front of a desktop or laptop computer, clocking in at 5 hours and 4 minutes daily, far from the global average of 3 hours and 28 minutes. Fixed internet speed grew from 15.19 Mbps average to 19 Mbps. The global average is 54.3 Mbps.

For mobile, the speed increased from 13.34 Mbps to 15.1 Mbps. The global average is 25.1 Mbps, with Canada leading at 63.1 Mbps.

Just like last year, the Philippines is top when it comes to social media penetration. 99% of internet users are on at least one type of social media platform. There are 3 other countries with a 99% social media penetration: Malaysia, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Comparatively, the average worldwide penetration rate is 58%.

The number of social media users in the Philippines has grown from 67 million to 76 million this year. Of these 76 million, 75 million are on Facebook.

One area where Philippines performs “poorly” is Instagram. Only 14% of people aged 13 years old and above are on Instagram, a percentage point below the global average.

The Philippines tops social media use again this year, clocking in at 4 hours and 12 minutes, the 4th straight year it has done so. The amount of time increased from last year’s 3 hours and 57 minutes. The global average this year is at 2 hours and 16 minutes.

For mobile phone social media use, 67% of online Filipinos access social media on their phone, keeping social media as an influential force. The global average is 42%.

For the full report, click here. – Rappler.com

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Gelo Gonzales

Gelo Gonzales is Rappler’s technology editor. He covers consumer electronics, social media, emerging tech, and video games.