Social media is changing the political landscape in Africa, with more politicians going on a charm offensive on the platform to mobilise and grow their constituents.
Research shows that social media has levelled the playing field, giving experienced politicians and novices alike a megaphone to woo the electorate with campaign pledges, while helping others to consolidate their bases.
Data compiled by Africa No Filter (ANF) shows that the top 10 most influential serving politicians have a combined following of just over 24 million on Twitter, which is also the preferred platform for political mobilisation.
As of May 2021, Egyptian President Abdelfattah Elsisi had five million followers on Twitter, Nigeria’s Muhammad Buhari had four million, Kenya deputy president William Ruto 3.8 million, Rwandese President Paul Kagame 2.3 million, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni 2.1 million and Ghana’s Nana Akofu-Addo had 1.9 million.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa came in seventh with 1.8 million Twitter followers, his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall had 1.6 million, and Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed Ali had 670, 000, with Tanzania’s new leader clocking in tenth with 630, 000.
Africa No Filter determined influence based on the number of followers and position held by the politician.
“Tweets from January 1, 2020, to May 7, 2021, by each of the 10 politicians were collected to support the analysis.
We look at how often each politician tweets (average tweets per day), top 10 phrases, how often each tweeted about these five thematic areas; Covid, Technology, Women, Youth, and Business,” ANF said in a statement.
By January this year, countries in Northern and Southern Africa had the largest share of social media users in Africa, according to market and consumer data firm Statista.
In Northern Africa, 45 per cent of the population used social media, while in Southern Africa this figure stood at 41 per cent.
For Central Africa, however, only eight percent of the population used social media, the lowest rate across the continent as well the lowest regional share worldwide.
In East Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have the highest numbers of social media users, with 11 million, 5.4 million and 3.4 million active social media users respectively.
Social media growth has seen politicians in Africa deploy aggressive digital public relations machinery across various social media platforms to either gain clout or engage supporters.
That is a dramatic shift from the brick-and-mortar campaigns mobilising supporters through public rallies that had for decades dominated politics on the continent.
It is noteworthy that social media’s potent power has also put it in the crosshairs, with some leaders framing it as a threat to their rule.
Those leaders are in the tiny minority, however, on the vast continent of 54 countries.
Editing by Nest, bird's virtual newsroom.
This work was made possible through the support of #AfricaNoFilter, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
