Pinoy netizens favor new technologies — study

As access to internet in the country continues to improve, more Filipino netizens are viewing new technology as opportunities rather than risks.

A recent study conducted by creative agency We Are Social and social media management platform Hootsuite said 74 percent of Filipino internet users believe that new technologies offer more opportunities than risks.

Another 64 percent said they prefer to complete tasks digitally than manually whenever possible.

The data were sourced from Google Consumer Barometer and GlobalWebIndex and were part of the recently released 2018 Global Digital Report.

The same report noted that 76 percent of Filipino internet users believe that data privacy is important, although only 50 percent delete internet cookies from internet browsers to protect their privacy.

Around 40 percent said they use ad-blocking tools to stop advertisements from being displayed while they are online.

According to the report, 63 percent of Filipinos – or about 67 million of the total population of 105.7 million – have access to the internet. It increased by seven million in the past year.

The Global Digital Report said Filipinos spent an average of nine hours and 29 minutes on the internet every day last year, ranking second next to Thailand with nine hours and 38 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Philippines for the third year in a row topped in terms of use of social media with an average of three hours and 57 minutes a day.

‘Online shopping’ on the rise

The same report revealed that e-commerce activities have increased in the country in the past year.

Some 33.81 million Filipino internet users have purchased goods online last year, up by 12 percent from 2016.

Data showed that the value of e-commerce goods in the country has reached at least $1.2 billion, surpassing last year’s value by 23 percent.