Social media use amongst African children and youths
Like their contemporaries in the developed world, African
youths have fully embraced the catchy and trendy new
technology of social media. The 2011 UNICEF South
African Report on Children Social Media shows that of the
44 million users of MXit, 73 % of the number of users
comprise of people between the ages of 13–25; pointing to
the fact that majority of the users of South Africa’s most
popular social network are teenagers and young adults.
Statistics from Social Network Statistics on www.
socialbakers.com show that in all the 49 African countries
listed, 35–40 % percent of users of social networks
comprise of people not older than 25. The majority of
Africa’s social network population can thus be said to
comprise of adolescents.