DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/893fca/south_african_soci) has announced the addition of the "South African Social Media Landscape 2011" report to their offering.
Executive Summary: Social media goes mainstream in SA
South Africans have embraced social media as a core pillar of Internet activity in this country, along with e-mail, news and banking. MXit and Facebook lead the way in user numbers, while Twitter has seen the most dramatic growth in social networking in the past year, and BlackBerry Messenger is the fastest growing network in the second half of 2011.
The question of how many South Africans use each of the major social networks comes up so often, it became a priority for us to pin down the numbers, says Michal Wronski, Managing Director of information analysts Fuseware and co-author of the report. The data was collected through a combination of Fuseware's analysis of social network databases, information provided directly by social networks, and World Wide Worx's consumer market research.
An analysis of Fuseware's extensive database of Twitter usage, in conjunction with World Wide Worx's consumer market research, shows that there were 1,1-million Twitter users in South Africa in mid-2011. This is a 20-fold increase in a little more than a year.
One of the drivers of growth of Twitter is the media obsession with the network, says report co-author Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx. Most radio and TV personalities with large audiences are engaged in intensive campaigns to drive their listeners and viewers to both Twitter and Facebook. The former, coming off a very low base, is therefore seeing the greatest growth.
As in the global environment, not all Twitter users are active users, with only 40% tweeting, but probably as many simply watching, following and using it as a breaking news service.
MXit remains the most popular social network in South Africa, with approximately 10-million active users. Its demographic mix runs counter to the popular media image of MXit as a teen-dominated environment. No less than 76% of the male user base of MXit and 73% of female users are aged 18 or over.
A surprising finding emerged from analysis of Facebook data. Of approximately 4.2-million Facebook users in South Africa by August 2011, only 3.2 million had visited the site in the year-to-date.
Key Topics Covered:
Executive Summary
MXit
Registrations
Youtube
Blogs
Mobile Usage and Social Media
Quantitative Analysis of Social Web
Social Media Campaigns
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/893fca/south_african_soci