Nigerians are big on change through social media but not so much Facebook

Social media has become a big deal in Africa and the more Africans get online, the louder their collective online voice gets. It seems Africa’s most populous country is getting louder and louder. With an estimated population of just over 170-million, and an internet audience of more than 55-million, its 33% internet penetration means a lot of Nigerians are online. Social media is has become less incongruous in the country.

A recent report by africapractice, a PR firm based in South Africa with operations on the continent, examines Nigeria’s social media landscape. According to the company, the report is the first of many that will take a hard look at Nigeria’s social media space. The study states that 72% of Nigeria’s connected visited social media sites last year, 55% on email and 46% for pure entertainment.

This report is the first of future analysis, which aims to highlight the personalities and the platforms that are the most impactful through the quality of content and material – not just the most popular but the most reliable, forward thinking, social media bodies that are influencing the landscape within Nigeria. Here we classify the who, the what, and the know in the spaces where we see the most rapid developments. Where results, conversations and engagement are explicit, direct and revolutionary

As it turns out, Nigerians favour mobile chatting to friending. Though Facebook has gained some users in the past year, it seems the world’s most popular social network is not so popular in Nigeria. According to the report, the Facebook is looking active users to mobile chat apps such as Eskimi, 2GO and WhatsApp.

The decline of active Facebook users in Nigeria has seen mobile chat apps move up in numbers with WhatsApp at the lowest.

Moving conversations beyond Twitter

Nigerians are using their social media clout to get the government’s attention in the hope to hold it accountable as well as impact the country.

As in other African countries, Nigerians have relied heavily on mobile devices to galvanize the community. During the 2011 election, the use of mobile technology was key in attempst to promote a free and fair elections. During the elections, the country saw the emergence of Revoda: a mobile application that enabled voters to connect to the entire electoral process.

“Spearheaded by the Enough is Enough Nigeria Coalition, Revoda enabled parallel vote count, access to polling unit results, transmission of collected results, and additional information about the entire electoral process throughout the country during the elections,” says the report.

These moves to use technology to impact change were also seen in 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria movement, a protest that moved from social media into the real world.

“Occupy Nigeria marks the significance of social media in Nigerian politics. The removal of fuel subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 led to mass protests, which were organized via Twitter. Occupy Nigeria translated cyber conversation to actual mobilization beyond those platforms,” says the report.

The way Africapratcice sees it, Nigerians would rather build a presence online occur through conversations and current events than create custom hashtags that have low impact or little penetration.

“In 2013 #AnambraDecides had 30% reach on Twitter, with 44% strength. The sentiment ration was 1:1 and it retained 21% passion throughout the duration of the year, signifying the likelihood of its mention on Twitter.”

According to the report, social media in Nigeria serves four core purposes: accountability, civic engagement, branding and source.

Citizens use it as a means to hold governments and institutions accountable, a platform to verify their civic duties. It is a place for brand building and brand awareness and it is the source of news, entertainment and information.

You can check out the full report here.