Portland analysed geo-located tweets originating from Africa during the final three months of 2013. The second How Africa Tweets study dives deeper into Twitter use on the continent, looking at which cities are the most active, what languages are being used the most and what issues are driving the conversation online.
How Africa Tweets found that:
Johannesburg is the most active city in Africa, with 344,215 geo-located tweets during Q4 2013, followed by Ekurhuleni (264,172) and Cairo (227,509). Durban (163,019) and Alexandria (159,534) make up the remainder of the top five most active cities.
- Nairobi is the most active city in East Africa and the sixth most active on the continent, with 123,078 geo-located tweets in Q4 2013
- Accra is the most active city in West Africa and the eighth most active on the continent, with 78,575 geo-located tweets in Q4 2013
- English, French and Arabic are the most common languages on Twitter in Africa, accounting for 75.5% of the total tweets analysed. Zulu, Swahili, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Portuguese are the next most commonly tweeted languages in Africa
- Tuesdays and Fridays are the most active tweeting days on the continent. Twitter activity rises steadily through the afternoon and evening, with peak volumes around 10pm
- The day of Nelson Mandela’s death – 5 December – saw the highest volume of geo-located tweets in Africa during Q4 2013
- Brands in Africa are becoming increasingly prevalent on Twitter in Africa. Portland tracked major hashtag activity from top brands such as Samsung (#SamsungLove), Adidas (#Adidas) and Magnum ice cream (#MagnumAuction)
- Football is the most-discussed topic on Twitter in Africa. During Q4 2013, football was discussed more than any other topic, including the death of Nelson Mandela. The most mentioned football team was Johannesburg’s Orlando Pirates (#BlackisBack, #PrayForOrlandPirates, #OperationFillOrlandoStadium)
- Politically-related hashtags were more limited than other issues, with only four particularly active hashtags tracked during the time period. This included #KenyaAt50 – celebration of Kenya’s independence – and the competing #SickAt50
24 hours on Twitter
Our animated map illustrates geo-located tweets in a 24 hour period across the continent’s 20 largest cities.
The full infographic is available for download here.
We have a track record of delivering pan-African and regional programmes right across the continent for high-profile individuals, multi-national investors and campaigning organisations. To find out more, visit our Global Issues page.