Social media is here to stay – like it or not. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that social media is becoming an increasingly important aspect of many people’s lives, and is changing the way society connects and communicates.


In South Africa, a recent study by World Wide Worx (WWW) and Fuseware, claims to show that social media tools have gone mainstream in the country.

The report, entitled: “South African Social Media Landscape 2011”, is the result of a combination of Fuseware’s analysis of social network databases, information provided by social networks, and WWW’s consumer market research.

While local success story MXit, and international giant Facebook, continue to dominate in user numbers, the other social networking services are seeing considerable growth. According to the report, social media is now a “core pillar” of Internet activity in SA.

Twitter has shown the most dramatic increase in the past year, with 20-fold growth and a reported 1.1 million South African users.

Co-author of the report and MD of WWW, Arthur Goldstuck, says the media obsession with the micro-blogging site is a major driver of Twitter’s growth.

“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,” says Goldstuck.

Just watching

Reflecting a global trend, only 40% of Twitter users in SA actually tweet, and the report notes that many users just follow others and use it as a breaking news service.

With regard to the impact of social media, Goldstuck says there are several levels of change in communications in South Africa.

“Twitter has reinvented not only the art of breaking news for the media, but also the ability of individuals to pass on breaking news and discuss it.

“Further, it has given individuals direct access to so-called celebrities, but also exposed the flaws in the personalities of people who are famous for being famous. This tends to come as a shock to ordinary individuals who had admired their role models, only to find them to be mere mortals, with an emphasis on ‘mere’.”

The WWW/Fuseware study shows professional networking site LinkedIn has also reached 1.1 million users, although it came off a far higher base than Twitter. LinkedIn notched up 83% growth in South African users from 2010 to 2011. Of these, 112 000 or 10% are business owners.

BBM growth

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has emerged as the fastest growing social network for the second half of 2011 in SA.

“The rate of BBM growth is a factor of Blackberry growth – for much of the last quarter, BlackBerry has been taking 70% of the smartphone market in SA, and that has been driven to a large extent by the demand for BBM, along with the low cost of unlimited Internet access on the device,” explains Goldstuck.

Goldstuck says this has meant a growth rate for BBM of about 500% through 2011 and into early 2012.

“After that, the momentum will slow down, and it will become a question of how BlackBerry addresses the demand for a more app-friendly phone.”

Holding on

Home-grown stalwart MXit is still the most popular social network in SA, with approximately 10 million active users. Contrary to popular belief, the platform is not just a teen-dominated network – the report states 76% of the male user base and 73% of female users are aged 18 or over. MXit is also still growing according to the report, but Goldstuck says churn is very high.

“It is entering a phase where churn will probably exceed new sign-ons. A lot depends on how the new management refreshes both the app and the brand.”

An interesting finding in the report is that of the approximate 4.2 million Facebook users in SA, only 3.2 million had visited the site in the year-to-date.

Co-author of the report and MD of information analysts at Fuseware, Michal Wronski, says: “This is partly a factor of many users moving on once the novelty of the site had worn off, as well as a result of the fickle nature of the youth market.

“Once BBM picked up significant traction in private schools, for example, many teenagers who had previously flocked to Facebook opted for BBM’s greater immediacy.”

The report also notes that future intention of usage of social networks is strongly related to age – with younger users showing greater intention of usage. Goldstuck says, however, that statistics show that as social networks become more mainstream, their penetration within all age ranges deepens, flattening the age curve.

In the workplace

Cisco also recently published its second annual Connected World Technology Report, which took a global perspective of the impact of mobility and social media in the workplace.

Reshaad Sha, director of strategy for Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group, says the report looked at the trends and behaviours surrounding information access and expectations.

The study consisted of two surveys, with one focused on college students and the other including young professionals up to the age of 30.

Each survey included 100 respondents from each of the 14 different countries included in the study, with a total survey pool of 2 800 respondents. The countries in the study were the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, Japan, and Australia.

“We are undoubtedly seeing a change in the social fabric of society,” says Sha. “Social media is growing in importance – to the extent that for many people it is more important than dating and even friends.”

According to the study, four out of five respondents said they see the Internet as being vitally important and on the same level as shelter, food and water. While it was noted that the study shows a bias towards individuals from developed countries, Sha said a total of 800 respondents were from emerging markets.

Adding spice

Speaking of the local context, Goldstuck says: “It is probably premature to say social media has changed the fabric of society, especially in societies where less than 20% of the population has Internet access – as is the case throughout the developing world.

“In such environments, it adds spice to society, and gives those who are plugged in the sense that they are more connected than ever before. However, their social lives won’t come to a halt if they were suddenly cut off from social media for a few weeks, and that would be the real test.”

According to Goldstuck, for heavy users of social media, there is no doubt it has changed their lives in terms of reconnecting with friends and family and staying in touch with their circles “to an extent never before possible”.

“In more developed countries, where more than half the population is on social media networks, one can certainly see that it is changing the dynamics of society, influencing the way people meet and marry, find jobs, and vote. If it is affecting the outcome of elections, there is no question it is changing the very foundations of society,” says Goldstuck.

Social vs salary

The results of the Cisco study showed the younger generations’ desire to use social media and mobile devices is even strong enough to influence their job choices. Young professionals want an open environment that accommodates social media, device freedom and remote working, and they will take a lower salary in order to have these benefits.

More than two of five college students (40%) and young employees (45%) said they would accept a lower-paying job that had more flexibility with regard to device choice, social media access, and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

Cisco says: “This demand illustrates the importance of the relationship between the Internet, workforce culture, and companies’ competitive advantages, and surprisingly indicates that traditional methods of attracting and retaining young employees may be less important as the ‘Millennial’ generation comprises more of the workforce.”

The pervasiveness of social media does, however, have its pitfalls. Sha notes that, according to the study, 84% of college students said they are interrupted at least once every hour by social media. These interruptions could include instant messages, social media updates or phone calls.

However, more than half of college students (56%) said that if a company banned social media access in the workplace, they would not accept a job offer or would find a way around corporate policy.

Be prepared

Cisco VP for enterprise segment marketing Marie Hattar says: “Tomorrow’s workplace will be very different from today, and CIOs need to start preparing now for the future pressures that will be placed on their IT departments.”

Where until now, the focus has been on the consumerisation of IT, Hattar says the future is about workplace consumerisation.

“Members of the next generation of workers will combine work and personal life much more than previous generations ever have.”

Goldstuck says: “As more companies use social networks to assist in the hiring and selection process, it will become an art to prepare your social media presence for scrutiny by employers. At the same time, job-seekers whose skills or abilities are in demand will subject companies to the same scrutiny.

“Employers who are aggressively opposed to the use of social media will find they have greater difficulty attracting a new generation of talent.”

According to Goldstuck, social media is preparing the next generation for a more collaborative way of working, giving them both the skills and the experience to share and source knowledge.

“This process is already under way, and visionary companies are already leveraging it.”

 Looking ahead

As for the future of social media in SA, Goldstuck says: “Thanks to mobile, it will become a standard way for most South Africans to interact with each other, with brands, with politicians, and with themselves – it is a wonderful form of navel-gazing that convinces users they are being productive with their time.”

“There will always be new social networks, and new features, options and possibilities in existing networks,” says Goldstuck, adding that there will also be new ways of using social networks to enhance one’s life.

“In the same way that we now use social networks to connect at a distance with people we know, we will also be using the mobile apps on our phones to vet or research people instantly, as we meet them.

“The combination of social networks and mobile devices will mean our worlds will be a lot less private than they ever were before. We should expect many privacy controversies and scandals to emerge from this process,” says Goldstuck.

For South Africa and Africa as a whole, Goldstuck says social networking will grow in the population to the extent that it will “utterly change” the way networks function on the continent.

“We will see it used to fill gaps in current social, educational and financial lives. It could revolutionise payment systems, for example, but it could also make people more vulnerable to scams and fraud.
“It can enhance teaching across Africa, but it can also be a major distraction from learning. Social networks will underline both the triumphs and failures of society, acting as a megaphone to amplify the impact of the local, the trivial and the personal onto a global sounding board.”