PLDT Smart SME Nation hosts Facebook Phils. at TechIsland 3.0

Lending his expertise on media trends and digital disruption was Facebook Philippines Interim Country Director Alfredo Tan, invited by PLDT Smart SME Nation to be the final speaker of TechIsland 3.0.

“It’s an exciting time to be in business, in marketing and technology because the change of pace is so dramatic — it’s amazing to watch,” Tan says.

“When the first high definition photos of Pluto were shared, NASA… shared it on a platform called Instagram. What’s interesting about that is when we sent the New Horizons probe, the probe that we sent out to explore the far reaches of the solar system, Instagram didn’t even exist. That’s how rapid the change was. The sharing took place on a platform that didn’t exist when the probe was launched.”

The numbers alone are staggering. While global population growth remains at about 1.2% per year, the number of mobile-connected devices has been growing five times faster. There are now more mobile-connected devices in the world than humans — 7.5 billion to be exact. In over 100 countries, including the Philippines, the number of mobile devices exceeds the national population.

While the trend towards mobile has been taking place for quite some time now, Tan believes that the shift has already been completed. “The biggest disruptive force that is taking place in the world is mobile.”