Why Bangkok is The Global Social Media Capital

Facebook

Bangkok is the world’s No.1 Facebook city with 8 million accounts in a population of 10 million people

Verdict: No doubt about it, Bangkok is the world’s No.1 Facebook city. According to some counts, there are actually more Facebook accounts in Bangkok than registered inhabitants, because of the large population here that is registered back in their hometowns. That means we’re also the city with the highest Facebook penetration.

18 million

Facebook users in Thailand, including 3.2 million new users in the last 6 months

Pai Texas (Texas Hold ‘Em Poker) is the top Thai Facebook page with 2.22 million likes

9pm-midnight

is the peak time for people using Facebook

Instagram

50 million

Instagram users worldwide

422,131

Instagram users in Thailand

Aum Patchrapa (@aum_patchrapa) is the leading Thai celebrity on Instagram with over 858,000 followers which lands her on the world’s top 100 celebrity ranks at 82—that’s higher than Jason Mraz!
Chermarn “Ploy” Boonyasak (@chermarn) was once the top Thai celebrity on Instagram but is now ranked at No.2 with 698,XXX followers while Araya “Chompoo” A. Hargate (@chomismaterialgirl) is No.3 with over 621,000 followers
RS’s Kamikaze record label (@kamikaze_music) is the top brand on Instagram.

Verdict: Bangkok is king when it comes to most commonly tagged Instagram locations, our nearest rival being the photo-sharing app’s birthplace, California. And with many calling 2012 the year of Instagram, it’s with some pride we’re going to declare Bangkok #1 Instagram city in the world.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport ranked No.1 and Siam Paragon No.2 in the most popular places where Instagram photos were taken in 2012, beating out Disneyland in the United States. Both also figured in the top 15 for 2011.

Twitter

Verdict: Thais don’t like to read much and Bangkok remains a small player in the global Twitter-sphere. We’re not even in the Top 20, in fact. Interestingly, we stole the Facebook crown from the current top Twitter town, Jakarta, so there’s hope yet.

Top Twitter Cities

1.) Jakarta
2.) Tokyo
3.) London
4.) Sao Paulo
5.) New York

900,000

Twitter accounts in Thailand

#weloveking

was the world’s No. 3 top topic on Coronation Day on May 5, 2012, as tributes to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej flooded in. The hashtag was No.1 on December 5, 2009.

Nichkhun Horvejkul

(@Khunnie0624) is the top Thai celebrity on Twitter with 1.54 million followers

Addicted to my Connection

117%

mobile penetration in Thailand

78 million

mobile subscribers in Thailand, out of a population of 69 million people

1,150%

year-on-year growth rate of LINE users in Thailand

Thailand is No.1 in the world for active Line users with a total 10 million users

Who spends the most time on social media?

1.) Argentina (9.8 hours)
2.) Brazil (9.7 hours)
3.) Russia (9.6 hours)
4.) Thailand (8.7 hours)

Countries that viewed PSY’s “Gangnam Style” on YouTube the Most

1.) USA
2.) Thailand
3.) South Korea

Verdict: Different regions use different social media networks, such as China’s Weibo and Renren or South Korea’s KakaoTalk, the messenger app of choice on 88% of the iPhones there. That makes comparisons across nations difficult. And there’s even less data on individual cities. But even if we’re not quite sure which city is Social Media Capital of the World, we’re confident Bangkok is in the top 5. And when’s the last time our city was in the top 5 for anything?

Sources: Zocialrank.com, Socialbaker.com, web.stagram.com, truehits.net, We Are Social Singapore, Thaitrend, YouTube