Social Media Trends

The power of social media was first noticeable as a social push back tool during the Arab spring Uprisings against Hosni Mubarak’s 30 year old reign, as it was used to express solidarity for public demonstration in Cairo and Alexandria. Thereafter we have seen that social media has become an alternative tool in various social movements in various countries on the African continent, for example in South Africa twitter and Facebook played a huge role during the fees must fall campaigns student movement and even recently in countries such as Kenya and The Gambia social media has become central in information dissemination in elections campaign. Today to help us on this topic we are joined by: • Yavi Mudarai, social media analyst/trends expert • Dr Musawenknosi Ndlovu, senior lecturer at Media Studies of the University of Cape Town