Facebook announced the opening of its offices in Manila along with their launch of Facebook for Business Philippines this Thursday morning of April 21 at an event held at the Shooting Gallery in Makati.
In a Facebook post, Dan Neary, Facebook’s vice president for the Asia Pacific region mentioned the Philippines as “a highly engaged mobile-first nation filled with people who are creative, entrepreneurial and have a strong sense of community,” he said.
This recent move further strengthens the company’s investment in the Philippines where they see a “strong momentum”.
The Philippines has more than 49 million Filipinos using Facebook, where an estimated 44 million access the social network through mobile devices.
Kenneth Bishop, Facebook’s managing director for Southeast Asia, in a press release said, “Today marks a new milestone for Facebook in the Philippines and we are committed to driving innovation that helps Filipinos and business connect in more meaningful ways,” he said.
There are more mobile devices in the Philippines than there are actual people…
The world is not ‘going mobile’ but has [already] gone mobile.
Dan Neary, Vice President for the Asia Pacific region, Facebook
At the press event, Neary said, “There are more mobile devices in the Philippines than there are actual people,” and that the Philippines is just one of one hundred nations where the number of mobile devices outnumber people. This and the increasing amount of time that Filipinos spend online using phones and tablets led him to declare that “The world is not ‘going mobile’ but has [already] gone mobile.”
Not just for social use.
Filipino entrepreneurs have been using social media for quite some time now and according to the social network, two in every three Filipinos are connected to a business Page on Facebook, and its users engage and discover new brands and products using the platform.
Facebook Philippines
Facebook’s Philippines operations will be headed by Digs Dimagiba. Dimagiba will lead the local team in crea in partnering closely with businesses and agencies to ensure that the they get the best value out of Facebook’s creative, marketing and business solutions. Prior to joining Facebook, Dimagiba was the head of mobile business at Samsung Philippines.
This is Facebook’s latest push into Southeast Asia, joining the ranks of its other offices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. As of December 2015, Facebook’s global reach includes 1.59 billion monthly active users including hundreds of millions of users on platforms such as Whatsapp and Instagram.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, has been at the forefront of using mobile services since the advent of cellular technologies. Back in 2001, the Filipino people deposed then President Joseph Estrada in a bloodless revolution which began through SMS messages that rallied people to troop to the streets.
