Filipinos lead the world in time spent on social media, internet

MANILA - Filipinos continue to lead the world in terms of hours spent on social media and are spending even longer hours on social networks, a marketing firm and a social media management platform said citing the results on their Digital 2021 study. 

We Are Social and Hootsuite said Filipinos spent an average of 4 hours and 15 minutes each day on social media. This was a 22-minute jump from the country’s Digital 2020 average of 3 hours and 53 minutes, the companies said. 

In contrast, the global average for social media usage was 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Filipinos also led the world in social media use last year and in 2019. 

• Filipinos lead the world in social media use: survey

Despite the country lagging behind its neighbors in terms of internet speed and reliability, the Philippines also came in first in daily time spent using the internet, logging in an average of 10 hours and 56 minutes. This was also higher than last year’s average of 9 hours and 45 minutes, 

In contrast, the global average for internet usage was 6 hours and 54 minutes, the companies said. 

E-commerce adoption also grew in the country to 80.2 percent from 76 percent in the previous year’s study. 

“This is the second consecutive year that the country’s figure was above the global average,” We Are Social, and Hootsuite said, noting that the global average was 76.8 percent, and 74 percent in their previous release.

The two firms noted that rise in social media, internet, and e-commerce usage comes after Ookla Speedtest Global Index indicated a 14-notch jump in the Philippines’ ranking in mobile Internet connection speed. 

The country’s average mobile Internet speed in December 2020 registered at 22.50 megabits per second compared to 18.49 Mbps in November 2020.

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