The State of the Nation address will be remembered for many things, a Rand that ended 32 cents weaker against the Dollar. Very little detail, mere brush strokes as President Jacob Zuma pushed everything aside, to be picked up by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan at the upcoming Budget. And let’s not forget the Terror Lekota walkout, questioning the power of the ConCourt, and the pandemonium created by the EFF as they left to shouts of #Zuptamustfall, their 2016 hashtag of choice. But how did social media react to the events of last night? Below is some analysis done by youKnow Digital which helps brands and agencies, across Africa, realise true social return on investment and become social media superheroes. It was another night of records, which saw a 35 percent increase in social media participation on last year. But the company that stole the show, again, was Nando’s with some excellent artwork, which is becoming a norm. Fascinating insight. – Stuart Lowman
Research compiled by youKnow
Over the past few years, the annual State of the Nation address has been a veritable feast for social media. SONA2016 was no different – exceeding last year’s social media participation by 35% with a whopping 345 964 on-topic conversations on the day. Compared to general conversation growth of 4.9% on social media in South Africa, this is a considerable achievement.
As would be expected, the bulk of this conversation took place during the speech. Thereafter it dropped off sharply – in part because of the time and in part due to lack of tangible discussion points for the social media community.
Leading up to SONA (6-7pm) the majority of the conversation focused on MPs who were singing while entering parliament. Between 7-8pm the single biggest conversation topic was “point of order” which gained widespread interest (and even enjoyment) as the EFF and COPE disrupted the sitting. By 8pm, the conversation focus changed to look at “Project Hydrate” (which the president commended) and by 10pm the conversation all but died out.
Drought: let me commend Operation Hydrate and others for provision of water relief, says Pres. Where were you? Shouts opposition #SONA2016
— Kevin Ritchie (@RitchKev) February 11, 2016
The biggest topic of interest from the speech for the social media community was the drought on 25% (dominated by comments on government’s inaction) followed by racism and the one capital city discussion, both on 23%. Interestingly, while education was a big topic coming in to SONA2016, it was only the 4th largest point of online discussing during the address itself.
According to Kelvin Jonck, MD of youKnow,“What’s most interesting is that while Twitter growth in South Africa has been fairly flat, we’re still seeing significant year-on-year growth in SONA conversation – a possible indication of increasing political awareness and involvement.”
While conversation was driven by all corners of South Africa, a very large percentage (66%) of the conversation originated from Gauteng with 19.45% originating from the Western Cape. Next highest was KwaZulu-Natal at 6.9% of the total conversation. Most notable differences between the two main areas (Western Cape and Gauteng) is that Gauteng had relatively higher interest in “Zupta” and Julius Malema, while the Western Cape had a disproportionate interest in Mosiuoa Lakota.
Overall, the biggest winners though were Nando’s, who, after 46 short minutes of posting on Twitter became a trending topic in their own right:
We see you Baleka. #SONA2016 pic.twitter.com/JnqtSongpD
— NandosSA (@NandosSA) February 11, 2016
Here we go. #SONA2016 pic.twitter.com/qfMOGpkgZq
— NandosSA (@NandosSA) February 11, 2016
