New survey finds 60% of Jamaicans living abroad use WhatsApp as their primary way to stay in touch (infographic)

Dublin, Ireland – 6th of January 2017 – A new survey has found that 60% of Jamaicans use WhatsApp as their primary way of keeping in touch with their loved ones.

The survey was conducted by Ding, the world’s largest mobile top-up provider. Ding surveyed members of the Jamaican diaspora community who use their service to send top-up to their friends and family back home in Jamaica.

Ding helps thousands of Jamaican’s to send prepaid mobile top-up to FLOW and Digicel Jamaica numbers every day.

The survey results indicated that 73% of respondents use their mobile phone as the main way they access the internet.

Of the respondents, 46% of people said that their spouse was the first person they call with good news. 72% said they could not live without their phone.

Speaking about the findings, Brand & Communications Manager for Ding, Leslie Prendergast, had the following comment, ‘Mobile phones are a vital resource for people living abroad and we wanted to find out how the Jamaican diaspora is using theirs to keep in touch. It was interesting to find out that 62% of respondents spend more than 5 hours daily on their phones. Family and friends are such a massive part of Jamaican culture and we are delighted to play a role in helping them to connect with their loved ones.’

*Note: The results of the survey are based on responses from 135 of Ding’s customers who regularly send prepaid mobile credit to Jamaica. The survey was conducted in December 2016.