Does Africa use Social Networking Sites? Only Egypt, Senegal and South Africa appear on LeMonde map.

BY: Tobias Eigen DATE: 7 March, 2008 - 15:04

Only South Africa, Egypt and Senegal appear in a map on Reseaux sociaux: des audiences differentes selon les continents (Social Networks: different audiences by continent). I can't tell where the data comes from, but it is interesting to see the various sites being used around the world. Egypt and South Africa appear to have gone the way of Facebook which I also use, while Senegal approves the same social network as the French. It's called Skyblog (google searches send me to Skyrock.com).

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11 Comments

social networking

Submitted by Dipesh Pabari on 8 March, 2008 - 03:24.

Interesting map. Would be great to get hold of data from around the continent. I wonder if you have data on the most popular use of the internet in Africa. Dipesh Pabari

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Dipesh Pabari

Thanks Dipesh!

Submitted by Kabissa Community on 9 March, 2008 - 06:04.

I appreciate the comment. I just looked at the map again and see that it's from last summer - so I gather the preferences in various countries has changed again since then. I recall that last fall facebook.com picked up in the United States and think it might have surpassed myspace.com now - though perhaps in the young crowd myspace.com is still very relevant. Another thing that I would be curious to hear from an expert on is whether any statistics like this from Africa (besides countries like South Africa and Egypt) are actually reliable. Typically they depend on internet traffic statistics, which inaccurately show African visitors because of the ways they are connected via VSAT etc. Obviously this map is useless for Africa because it shows no usage at all except for Egypt, Senegal and South Africa - I was being provocative in my post title. Africans *are* using social networking sites. Our task at Kabissa is to encourage Africans working in civil society to use them more and to use them in support of the missions of their organizations. Cheers, Tobias

social networking in Africa

Submitted by Sokari Ekine on 10 March, 2008 - 16:07.

I think Africans are using Social Networks but largely in the Diaspora but on country, regional and continental issues. Sites such as Nigeria Village Square is very popular with a lot of content. Also African Path and African Loft. It would be interesting to know the breakdown of contributors between those in Africa and those in the Diaspora. With NVS many contributors are in Nigeria. At African Path we have a very active NING space with members from across the continent and the Diaspora. Ning is so simple to create and to use and because it is a template you can be part of many groups with the same password etc and the layout is the same. Why create a stand alone African facebook equivalent when you can have a Ning network in minutes. Having said that I have loads of friends in Africa on my FB profile! Sokari Ekine Community Coordinator - Kabissa "I think therefore I ask questions" Personal Blog: www.blacklooks.org

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www.blacklooks.org

African Social Site

Submitted by Jimmy Nygozia on 27 March, 2008 - 19:34.

There are lots of African Social Community Portals, but the one that caught my eyes is www.PlentyAfricans.com... It is fairly new, so dun expect to see lots of activity going on there... However, it looks like the owners are working on more features and¬†advertising at the same time, which can be a daunting task... Another site that is becoming popular is africanpath village. check that one out too...

Thanks, 1African! You are

Submitted by Kabissa Community on 27 March, 2008 - 22:32.

Thanks, 1African! You are right that there are plenty of African social networking sites.

But I sometimes think there are too many that are trying to do the same thing, spreading us out and creating more "silos" or islands of people instead of bringing us together as the technology gives us the opportunity to do.¬†

I am also particularly interested in the sites that go beyond dating or social networking for personal social purposes to promote social change, and encourage and support people involved in civil society organizations.¬† I am hoping Kabissa will contribute to that, and join other great African social networking sites like AfricanPath, Muti and Afrigator.¬†

Wouldn't it be cool if, through the power of social networking, African civil society could reach a tipping point: "the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable".¬†

www.tansali.com - An African Social Network

Submitted by Kojak Kojak on 27 August, 2009 - 05:02.

Africans all over the world both in Africa and in Diaspora are also now using social networks such as Face book, MySpace, Twitter and tansali (www.tansali.com -dedicated African Social Network) etc to share all manner of information to include Video and Photographic content, to keep in touch, to be kept up to date on politics, entertainment news and gossip

Recently a campaign to provide constant electricity supply in Nigeria (which seems to have eluded Nigeria since its independence) called Light up Nigeria was started on twitter and lunched on tansali which is a clear example of social networking sites serving the purpose of uniting a community or an ethnic group etc irrespective of geographic physical location in pursuing an objective

As the cost of bandwidth becomes cheaper and internet access more readily available across Africa as a whole, Social Networks especially ones such as tansali focused on providing specific content and services for specific groups will become even more popular and in demand.

Social Networks in Africa: Iborian.com could be the tipping poin

Submitted by Humphrey Kebaya Mwamba (not verified) on 17 October, 2008 - 11:42.

Hi Dipesh, don't forget iborian.com. this social network is one of a kind. it could be the tipping point.

How is iborian.com the tipping point?

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 28 August, 2009 - 20:55.

Hi Humphrey -

Thanks for posting your comment. Can you tell us more about why you think iborian.com is a great social networking site that can be the "tipping point"?

Thanks,

Tobias

New Nigerian/Pan African website

Submitted by African Social Network (not verified) on 2 December, 2009 - 02:31.

Hello, I'm posting this message to let you know that there is a brand new African social network out there (many thousands users already). For now it is mostly Nigerian but it aims to be pan-african. www.asanja.com ia an African social network created by Africans for Africans. I invite to check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for sharing - this

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 2 December, 2009 - 05:12.

Thanks for sharing - this looks like an interesting addition to the constellation of social networks rising out of Africa, though it's not possible to see what it's for without logging in. if you'd like to write a review of asanja.com on Kabissa you are welcome to do so.

I would be interested in finding out what the new state is of social networking in Africa since this post was written. In my view, circumstances have changed - especially with the advent of twitter and facebook, which are now being used very actively in Africa.

Cheers,

Tobias

Uganda Unleashes Premier Social Network

Submitted by Veepiz Admin (not verified) on 15 February, 2010 - 01:35.

Hi everyone,

I not only have released a social network website but coded it entirely by myself...., I believe in cutting down on the bloat other social networking websites like facebook cause. I have been going through a couple of african websites(keywords "africa social networking" on google ) and have noticed many are pre-made CMS, made by Americans etc, defeating the purpose of a truly african site. Others dnt offer enuff security...eg exposing member videos etc in effort to get less bounce rate.

This was the reason i created http://www.veepiz.com to overcome this.....its just 2mnths old but is getting lots of hits eg weve reached over 640,000hits in just 1.5mnths..and over 1k African members......

Does Africa use Social Networking Sites? Only Egypt, Senegal and South Africa appear on LeMonde map.

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