Time Says Makati "Selfiest City" in the World

Because of a bunch of events inside the hotels, restaurants,
bars, and malls in Makati, so many selfies have been taken in
the city like this one taken in Glorietta. Thus, Time Magazine
hailed Makati as the world's "selfiest city". (file photo)

Fresh from the hype of the viral group selfie photo, sometimes called groupie, by Bradley Cooper and Ellen DeGeneres during the Oscar Awards last week, Time Magazine hailed the city of Makati as the "Selfie Capital of the World".

After a two-period study done by Time's Chris Wilson during early February and early March with more than 400,000 Instagram posts with the tag selfie used as samples, the Metro Makati area, which also includes the cities of Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pasay, Taguig, and Marikina in Metro Manila and the town of Cainta in Rizal, placed first in a list of 459 key metropolitan areas in the world in terms of the number of selfie takers per 100,000 people.

Wilson tallied 258 selfie takers per 100,000 people in Makati, besting the New York City borough of Manhattan and the city of Miami in the United States. Manhattan placed second with 202 selfie takers per 100,000 people, and Miami is third with 155/100000.

Cebu City also made the Top 10 world selfie zones as the Queen City of the South ranked ninth with 99 selfie takers per 100,000 people.

Three more Philippine cities made the Top 100. Baguio City is 16th with a selfie taker-population ratio of 82/100000, Quezon City is 59th with a 44/100000 ratio, and Iloilo City is 72nd with 36/100000 ratio. Instagram selfie data from three Mindanao cities were also taken.

About having seven towns rolled into one Makati area, Wilson cited in his article at Time Magazine's website that he used a simple "nearest neighbor" algorithm that resulted to the inclusion of selfies not physically taken in Makati City but taken within a five-mile radius from the city center as part of the tally for the said city.

The cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, and Taguig have been known to be the main financial hub of the country with big offices and company headquarters being situated in either of the four. Also, many restaurants, bars, and entertainment hubs can be found in this area. Many major events also happen in this metropolitan area.