If you’re a part of the constantly evolving world of social media, you’re also probably aware of the Social Media Landscape report that was released today by World Wide Worx and Fuseware.

While the full report is available HERE at a cost of R16 000 (excl VAT), some stats released by managing director of World Wide Worx Arthur Goldstuck have made it through to those who weren’t able to get a ticket to the briefing today.

The study is based on access to consumer data from 10 social networks, and a corporate survey conducted among more than a 100 of SA’s leading brands.

The social networks are separated into two groups: the ‘big five’ (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube) and ‘rising five’ (WeChat, WhatsApp, BBM, Periscope and Snapchat).

Here the basic stats on the “big five”, thanks to MyBroadband:

Facebook:

• The number of Facebook users in South Africa grew from 13 million in 2015 to 14 million in 2016. That 25% of SA’s population active on the social platform.
• Facebook users in South Africa who access the service from mobile devices increased from 10 million in 2015 to 12 million in 2016.
• On average, the number of likes per post grew from 80 to 108.
• The average number of comments per post increased from 10 to 12, and, on average, posts are shared more – growing from 6 to 11 shares per post.
• Brands also started posting more frequently, with the average number of posts per day increasing from 5.3 to 5.7.
• The average response time of South African brands has gone down from 8.5 hours to 7 hours.

Twitter

• Twitter’s growth has slowed dramatically, growing from 7.4 million to 7.7 million South African users between 2015 and 2016.
• Engagement on Twitter also increased, with the average number of retweets per post increasing from 4 to 6, and the average number of favourites growing from 1.3 to 4.
• Twitter response time has decreased from 8.5 hours to 4.7 hours.
• Busiest time to tweet for brands: Thursday 9am
• Brands average around 72 000 followers

YouTube

• The number of active users on YouTube in South Africa grew from 8.28 million in 2015 to 8.74 million in 2016.
• With data costs getting cheaper, trend showing videos are getting LONGER!
• Average video length: 132 seconds
• Average subscribers: 37 000
• Average views per top 100 YouTube users in SA’s video: 18.1 million
• Average amount of videos per top 100 YouTube users in SA: 301

Instagram

• Instagram grew from 2.68 million users to 3.5 million between 2015 and 2016 (31% growth)
• This makes Instagram the fastest-growing social network in South Africa, while Twitter’s growth is the slowest.
• #1 brand on Instagram is SuperSport based on top Instagram users
• Most active hours on Instagram in terms of uploads are during working hours (assumed insight: to save on mobile data)

LinkedIn:

• (2015) 20% growth in SA to 4.7 million active users
• (2016) 19% growth in SA to 5.5 million active users
• 450 million active users globally
  

Didn’t realise social media was that big a deal, huh? Welcome to the other side.

[source:mybroadband]