Sexy and social: why Manila is the selfiest city in the world

A study of Instagram pictures has identified the Philippines capital as the city where the most 'selfies' are taken – which is no surprise if you know the place, says one resident expert

Vincent Golangco in Manila

We're No 1! We're No 1! We're ... oh wait ... what? That's right folks, according to research released today by Time Magazine, no less, Manila – more specifically, Makati City – is the selfie capital of the planet, averaging a mighty 258 selfies per 100,000 people (over the course of seven days). Moreover, we also have three other Philippinecities in the list: Cebu City at No 9, with 99 selfie takers per 100,000 people, while Quezon City came in at number 59 and Iloilo City at 72.

Supporters of congressman and world boxing champion Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao take a photo with him in Manila. Photograph: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

I'm really not sure what to make of all this: on the one hand, I'd like to assume that we just have very sexy people who deserve to take as many selfies as our ego so desires. On the other, maybe there are other factors at play for this supposed selfie crown.

First, let's note that the Philippines has often been declared as a very social country. At the dawn of mobile phones, we were crowned the texting capital of the world with supposedly over 400m text messages sent per day. Following that, as social media rolled around, the Philippines was then anointed as the social networking capital of the world, with over 90% of Filipinos supposedly involved in one form of social media or another.

From those numbers alone, it should really come as no surprise that we're again on top of the globe with another achievement, if you want to call it that. But why selfies?

What you need to understand is, unlike, for example, the US, where one would go to Washington DC to get into politics, to New York for business, Los Angeles for the entertainment industry, San Francisco for the tech industry and to Miami for the nightlife; here in the Philippines, almost all the major industries clash in the capital, Manila. Makati City is one of the biggest business districts in the greater Metro Manila area, and is also a central hub for politics, showbiz, restaurants and nightlife.

Meaning there are so many more reasons to take selfies here. You're taking selfies as you work your ass off for that promotion. You're taking selfies to show your pride in your community. You're taking selfies when you run into local celebrities. You're taking a selfie to show your status as you mingle with the elites. You're taking selfies to show that you are a positive member of your community and family.

A goat poses for posterity at an agricultural business fair in Manila. Photograph: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

In an outspoken country where we're slowly working our way out of poverty and on to the world stage, people love to show their pride and heritage. We take selfies to show that we're proud of ourselves, what we do, and our country. And this is why we are the selfie capital of the world: because we have a lot of things to be proud of – and a lot of love for social media.

Or … maybe I'll just stick to my theory that we're just too damn sexy.

Vincent Golangco is the founder and publisher of Wheninmanila.com. Connect with him on Twitter and Instagram through @VinceGolangco or@WhenInManila

The 10 selfiest cities

1. Makati City and Pasig, Philippines: 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

2. Manhattan, US: 202 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

3. Miami, US: 155 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

4. Anaheim and Santa Ana, US: 147 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

5. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: 141 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

6. Tel Aviv, Israel: 139 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

7. Manchester, England: 114 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

8. Milan, Italy: 108 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

9. Cebu City, Philippines: 99 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

10. George Town, Malaysia: 95 selfie-takers per 100,000 people

Click here for the full list

Methodology

Time's research examined two sets of photographs on Instagram: from 28 Jan-2 Feb and 3-7 Mar 2014, covering 24 hours in all time zones equally. Only photographs that were both tagged "selfie" and included geographic coordinates were included: a total of 402,197. For every city of at least 250,000 residents (as defined mainly by municipalities, in the GeoNames database), the number of selfies taken within five miles was divided by the population of that city. Informal tests using facial detection software found that the vast majority of the photos were of a single person, and none of the suggested translations for "selfie" in other languages showed up in any appreciable volume.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/mar/13/manila-selfiest-city-most-selfies