Western Union Application Reveals United States As Philippines’ Best Friend in Cyberspace

The United States has been revealed as the Philippines’ best friend in cyberspace, according to a unique new league table released by Western Union, one of the world’s most globally connected brands.

This was the result as Philippines’ Facebook connections was recently concluded as Western Union announced its last call for the world’s most globally connected person.

The league table has been created using data from Western Union’s Your World Facebook Application, which visualises each user’s Facebook connections around the globe and gives them a score for how globally connected they are.

Your World has enjoyed more than 250,000 hits worldwide since its launch in July this year, as individual users compete in the Western Union® Network Challenge: a hunt for the world’s most globally networked person on Facebook. On the 18th of October Western Union will announce the winner - and reveal an opportunity for them to use their global network as a force for good.

With so much aggregate data being generated by Your World, Western Union has been able to build a bird’s eye view of how different countries connect to one another on Facebook. The data reveals the Philippines’ top ten best friends in cyberspace: those countries where Facebook users in the Philippines have the most Facebook connections.

The results show how social media is shrinking the world we live in – with some of the Philippines’ closest friends in cyberspace based thousands of miles away in the real world:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Singapore
4. United Kingdom
5. Australia
6. United Arab Emirates
7. Spain
8. India
9. Indonesia
10. Saudi Arabia

Western Union launched the Your World Application and associated Western Union Network Challenge in July this year to mark its 160th Anniversary and celebrate its unique status as one of the world’s most globally connected brands. With approximately 470,000 locations in 200 countries and territories[1] turning over 19 transactions per second, Western Union has a greater physical presence than any other company globally - and ten times more locations than famous global restaurant chain, McDonald’s.

Western Union Application Reveals United States As Philippines’ Best Friend in Cyberspace

Western Union President and CEO, Hikmet Ersek, said:

“We’re delighted that so many consumers have been enjoying Your World. It not only gives them a fun way to see their global network, but as a business provides us with a fascinating bird’s eye view of how countries around the world connect to one another. Western Union has been privileged to connect people across the globe for more than 160 years, so this kind of insight is invaluable.”

He added: “On the 18th of October we will be announcing the winner of the Western Union Network Challenge - the Your World user who has the most global connections. We will be inviting him or her to partner with us to use their network as a force for good. So I would urge anyone who has not yet tried out the Application to give it a go.”

[1] Network data as of June 30, 2011 (inclusive of Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services).

I am not surprised with Western Union progam's data analysis that United States topped the billing in relations with the Philippines since the two countries had extensive relations until today; aside from the fact that the Philippines is highly westernized in terms of American culture.