A large segment of the South African voters that will take to the polls next Wednesday has had far more pre-election interaction and information than those that made their mark five years ago, largely thanks to mobile technology.
This is according to industry professionals, who say today's average mobile user has more immediacy when it comes to election news - and more interaction - at their fingertips than ever before. With online consumption patterns vastly different to those observed in 2009, analysts say platforms have morphed accordingly.
While local news Web sites introduced elections portals five years ago, many have shifted to incorporate multimedia, interactive content and mobile apps.
Fuseware MD Mike Wronski says SA's connected consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to access information, which explains the emergence of apps. "The ease of access to online information and its real-time on-demand nature make it leagues ahead of non-digital mediums for information consumption."
Mobility focus
News24 launched an elections app in February, aiming to provide live results on voting day, the latest news and an interactive map of previous election results. Software engineering company Sybu Data will also unveil an app to explore election results arranged by voting districts.
Meanwhile, Internet giant Google recently introduced its mobile-friendly elections hub, punting it as a "one-stop site" for information including party and candidate data, voting locations, search trends and YouTube videos.
State - a new global communications platform which links people through their opinions on certain topics - is making a push for SA and has launched its app in time for the elections. "We want to make the State Web platform and our latest mobile app for iPhone available to all South Africans so they can debate the issues and see how voter sentiment is shaping up."
App analytics firm Distimo places the News24 elections app as the sixth most popular choice on the Apple store, while it placed 98th on the Android store. However, the firm does not indicate how many times it was downloaded from both stores.
Social media savvy
Wronski says Fuseware has noted a marked increase in online conversations around the elections - with a surge expected in the coming week. "In the last 30 days alone, the African National Congress (ANC) has garnered 67 000 online mentions, the Democratic Alliance (DA) 43 000, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 22 000, and Agang just under 5 000 across all online media in SA."
Michael Gullan, MD and co-founder of brand communications agency Gullan&Gullan, says the major political players have all become increasingly savvy in both the digital and social spaces. "Even in the municipal elections in 2011, we saw the start of it with parties like the DA and the ANC hosting live Q&As and live updates on platforms like Twitter."
Interactivity, notes Gullan, is central to online election coverage. "This is illustrated by the popularity of content such as the News24 Know Your Party Quiz and polls. Even simple interactivity such as comment threads offer very important spaces for South Africans to have their say and debate the various issues."
Deser'e Orrill, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the Ole! Media Group, says while the emergence of apps has made inroads within certain sectors of the population, this is still restricted to between 12 million to 14 million smartphone users in SA.
That said, she says there has undeniably been a change in the way media is consumed in the country. "The growth in people consuming media online went from 13 million online consumers to 22 million (2012 to 2013), and the percentage consuming media via a mobile device went from 15% to 40% in the same period (stats via the DMMA/Effective Measure)."
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