Western Cape Premier Alan Winde is a part of the creme of the social media crop when it comes to provincial political users on Twitter after he was ranked among the top 10 most-followed of these users in South Africa.
This news comes from the research company Decode Communications 2021 report that gathered the information to see who rules the social media roost in some aspects.
Although Facebook is more popular than Twitter in South Africa, The ‘Twitterverse’ is more key in communicating key government information.
As Decode Communications expresses:
“Twitter’s influence has been elevated by its ability to provide a platform for real-time outrage, consumer activism, social mobilization by brands and governments.”
Premiere Winde is an example of a whole new association with the term ‘influencer’ and has a following of roughly 47 700 users on the platform.
The Twitter legend keenly associates social media with democracy, and this is right on the money.
Digitalisation as a whole has paved an entirely new path for democratic actions, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
This is because of its ties to engagement, two-way feedback (people can respond to what is tweeted for example, and this often opens entirely new Twitter threads between different users) and of course the wider reach that marks social media’s advantage point.
There’s an accountability that can come from direct engagement, something that traditional communication channels made difficult.
The power of the tweet is no small feat. After all, hashtags can start movements, and thoughts turned into tweets have even manifested into political agendas – like the closing of streets in Cape Town for open-air dining experiences, which was actually a Twitter users’ idea to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Also read:
CBD streets set to close this summer to create for space for diners and restaurants
Picture: Cape {town} Etc Gallery.