Ghana placed 20th out of the top 20 African countries using social media website Twitter in the last three months of 2011, according to a study released January 26, 2012.
The survey titled “How Africa Tweets” – conducted by Portland Communications and Tweetminster, indicated that Ghana recorded 2,150 tweets during the last quarter of 2011.
South Africa was the continent’s most active country by volume of geo-located 5,030,226 tweets followed by Kenya with 2,476,800 and Nigeria 1,646,212.
Egypt and Morocco came fourth and fifth with 1,214,062 and 745,620 tweets respectively.
Other countries ahead of Ghana are Sudan, Niger, Ethiopia, Gabon, and DR Congo.
The study explains that the 20 countries picked represented 70% of Africa’s total population, 85% of the continent’s total gross domestic product (GDP) and 88% of Africa’s internet users.
In the first ever attempt to comprehensively map the use of Twitter in Africa, Portland and Tweetminster said they analysed over 11.5 million geo-located tweets originating on the continent during the last three months of 2011 adding “this pan-African analysis of Twitter traffic was complemented by a survey of 500 of Africa’s most active tweeters.”
Young people tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa as the study said 60% of the active tweeters were between 21-29 years old.
Key findings of the study revealed that “57% of tweets from Africa are sent from mobile devices; 81% the users polled say they mainly used it for communicating with friends – 68% saying they use Twitter to monitor news while 22% use it to search for employment opportunities.”
Beatrice Karanja, Associate Director and head of Portland Nairobi in a statement said “We saw the pivotal role of Twitter in the events in North Africa last year, but it is clear that Africa’s Twitter revolution is really just beginning.”
By Ekow Quandzie