South Africans Among the Most Prolific Twitter Users |Morocco 5Th

While Twitter played an important role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution, South Africa is home to Africa's most prolific tweeters, according to a report on Twitter use on the continent. Portland Communications and Tweetminster monitored more than 11.5 million location-tagged tweets in Africa and conducted a survey of the region's 500 most active Twitter users to deliver what is perhaps the first comprehensive report on Twitter use on the continent. Titled "How Africa Tweets," the report discovered that South Africa has the most active Twitter population in Africa, tweeting twice as much as Kenya, the second-most active country.

 In the last quarter of 2011, South African Twitterers posted more than 5 million 140-character messages, compared to about 2.47 million sent from Kenya. Nigeria was the third most-active country (1.65 million tweets), followed by Egypt (1.21 million), and Morocco (745,620 tweets).

More than half (57 percent) of these tweeters are posting from their mobile phones, and a majority (60 percent) of the most active users are in their 20s, the study said. A lion's share of the chatter on Twitter in Africa is conversational, with 81 percent of those polled reporting that they use the platform to talk with friends. But it's not just a social mechanism. The report found that 68 percent of respondents use Twitter to get current events, and 22 percent troll Twitter for job opportunities.

In Africa, if a person is using Twitter, it's likely they also have profiles on other social media sites. According to the study, Twitter users on the continent are generally active on a variety of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. However, the micro-blogging site is populated mostly by regular citizens, rather than people in the public arena.

 "One of the more surprising findings of this research is that more public figures have not joined Africa's burgeoning Twittersphere," Portland's Mike Flanagan said. "With some notable exceptions, we found that business and political leaders were largely absent from the debates playing out on Twitter across the continent. As Twitter lifts off in Africa, governments, businesses, and development agencies can really no longer afford to stay out of a new space where dialogue will increasingly be taking place." Though many African nations have caught on to Twitter, the study shows that there is plenty of room for the platform to grow.

@pcmag.com

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