A Facebook and Twitting African generation

Facebook and twitter are not strange terms to the ears of many urban African youth. It is a common phenomenon to find a young man or woman, in their 20s asking another whether they are on facebook or have a twitter account. Social networking using twitter and facebook is on a growing trend in Africa and the future even looks brighter for this means of communication. In the past, Africa’s history reveals that communication was made in various ways, among which using local instruments such as drums. The modern day Africa has since adopted other communication means like Telecommunications, Radio, TV, Print publications, the internet among others. 

According to a publication by Socialbankers.com on January 19^th 2011, the top ten African countries on facebook were;

1. Egypt with Total Facebook users: 4,882,560, Penetration of population: 6.07%, Penetration of online population: 28.62%
2. South Africa with Total Facebook users: 3,350,640, Penetration of population: 6.82%, Penetration of online population: 63.22%
3. Morocco with Total Facebook users: 2,642,920, Penetration of population: 8.36%, Penetration of online population: 25.31%
4. Nigeria with Total Facebook users: 2,508,720, Penetration of population: 1.65%, Penetration of online population: 5.70%
5. Tunisia with Total Facebook users: 1,970,200, Penetration of population: 18.61%, Penetration of online population: 54.73%

Going by the above figures, usage seems to be low but promising due to the continued growth of the internet in many parts of Africa. One good example is the SEACOM submarine fibre optic network system which seeks to connect South Africa to Eastern Africa. The project is under way and some of the countries like Rwanda have completed installation of the fibre optic cable. Two of the countries in the list of top ten African countries have had revolutions that led to change of governments in the first quarter of 2011. In both cases, there were an overwhelming number of twitter and facebook updates on what was happening. Secret videos were also posted on YouTube. Before the revolutions in those western and Northern African states, the power of social networking sites; facebook and twitter were underestimated. The fact that the majority of users have been found to be in their youth, one can only say it’s just the beginning. As the internet penetrates further into the population, social networking could be ‘the next big thing’ and a vital tool for mobilizing the masses.