Makati and Pasig tagged selfie capital of the world

MANILA, Philippines – Selfie-selfie pag may time, Makati and Pasig netizens!

According to Time Magazine’s ranking of the ‘Selfiest Cities in the World,’ Makati and Pasig City together create more selfies, or self-shot portraits shared on social media, than any other area on the planet per capita.

The Philippines’ financial capital and its bustling neighbor feature 258 selfie-takers for every 100,000 citizens. Coming in second is New York’s Manhattan borough, with 202 takers per 100,000 citizens.

How did Time collect the data? According to their piece:

The photos were downloaded from the Instagram API in two sets of five days: from Jan. 28-Feb.2, 2014 and Mar. 3-7, 2014. Each day’s data consists of the 24-hour period from midnight to midnight to account for all time zones equally. During that time, 402,197 Instagram photos tagged “selfie” that included geographic coordinates.

For every city in the world of at least 250,000 residents, we then counted the number of selfies taken within 5 miles and divided by the population of that city.

Makati and Pasig were merged into one due to Time’s ‘nearest neighbor’ algorithm, which collects photos from within a radius of five miles from the city’s center. With Makati as the main city, some photos also come from nearby Pasig, as it also falls within the covered area. Similarly, Manhattan’s coverage also includes a bit of neighboring New Jersey. 

Makati and Pasig are not the only Philippine cities in the roster, though. Also included are Cebu City, ranking 6th with 99 selfie-takers per 100,000 citizens; Baguio City, 16th with 82 selfie-takers; Quezon City, 59th with 44 selfie-takers; and Iloilo City 72nd with 36 selfie-takers. 

This comes as no surprise, though, as the country is dubbed the social media capital of the world, with over 30 million users on Facebook alone.  

Also part of the top 10 is fellow ASEAN member Malaysia, with Petaling Jaya ranking 6th with 141 selfie-takers, and George Town ranking 10th with 95 selfie-takers. 

Makati and Pasig folks, do you find this news a point of pride? Or do you have concerns over this selfie obsession? Share your thoughts in the comments section! – Rappler.com