June 2010
The Role of New Media in Stakeholder Engagement
Each day, 20-25 million Filipinos – or roughly a fourth of its population — are online. To put these numbers in perspective, consider the following: 83% of online Filipinos are on social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Twitter and Multiply—the highest percentage in the world, followed by Hungary. Filipinos are also the top uploaders of photos, with 86.4% of online users eagerly showing off their photos for the world the see, followed by China. Ninety percent of Filipinos online have read blogs, the second highest number in the world, next only to South Korea, and 98.6% have watched online videos, the highest in the world, followed by Mexico.

No doubt, new media is here to stay. It is not a fad, with numbers consistently rising around the world, overtaking traditional media channels such as television, radio, outdoor advertising, cinemas, and newspapers and magazines. Internet penetration across the nation continues to rise, thanks to the sprouting of internet cafes in almost every block within the city and even in far-flung provinces, made possible by falling telecommunication and device costs. In fact, the numbers have risen even if home internet access remains low. That, though, should not be the case for long. Pre-paid internet dongles and affordable laptops have made mobile computing an everyday reality. Today, Filipinos fiddling with their laptops are everywhere—from school canteens to coffee shops to malls; indeed, wherever they can find a place to park themselves. Chances are, the spot they will choose will have free Wi-Fi access anyway. Read More