Facebook is most popular social media platform among internet users in Philippines — Pulse Asia

Facebook is the most popular social media platform among internet users in the Philippines, according to a September Pulse Asia poll.

Conducted via face-to-face interviews of 2,400 respondents from September 6 to 11, the nationwide survey said 63% of Filipino adults use the internet, with more than half saying they log on more than once a day. The rest go online once a day (22%), twice to six times a week (13%), once a week (3%), or less than once a week (2%).

Almost all internet users (99%) go online to check their social media accounts with Facebook and YouTube as the most popular social media platforms among internet users in the country.

“Ownership of a Facebook account is nearly universal among internet users in the Philippines as a whole (99%) and across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings,” the survey wrote.

Meanwhile, 57% of internet users own YouTube accounts, 17% with TikTok accounts, 14% with Instagram accounts, and 8% are registered on Twitter.

From June to September 2021, the survey noted that there was a drop in the percentage of those with a YouTube account in the country. Meanwhile, an increase of internet users with a TikTok account was seen in Metro Manila, while there was a rise in ownership of an Instagram account in Mindanao.

While almost all internet users check their social media, 53% access the internet to read, watch, and/or listen to things of interest to them, 41% use the internet to know news about the government, 24% on elections, 22% to shop online, 20% to send, receive and/or read emails, and 10% to attend formal and/or non-formal online learning.

Meanwhile, majority of internet users in Metro Manila (69%), the rest of Luzon (52%), and Classes ABC and D (63% and 52%) use the internet to read, watch, and/or listen to things of interest to them like movies, recipes, and celebrity news online.

Most residents in Metro Manila (58%) also access the internet to read, watch, and/or listen to news regarding the government.

From June to September 2021, the survey found there was an increase in internet users who went online to know more about news about the government and the elections.

Instant messaging apps

Almost all Filipino adults (99%) who access the internet use an instant messaging application, with Facebook Messenger (98%) being the most often used instant messaging app. It's followed by Viber (5%), WhatsApp (2%), Telegram (2%), WeChat (1%), Hangouts (0.3%), Signal (0.1%), and Line (0.03%).

According to the survey, almost all users of instant messaging apps talk to their family members (94%) and close friends (92%) via these apps, while only 27% communicate with their co-workers.

Politics, on the other hand, is not discussed by most Filipino adults when communicating with different groups on instant messaging apps. However, those who do discuss politics with different groups do so either once a week (38% to 40%) or less often than once a week (29% to 39%).

The Pulse Asia poll was taken among adults aged 18 years old and above. It has a ± 2% error margin at a 95% confidence level.

Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) have a ± 4% error margin, also at a 95% confidence level. — LA, GMA News