Subscribe

Instagram is fastest growing network in SA

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 20 Sept 2016
South Africans mostly post to Instagram during work hours, where they have access to Wi-Fi.
South Africans mostly post to Instagram during work hours, where they have access to Wi-Fi.

There are now 3.5 million Instagram users in SA, up 31% from last year, making it the fastest growing social network in the country.

This is according to the latest stats from the South African Social Media Landscape survey, unveiled this morning by World Wide Worx and Ornico in Johannesburg.

Instagram

The survey revealed that there are 500 million active Instagram users in the world, with 80% of them outside the US.

World Wide Worx MD, Arthur Goldstuck says in 2013, Instagram users in SA jumped to

680 000 users after the platform became available to Android users. The next year it almost doubled to 1.1 million users, and last year the number increased by 133% to 2.68 million users.

Goldstuck says the top accounts on Instagram are dominated by celebrities and entertainers.

He says it is interesting to note that SA users start posting to the platform between 8am and 9am and then don't stop until 3pm. He says this indicates that people are using work resources and time to post data-heavy pictures.

The other visual social media platform, YouTube, has also increased users in SA this year, up 6% to 8.74 million users.

The top YouTubers in South Africa get an average of 37 000 views per video, and the top accounts are Latest Sightings and Die Antwoord.

Big blue platforms

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have also done well in SA this year.

Facebook has the most users in the country on its platform, with 14 million users is total, equating to one in four South Africans. Twelve million of these users access the site via mobile.

Goldstuck says two models of the Blackberry Curve are in the top ten of devices used to access Facebook, "It remains a significant device for South Africans, but it will drop in the coming years."

There are 8.8 million users accessing Facebook on Android.

Twitter is the slowest growing social network in SA, only increasing 4% from last year to 7.7 million users. However, Goldstuck says engagement on the platform is growing and South Africans are using it to have political discussions.

He says the researchers found the best time to tweet is a Thursday morning between 9am and 10am.

In contrast, LinkedIn has grown significantly this year in the country, up 19% to 5.5million users.

Goldstuck says the strongest growth in LinkedIn users is at entry level employee level, "which tells us younger people are using it and they see it as a key tool to improving their careers."

Share