Online Pinoys are Maturing

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This infographic over at Philippine Internet Review Blog is very encouraging for social media practitioners like me.  It tells me that social media is starting to be regarded as an emerging communication tool in the Philippines, even if it looks like only about quarter of the entire population are active participants at the moment.  

I have no doubt the statistics are spot on because it reflects what I've been seeing as well.  Internet access is a relatively inexpensive commodity nowadays, but you have to go inside the internet cafes to see what people are logging onto.  

This is my own rough general estimate: 

• I'd say 7 out of 10 people on a regular day in a regular internet cafe by the roadside would be kids between 12-18 y.o. and their primary online activity would be participating in one of many MMORPGs.  Make no mistake about it: they're spending their parents' hard-earned money.
• The second largest group would be the 18-24 young adults or yuppies who are there to log onto their social networks (I can't believe Friendster's still around.  But then again, it's like MySpace for Pinoys, so OK... and my kids' nanny is on it, so -- to each his/her own), chat, and email.  Some members of this group would most likely be spending part of their allowance or their own savings in this activity.
• The third largest group consists of those who log onto Facebook and/or Twitter by default, and occasionally check their email (outside of work), and do a couple of other things like online shopping and a bit of browsing.  Safe to say that these are 80% yuppies between 23-27 y.o.
• The minority, I would have to say, are people like me.  Not necessarily all are active social media enthusiasts (e.g., my hubby), but just your average geeks who live and breathe online, who (almost) never log out of their social networks, check for "Free WiFi" signs on an establishment's door before entering (IKR), and get the news even before they become news.  And yes, I'd say 90% of us earn our own moolah and would be at least 28 y.o. 

What I find really promising is that a large part of the online Pinoy population are "aspirers".  This means that despite economic challenges and cultural differences, more people are now realizing that the internet is the largest and most accessible learning institution, and they are taking advantage of the opportunity.

I look forward to the day when our local companies and organizations become brave and smart enough to make social media work successfully for them.  By the time that happens, I also hope our infra and telecoms will have made social media more accessible to more Filipinos, so that a bigger percentage of the population can participate actively in and benefit from a faster exchange of knowledge and information.