5 things you need to know about how South Africans use Twitter

Over the years, our understanding of the South African social media landscape as a whole has grown in leaps and bounds. Thing is, the focus can sometimes fall away from individual social platforms. That’s why it’s interesting to note the results of a recent study commissioned by Twitter and conducted by Nielsen, looking at the Twitter habits of South African users.

Here are five of the most interesting findings from the study.

1. Twitter isn’t just for young people

The study showed that 53% of users in South Africa fall in the age range of 25-44; nearly one third (29%) are aged 16-24 and the remaining 18% are over 55. Just over half of the Twitter users in South Africa are women (56%) with men making up the remaining 44%.

2. Mobile is our number one form of access

According to the study, 87% of people use a mobile phone to access the Internet and of those 3 in 5 use their mobile phone to access Twitter as a preference. Laptops are the second most popular device used to access Twitter at 68% and tablet users contribute 32% of the access.

3. We use Twitter on the go

Given that Twitter has been mobile-first from the start, it should hardly be surprising that Twitter is most often accessed ‘on the move’ and ‘in the moment’. For example, while travelling; at school and university; shopping and at live events. Mobile users also tend to be more likely to engage with Twitter at various times of the day but are particularly more active than the average Twitter user during the weekday evenings between 6-9pm and during weekend nights (midnight – 7am).

4. There are plenty of lurkers

A surprisingly large number of people active on Twitter are actually pretty quiet when it comes to what they do on the platform. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said that they read Tweets on their timeline daily, 40% said they Tweet themselves and 37% look at the trending topics.

South Africans make use of Twitter for different reasons but mainly to keep up to date, connect and discover. Sixty-four percent of users use Twitter for keeping up to date with breaking news and 39% use it for the latest sports information. In terms of connecting with people, 55% engage with people they know and 53% of users connect with people they don’t know — showing the power of Twitter to create connections. Twitter is also used as a way to discover and 58% of users conducted searches on the platform.

5. We love to laugh

According to the study in South Africa, women are more likely to Tweet about holidays and celebrities whereas men Tweet about news, sports and politics.

However 63% of people Tweet about jokes or things that make them laugh. A good example of this is the recent ‘Twitter Town Hall’ #AskMmusi where South Africans started to Tweet jokes at the expense of DA leader MMusi Maimane and ended up causing #AskMmusi to trend worldwide.

Another South African favorite is music content with 69% of South African Twitter users indicating it as their top interest. Film (67%), food (66%), TV shows (64%) and travel (60%) complete the top five South African interests on Twitter.