{{Nairobi is the 6th most active city on Twitter in Africa and the most active in East Africa, a new study shows.}}
The second How Africa Tweets study ranks Johannesburg as most active city in Africa, followed by Ekurhleni (South Africa) Cairo, Durban, and Alexandria.
Johannesburg leads with 344,215 geo-located tweets, 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 while Nairobi comes 6th with 123,078 geo-located tweets.
The study prepared by Portland Communications, a strategic communications firm in Nairobi, shows that 60 per cent of the audiences in Africa are in their twenties compared to developed countries where people in their thirties are more active.
Rwanda’s President and Safaricom’s Bob Collymore are some of the few senior Africans with a significant following on Twitter.
English, French and Arabic are the most common languages on Twitter in Africa, accounting for 75.5 per cent of the total tweets analysed. Zulu, Swahili, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Portuguese are the next most commonly tweeted languages in Africa.
The day of Nelson Mandela’s death – 5 December – saw the highest volume of geo-located tweets in Africa.
Football is the most-discussed topic on Twitter in Africa. 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).
Sophisticated landscape
“Our latest research reveals a significantly more sophisticated landscape than we saw just two years ago. This is opening up new opportunities and challenges for companies, campaigning organisations and governments across Africa.” said Allan Kamau, Head of Portland Communications Nairobi.
Tuesdays and Fridays are the most active tweeting days according to the study. Twitter activity rises steadily through the afternoon and evening, with peak volumes around 9pm.
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