//

Moments like the Miss Universe debacle and the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather boxing match highlight why Twitter has an eye on the Southeast Asian island nation

(From Left to Right) Aliza Knox, VP Online Sales – APAC and LATAM, Rishi Jaitly, Vice President – Media, Asia Pacific & Middle East and Richard Alfonsi, VP for Global Online Sales

It is no secret Twitter has spent the last year spinning its wheels and going nowhere. The re-hire of Jack Dorsey as CEO, the dud of Twitter Moments and the fuss over its algorithm proposal have sent jitters through its investors and user base.

But there are some reasons to be optimistic, and one is the micro-blog’s growing popularity in the Philippines.

In an apparent recognition of the Philippines importance, Twitter launched an experiential space yesterday in metro-Manila’s Mind Museum to promote the company’s impact on the country.

The space is the first of its kind in the APAC region.

“We appreciate all of the love from Filipinos and we are launching our first Asian #TwitterCity in the Philippines to show our commitment to our users, partners and advertisers here,” said Richard Alfonsi, Twitter Vice President for Global Online Sales in an official statement.

Mabuhay! @ralfonsi, @alizaknox & @rsjaitly officially open #TwitterCityPH, first in Asia w/ @mainedcm #BuhayTwitter http://pic.twitter.com/RHsb4J5kZY

— Twitter Philippines (@TwitterPH) February 18, 2016

According to Twitter, the Philippines was one of the fastest growing markets for the company in 2015 and 69 per cent of users engage every day. (By comparison, the global average is about 33 per cent).

Twitter is at its best during one-off events in which people make commentary on what transpires without the post sticking like it does on Facebook. This is why the company promotes the fact that 65 per cent of Filipinos use Twitter while watching TV.

The graphic below is the Twitter usage when Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was crowned Miss Universe after presenter Steve Harvey initially awarded the prize to runner-up Ariadna Gutierrez.

The visit of Pope Francis in January 2015 illicited 3.3 million local tweets and the APEC summit in November 2015 saw 700,000 global tweets.

And as might be expected, the Philippines was a hotspot during the Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather boxing match (which drew 2.7 billion tweets globally).

#TwitterCityPH consists of different buildings and interactive zones which help people learn how to integrate the service into their business and daily lives.

“2016 will be an exciting year for Twitter in the Philippines and there’s never been a better time for Filipinos to be on Twitter today,” said Rishi Jaitly, Twitte’s Vice President of Media Asia Pacific and Middle East in an official statement.

The company is making a push into a country known for an active, vibrant, social media culture and this new ‘city’ is the company publically acknowledging those intentions.

The post Twitter is in a rut; is the Philippines its key to getting out? appeared first on e27.

from e27 http://ift.tt/1Wv0pWz