Microsoft study shows online info overwhelms users

MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos spend more than an hour each day on their social networks, talking to “friends” they are not even close to and reading updates that they don’t consider all that important or relevant.

This was one of the major findings of a Microsoft Windows Live Survey into e-mail and social media habits of consumers across Asia-Pacific, which covered 11 countries, with 211 respondents from the Philippines.

The survey, which was completed in October, was timed with Microsoft’s launch of new features in its Hotmail, Messenger and Essentials services, designed to help users “save their social energy.”

“Technology is supposed to enrich our lives, not weigh us down. With this survey, we wanted to understand three things: how people are handling information in the digital world, why they might be feeling overwhelmed and how we can simplify their world. In essence, we want to show people how they can boost their ‘social energy’, by efficiently organizing their multiple social network,” said Haresh Khoobchandani, chief marketing officer for Microsoft’s consumer and online business in Asia-Pacific.

The survey found that more than half of respondents feel overwhelmed by the flood of information from e-mails and social networks.

Three in five estimated that only about a quarter of their “friends” across social networks can actually be considered “close friends,” according to the survey.

As much as 75 percent of respondents do not regularly “scrub” or clean up their list of friends on social networking sites like Facebook, and four in five considered half or less of the updates that they receive on social networks as “important and/or relevant.”

It’s no surprise then that more than half of the Filipinos surveyed indicated being overwhelmed by information they read and receive online.

Almost all respondents said they receive unwanted mail every day, with nearly a third receiving more than 15 pieces of spam or junk mail daily.

“For the most part, Filipino users appear to struggle with organizing the information that they receive online, with over 50 percent of respondents maintaining three or more personal e-mail accounts and having more than 20 unread e-mails in their personal accounts’ inboxes,” the study said.

“In addition, a significant majority of Filipino users spend in excess of an hour daily on social networking activities, most likely as a result of 45 percent of them being active on three or more social networks,” it added.

Filipinos mainly use their personal e-mail accounts to send files and documents, to keep in touch with family and friends, and for work. Nearly a third of the respondents said they do not file away the e-mail in their personal accounts.

Also, almost seven of 10 respondents said they open three or more windows on their computer screen for instant messaging and social-networking purposes.

More than 2,800 people participated in the survey, which covered Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines.

The survey showed that the results for the Philippines were not that far off from those of the rest of the region, which showed that nearly half of Asians feel weighed down by the deluge of online information and that only a quarter of “friends” on social networks are “close” to them.

“Across the region, respondents estimated that only a quarter or less of the contacts on their ’friends’ lists can be considered close friends. Despite this, over half of users do not regularly scrub their friends’ lists, although nearly a quarter do feel the need to do so,” the survey found.

“Thai users appeared to be the most diligent with maintaining their social networks, with 70 percent of them claiming to ’scrub’ theirs on a regular basis, while users in India, Japan and Singapore are seemingly least bothered with only 19, 24 and 25 percent, respectively, regularly maintaining their lists,” it added.

Like Filipinos, the majority of respondents in the region consider half or less of the updates they receive on networks such as Facebook as important and/or relevant.

Thirty-two percent of Japanese respondents, the highest in the region, claimed that none of the updates they receive via social networks are important or relevant.

“That could explain why Japanese respondents seem to spend the least time on social networks, with 57 percent clocking in at an under an hour per day,” the study said.

Majority of respondents in other countries said they averaged an hour per day spent on social networks, although a significant number spend more than three hours, it said. –Tina Arceo-Dumlao, Philippine Daily Inquirer