Politics rules in the South Africa twitter universe‚ and Julius Malema is its prince – a dramatic turnaround from a firebrand who once threatened to shut down the social media platform.
As for Zuma‚ eNitiate found the South African President’s last tweet was posted more than a year ago‚ “clearly indicating that this media channel is not a priority for him and his Communications team”.
This is also supported by the fact that the President has posted a mere 100 tweets on his official Twitter handle in four years since his first tweet on the 10th of May 2011.
eNitiate said 77 of the 100 posted tweets were plain‚ 13 had links‚ 6 were RT’s and 3 had pictures. “The large number of plain tweets‚ as a percentage of total‚ can be read as an indication that the President was only keen on broadcasting on this medium‚ not engaging.”
Despite President Zuma’s Twitter inactivity‚ he has received the highest engagement – made up of Replies and RT’s – by the Twitter massive by far.
Julius Malema and Minister Fikile Mbalula are second and third in the engagement stakes respectively.
According to the Kred social influence tool‚ Helen Zille is the most influential South African politician. “We are not surprised‚ as Madam Premier is the most responsive (based on her Replies as indicated above) of top 11. Julius Malema and Minister Mbalula are close second and third behind her‚ and this is also not surprising‚” eNitiate said.
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS
The top 11 South African politicians have high Twitter followers mainly due to any combination of the following three factors:
– The political office they hold‚ e.g. President of the country or leader a prominent political party; and/or
– The level and type of Twitter activity – Premier Zille and Minister Mbalula; and/or
– Political/personal/social profile – Mamphela Ramphele and Lindiwe Mazibuko.
“We found one exception to the rule – Solly Msimanga. While this politician – DA’s Mayoral candidate for Tshwane – has a strong political profile within his party‚ his name is not popular on Twitter (second lowest influence score)‚ nor is he very active on this social network (lowest tweeting frequency). We are not certain why he has such a large Twitter following‚ hence this makes him the exception.”
DO THEY WRITE THEIR OWN TWEETS?
There are varying levels of management of the Twitter accounts.
– Helen Zille‚ Lindiwe Mazibuko‚ Fikile Mbalula‚ Mmusi Maimane and Jackson Mthembu appear to be running their own Twitter accounts‚ or are in direct control of teams that run these on their behalf.
– Twitter accounts of the EFF trio appear to be integrated and centrally managed by a dedicated team‚ with some level of personal participation by the owners.
– The President’s account has been run by his Communications team from the beginning‚ and he has hardly tweeted in his personal capacity.
– It is not clear how Mamphela Ramphele and Solly Msimanga run their Twitter accounts.
POPULARITY OF POLITICS ON TWITTER
The most recent annual report by Portland Communications‚ the 3rd since 2013‚ shows that Africa uses Twitter much more for engagement in political topics than the US and the UK.
“…Almost 1 in 10 of the most popular African hashtags in 2015 related to political issues and politicians‚ compared to 2% of the hashtags in the US and UK.”– Portland Communications‚ 2016
Tweet: 10% of popular African hashtags in 2015 related to political issues‚ compared to 2% in US and UK via @PortlandComms
Top 11 SA politicians on Twitter are....
As for Zuma‚ eNitiate found the South African President’s last tweet was posted more than a year ago‚ “clearly indicating that this media channel is not a priority for him and his Communications team”.
This is also supported by the fact that the President has posted a mere 100 tweets on his official Twitter handle in four years since his first tweet on the 10th of May 2011.
eNitiate said 77 of the 100 posted tweets were plain‚ 13 had links‚ 6 were RT’s and 3 had pictures. “The large number of plain tweets‚ as a percentage of total‚ can be read as an indication that the President was only keen on broadcasting on this medium‚ not engaging.”
Despite President Zuma’s Twitter inactivity‚ he has received the highest engagement – made up of Replies and RT’s – by the Twitter massive by far.
Julius Malema and Minister Fikile Mbalula are second and third in the engagement stakes respectively.
According to the Kred social influence tool‚ Helen Zille is the most influential South African politician. “We are not surprised‚ as Madam Premier is the most responsive (based on her Replies as indicated above) of top 11. Julius Malema and Minister Mbalula are close second and third behind her‚ and this is also not surprising‚” eNitiate said.
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS
The top 11 South African politicians have high Twitter followers mainly due to any combination of the following three factors:
– The political office they hold‚ e.g. President of the country or leader a prominent political party; and/or
– The level and type of Twitter activity – Premier Zille and Minister Mbalula; and/or
– Political/personal/social profile – Mamphela Ramphele and Lindiwe Mazibuko.
“We found one exception to the rule – Solly Msimanga. While this politician – DA’s Mayoral candidate for Tshwane – has a strong political profile within his party‚ his name is not popular on Twitter (second lowest influence score)‚ nor is he very active on this social network (lowest tweeting frequency). We are not certain why he has such a large Twitter following‚ hence this makes him the exception.”
DO THEY WRITE THEIR OWN TWEETS?
There are varying levels of management of the Twitter accounts.
– Helen Zille‚ Lindiwe Mazibuko‚ Fikile Mbalula‚ Mmusi Maimane and Jackson Mthembu appear to be running their own Twitter accounts‚ or are in direct control of teams that run these on their behalf.
– Twitter accounts of the EFF trio appear to be integrated and centrally managed by a dedicated team‚ with some level of personal participation by the owners.
– The President’s account has been run by his Communications team from the beginning‚ and he has hardly tweeted in his personal capacity.
– It is not clear how Mamphela Ramphele and Solly Msimanga run their Twitter accounts.
POPULARITY OF POLITICS ON TWITTER
The most recent annual report by Portland Communications‚ the 3rd since 2013‚ shows that Africa uses Twitter much more for engagement in political topics than the US and the UK.
“…Almost 1 in 10 of the most popular African hashtags in 2015 related to political issues and politicians‚ compared to 2% of the hashtags in the US and UK.”– Portland Communications‚ 2016
Tweet: 10% of popular African hashtags in 2015 related to political issues‚ compared to 2% in US and UK via @PortlandComms
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