Saifaddin Galal
Research Expert covering the economy and society on Egypt, South Africa, and Ethiopia
Get in touch with us nowMeta's apps and LinkedIn users
Meta Platforms Inc.'s umbrella covers, most famously, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. As of 2022, there were 30.7 million South Africans on Facebook, with the majority of the users aged 25-34 years. Instagram was significantly less popular. In 2022, it had around 24 million users less than Facebook. Individuals aged 18-24 years were the main users of the social media platform. Users on LinkedIn, the business and employment social network, also continued an increasing trend and amounted to 9.9 million in 2022. As for the messaging apps Messenger and WhatsApp, their user base in 2022 totaled 25.7 million and 9.9 million, respectively.YouTube leads in advertising reach
YouTube had the highest potential advertising reach in South Africa. As of February 2022, marketing ads on the platform could reach almost 42 percent of the country’s population. Facebook followed, with 40.1 percent of the population as a possible advertising audience. As for TikTok, one of the most growing social networks in recent years, advertisers were able to reach 10.7 percent of the population.Africa's best internet
Social media usage in South Africa has been boosted by rising internet connectivity. As of 2021, South Africa was the leading country in internet quality, inclusivity, and mean download speed in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2021, the country scored 100 points in the African e-Connectivity index, which ranks African countries based on the quality of their internet connectivity. Moreover, South Africa remained on top of other African countries in the internet inclusivity index. This index evaluates the internet based on four categories, internet affordability, availability, the population's willingness to access the internet, and the online content relevance. In 2022, South African internet users amounted to 38.8 million, projected to grow to over 41.9 million by 2025.
