Like the rest of the online world, connected South Africans love social media. Here is a countdown of the three most popular social networks in South Africa.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the place to be to expand your professional network. The site has been connecting professionals since 2003. Members can join groups and associations, give recommendations to co-workers, display their resumes online, and apply to jobs based on their skills and experience. LinkedIn has seen steady growth in SA from 1.93 million users in 2012 to 2.7 million users in 2013. The site is an ideal place to seek business and employment opportunities and also has the standard social networking features such as status updates and event sharing.
2. Twitter
The number of Twitter users in South Africa more than doubled from 2.43 million in 2012 to 5.5 million in 2013 proving that tweeting is becoming a popular past time in our country. The micro-blogging site is ideal for keeping on track with current news and events. The quick, concise updates are one of the reasons which make it so appealing prompting internet users to sign up and add the site to their list of favourites.
1. Facebook
Facebook was launched worldwide in 2005. In the nine years in which Facebook has been available in South Africa, it has become a part of our online popular culture. Initially a favoured way of communication for students and teenagers, Facebook attracted more mature crowds in the last couple of years. Like it or not, at 9.4 million active South African users, memberships in the country are unlikely to grow as the market is saturated when compared to the number of internet users in South Africa.
The three sites above are also the three dominating social networking sites globally. Another aspect important to Africa is mobile social media and chat sites. In South Africa, more people own cellphones than personal computers and the most popular mobile platforms are Mxit, Whatsapp and BBM. Mxit is more popular than Facebook in South Africa with over 10 million users. Africa has the second largest growing mobile connectivity rate in the world. Therefore, most people access the internet in South Africa using their mobile phones, and the continual mobile updates by social media sites proves that this is the way forward.