More Filipinos get news from Facebook than in radio, newspapers – SWS

June 30, 2019

More Filipinos are now using Facebook as their source of news daily compared to radio and newspapers, according to a Social Weather Stations' survey.

In the report released on Saturday, SWS said still majority or 60 percent of the 1,440 respondents in the survey conducted on March 28-31, 2019 said they got their news from the television. This is equivalent to 40.4 million Filipinos.

However, the pollster said that 21 percent or 13.9 million Filipinos relied on Facebook as their source of news.

Only 15 percent or 9.7 million individuals patronized radio and only two percent or 1.0 million people read newspapers.

"Thus, Facebook as a daily news source is more common than radio and newspapers combined, and is second only to television," SWS said.

“Reading the news through Facebook is positively related to educational attainment,” SWS said as 49 percent of the adult Facebook members were in college and 49 percent were high school graduates.

It said that figures were higher compared to 37 percent among elementary graduates and 36 percent among non-elementary graduates.

“Of the estimated 30.4 million adults who have at least one social media account (among Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Viber), 31 percent or 9.4 million individuals use social media to 'Like or promote material related to political or social issues that others have posted',” SWS said.

“Fifty-one percent (estimated 15.4 million individuals) volunteered answers that specified other social media uses and activities,” it added.

As of March 2019, SWS said 99 percent of adults were using the internet or 30.3 million individuals have a Facebook account.

“This is equivalent to 45 percent of the total adult population (estimated 30.5 million individuals),” it said.

Meanwhile, YouTube was the second most popular social media site among adult Filipino internet users. Thirty-eight percent of adult internet users or 11.7 million individuals said they own a YouTube account. This is followed by Instagram with 15 percent or 4.7 million individuals, Twitter with 8 percent or 2.7 million individuals, and Viber with 7 percent or 2.1 million.

The survey also showed that 86 percent or 7.3 million individuals aged around 18-24 years old and having Facebook accounts were more common among urban dwellers at majority of 56 percent or 15.3 million individuals. Ella Dionisio/DMS