RP highest in social networking engagement across Asia-Pacific

Aside from being the texting capital of the world, the Philippines now has a new distinction: the social networking capital of Asia-Pacific. According to a study that looked at internet behavior in the Asia-Pacific for February 2010, social networking penetration was highest in the Philippines, followed by Australia and Indonesia. The study found that 50.8 percent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors. This was revealed by comScore, Inc., a global digital marketing intelligence agency, in its latest report released Wednesday on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China) based on data from its World Metrix service.

Social Networking Reach and Engagement in Asia Pacific Markets Total Internet Audience*, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix (February 2010)

	% Reach	Average Minutes per Visitor	Average Visits per Visitor
Asia Pacific	50.8	148.9	15.1
Philippines	90.3	332.2	26.3
Australia	89.6	228	20.9
Indonesia	88.6	324.4	22.6
Malaysia	84.7	226	22.3
Singapore	83.7	220.9	22.1
New Zealand	81.2	217.5	20.3
Taiwan	75.9	131.3	18.3
Hong Kong	75.4	223.3	25.4
India	68.5	130.1	13
South Korea	63.5	131.4	16
Vietnam	46.1	49.5	7.2
Japan	42.3	120.5	14

Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region averaged 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month and visited sites in the same category an average of 15 times, according to the comScore study. The study also found out that Facebook was tops in the majority of its Asia-Pacific markets. Facebook.com was the social networking leader in eight of the markets – Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam – while in other countries, competing brands captured the top position. Local players led in Japan (Mixi.jp) and South Korea (CyWorld), while Google-owned Orkut ranked as the top social networking site in India and Yahoo!’s Wretch.cc led in Taiwan. "While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing Web activities in the world, its dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions," said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for Asia Pacific. The Philippines showed the highest penetration of social networking usage across the Asia-Pacific with more than 90 percent of its entire Web population visiting a social networking site in February 2010, followed by Australia (89.6 percent penetration) and Indonesia (88.6 percent penetration). Facebook.com ranked as the top social network across the majority of individual markets in the region, while competing brands commanded the top position in certain markets, including Orkut in India, Mixi.jp in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Wretch.cc in Taiwan.

Top Social Network in Individual Asia Pacific Markets by Percent Reach of Web Population Total Internet Audience*, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix (February 2010)

	Top Social Network in Market	% Reach of Web Population
Asia Pacific	Facebook.com	14.9%
Philippines	Facebook.com	84.5%
Australia	Facebook.com	69.4%
Indonesia	Facebook.com	84.9%
Malaysia	Facebook.com	77.5%
Singapore	Facebook.com	72.1%
New Zealand	Facebook.com	63.6%
Taiwan	Wretch.cc	62.5%
Hong Kong	Facebook.com	62.6%
India	Orkut	46.8%
South Korea	CyWorld	54.2%
Vietnam	Facebook.com	18.4%
Japan	Mixi.jp	18.9%

"In some markets, such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, social networking is one of the most popular Web activities reaching nearly 90 percent of the entire Internet population, while other markets report less PC-based social networking penetration, which can often be attributed to the high propensity to engage in social networking via mobile devices in these markets," he said. Social networkers in the Philippines also showed the highest level of engagement on social networking sites averaging 5.5 hours per visitor in February, with visitors frequenting the social networking category an average of 26 times during the month. Strong engagement was also exhibited by Internet users in Indonesia (5.4 hours per visitor and 22 visits per visitor), Australia (3.8 hours per visitor and 20 visits per visitor) and Malaysia (nearly 3.8 hours per visitor and 22 visits per visitor). Interestingly, the comScore study excluded Internet usage from public PCs like internet cafes, and access from mobile phones or PDAs. This may help to explain the Philippines’ lead in the study, as mobile phones and PDAs are often the devices of choice for surfing the Internet in developed countries. In contrast to the comScore study, the latest Global Monitor report from Inside Facebook showed that the fastest growing countries are now exclusively either larger European countries or countries in Latin America or Asia with relatively large economies. Inside Facebook is an independent US-based service that provides news and market research on the Facebook platform. Facebook had earlier said that Indonesia relies on mobile versions of the service, which may account for the country’s claim to the top spot in the list. However, even in spite of using different measuring criteria, Inside Facebook still lists the Philippines as the country with the third largest growth next to Indonesia and France. - OMG/TJD, GMANews.TV