The Philippines has once again been crowned the “social media capital” of the world after topping the list of users of the World Wide Web and different social media platforms and apps based on the 2025 study by Meltwater, a global leader in social and media intelligence.
Here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know about the Filipino’s social media habits to help inform your digital marketing strategies:
- The Meltwater study shows that 98.9% of Filipino users use online chat and messenger services monthly, higher than the 94.5% average of our global neighbors.
- The report also shows that, out of our current population of 116 million people, 97.5 million Filipinos are users of the internet and have created 90.8 million user identities online.
Filipinos have many reasons to create and maintain personas and accounts online. Popular reasons include:
- Connecting with one’s friends, loved ones, work, and other communities
- Consuming different forms of media and gaining knowledge
- Keeping up to date with current events
- Researching brands and products
- The 2025 report has also noted that 98.9% of internet users over 16 years old surf the web through their mobile phone and rely on cellular data to bridge themselves to online ecosystems.
- Filipino internet users also spend around almost 9 hours online per day, vastly bringing our internet habits higher than the time we spend watching TV (which only averages around 3 hours).
- In the start of 2025, Facebook was able to reach 78% of the total population through their advertisements; this is equivalent to 93.1% of our local internet user base.
Social Media and its Mark on Filipino Consumers
Many of our lives have become intertwined with the internet as brands, businesses, and even individuals have started to bring their operations, goods, and services onto our screens.
The internet and its adjacent services can be a great and accessible tool for entrepreneurs, public figures, and influencers who wish to share their thoughts, products, and even recommendations or messages of support towards a brand or company.
Social media in particular offers low-cost advertising solutions to drive brand growth, and easy communication with communities and clients, all while spotlighting trends that have created cycles of attention towards certain brands and products at a time. For example, songs from the 80’s or 90’s have topped charts in recent years due to trending sound bites or audios that could be used in TikTok videos or Instagram reels. Another popular example would be niche products and media given spotlights and becoming highly featured online since most social media platforms rely on interest-based algorithms to keep the attention and interest of users on their “For You” pages.
The attention of online users has become a treasure in the online ecosystem, being able to generate monetary value through the time spent interacting and the interaction itself with the pages and accounts of businesses and companies. Maintaining the attentiveness and curiosity of a user is the key to surviving and being able to surf amongst a sea of brands, advertisements, and general noise online. These days, it is crucial to learn how to pique a user’s interest and how to drive interaction towards your page.
This is why many businesses and brands do their best to appeal to the Filipino audience; we are a powerhouse of simply driving things to become viral online wherein even ordinary foreign users can catch wind of trends, jokes and memes, and even everyday phrases from Filipino online culture.
Related:
- Why Social Media Marketing is Important for Your Business
- Crafting a Social Media Strategy That Reflects Your Brand’s Values
- Social Media Marketing to Boost B2B Brand Reputation
- Diversifying Your Social Media Marketing Strategy: Beyond Facebook
- Succeed in Social Media Marketing in 2025 And Beyond!
- All About TikTok in the Philippines
Bridging the Filipino audience to various clients and their businesses is the strength of PR and digital marketing agencies such as NGP IMC who have their ear on the ground on what the average Filipino wishes to see and hear. We’re able to craft stories that present your brand and its goods and services and transform it to what your ideal Filipino could want or need.
Contact us and work with us today.