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One in four South Africans now on Facebook

Facebook continues to dominate South African’s online time, with a massive 14m people now using it in SA.

That’s according to the Social Media Landscape 2016 report published this morning.

By comparison, some 8.74m people use YouTube monthly, and 7.7m people in the country Tweet.

Arthur Goldstuck of Worldwide Worx, who co-authored the report, highlighted some of the key findings. Facebook’s growth isn’t dramatic when compared to last year’s figure, but what is striking is the number of mobile users: out of 14m people, 12m are using Facebook from their phones. And of those, 8.8m are on Android handsets while 1m are using iOS.

Goldstuck also points out that demographically, teenagers are slightly less likely to use Facebook than in previous years but are still significantly engaged with the platform – a warning to brands who think the young have abandoned Facebook in favour of Snapchat.

While marketeers continue to focus on Facebook though, Goldstuck’s co-author Mike Wronski of Digital Flow, points out that Facebook engagement means less and less. Most of the popular content is “boosted” – with paid for reach – that has less and less actual effect on users.

Looking at other social media networks, the fastest growing platform is Instagram, which is dominated by celebrities like Minnie Dlamini, Boitumelo Thulo, Bonang Matheba, Cassper Nyovest. Nyovest was named Social Media Star of 2016 thanks to his success in using Twitter and Instagram to sell tickets for a concert at the Ticketpro Dome (image of the new campaign is below).

Goldstuck also said that while brands don’t use Linkedin much – only 29% think they use it effectively – young people are using it in South Africa. Usage is up from 4.6m to 5.5m, mostly as a result of entry level workers creating profiles.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKau741BfCQ/?taken-by=casspernyovest&hl=en

Perhaps the most impressive figures, however are for video channel YouTube. Surprisingly, the most popular type of video on YouTube is news and politics, which Goldstuck says is significant for the future of TV in the country. YouTube is a ‘gateway drug’ for video on demand, he says.

Top YouTubers in South Africa, however, are wildlife spotters on the Latest Sightings channel, who racked up a massive 336.7m global views over the year, followed by Die Antwoord.

For marketeers who want to know when the best time to exploit their Facebook and Twitter audiences is, there’s interesting news. Apparently it’s 9am on a Thursday morning. Don’t bother with the weekend – usage falls off dramatically as we’re not on WiFi at work and too busy going outside, apparently.

[Main image – Facebook infograph from Social Media Landscape report]

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