South Africa: 2014 Social Media Review

 

2014 in review

South Africa experienced the busiest year on social media yet, as shown by growths of top 20 brands on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in the last 12 months.

Sourced: SocialBakers

Using the 20:80 principle, growth of the top 20 brands on main social networks is a good indication of South Africa’s performance on social media.

Here is our selection of key events that added impetus to the phenomenal growth of social media as displayed in the table above, partly due to to substantial global interest:

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• The year started with the aftermath of  [highlight]Nelson Mandela’s death.[/highlight] @NelsonMandela’s posthumous  Twitter handle is South Africa’s 7th largest with 1.02 million followers.

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• The largest celebrity legal court case  – [highlight]the Oscar Pistorius trial[/highlight] – was the first in South Africa to be covered real-time on all media.

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• South Africa held its 5th national democratic elections, and there has since been vibrancy in parliament brought about by Julius Malema and 24 other MP’s from his new party – [highlight]the EFF[/highlight]. @JuliusMalema’s Twitter handle is South Africa’s 18th largest with 619 170 followers, and he is the only active politician whose Twitter account is in the top 20.

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• To close the year on a high, the recently held [highlight]Miss World 2014[/highlight] pageant was won by Miss South Africa’s @NoleneStruass; 40 years since Anneline Kriel won it in 1974.

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The key insight from 2014 review above is that social media usage is quickly maturing in South Africa. We believe that 2015 is going to be yet another big social media year as South Africa’s social netizens take it to another level.

 

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Click here for our social business 2015 predictions

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