Intense rain and flooding help Philippines to officially become top “Twitter Nation”

Facebook may still rule the Philippine social networking scene, but if the new study by social media monitor Semiocast serves as any indication, its claim no longer remains unchallenged. According to the firm’s global poll which analyzed 517 million Twitter profiles, the Philippines now has around 9.5 million registered users in the microblogging site. This puts the country in the 10th spot in the worldwide rankings trailing Spain and staying one step ahead of Turkey. More details after the jump.

At the height of Tuesday’s intense rain and flooding all over the country, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos trooped to Twitter to spread critical flood information, as well as to mobilize rescue and relief operations.

“Even as the torrential rains rendered several families stranded and helpless, with flooded homes and without electricity, we saw how people found their mobile phones – and mobile Internet -- especially useful to stay connected, tweeting for help for loved ones stuck elsewhere, and even for complete strangers trapped on their rooftops,” said Smart Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando Vea.

“This is certainly good news, but, frankly, not really surprising. Filipinos have always been active in social media and we are increasingly using mobile phones to tweet or post on Facebook.”

Officially dubbed the “social media capital of the world” in 2011 the Philippines reportedly has around 93.9% of its 40-million strong Internet population on Facebook. It surpassed more progressive countries in large part because of the affordability of gadgets and the accessibility of Internet services made available by local telcos.

Smart Communications, in particular, offers the most number of Android devices in the country ranging from entry-level smartphones to top-tier offerings.

Being able to take full advantage of Smart’s high-speed data connectivity, posting status updates and tweets are as easy as sending text messages – especially in critical times such as during disasters.

“What good is having an expensive smartphone if you can’t use it properly and when it is most needed? With a strong and resilient network like Smart, you’re sure to receive every tweet, every update, and you can rely on your network not dying out on you when you need connectivity the most,” said Vea.

In its own way, Smart has also been very active in social media sites. It boasts of having more than 1.2 million ‘likes’ on Facebook (the most from any Filpino company), over 15,000 friends on Foursquare, and close to 200,000 followers on Twitter all of which, enable the company to further reach out to its loyal subscribers and make sure disaster-response information is widely disseminated and in a timely fashion.

“Wherever and whenever Filipinos need to reach us, we will be there,” said Vea. “This is all part of our efforts to help everyone Live More than they thought possible,” he said.