{UAH} 2 IT industrys' views on Africa - for our common edification

SOCIAL NETWORKS

How Political Bodies Use Social Media in Africa

·       0

·       Posted by William Map

·       on July 04 2014

Across Africa, rapid economic growth has fostered the emergence of a tech-savvy, consumerist middle class, whilst access to the internet and mobile telephones has boomed across the continent. Accordingly, African political dynamics are shifting as social media is employed by political bodies as a means through which support can be mobilised and political messages communicated.

Often termed Facebook or Twitter Revolutions, the popular risings that so altered North African politics during the Arab Spring provide a useful starting point for this change. For many, without the capacity of online communication platforms to bypass state control of the media, organise protests and instantly communicate images of security service brutality to a wider audience, the overthrow of the autocratic regimes of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya would have been impossible. 

In Egypt, calls for protest on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube developed somewhat spontaneously. Activist movements rallied support around politically charged images of repression and calls for political reform. "We are all Khaled Said", a Facebook page named after a young Egyptian who had allegedly been murdered by Mubarak's security forces during June 2010, provides a case in point. Initially created to provide information about the young man's death, the page soon developed into a forum for political discussion and played a pivotal role in encouraging Egyptians to take to Tahrir Square to protest in January 2011.

It is also worth noting that the central role played by social media during the Arab Spring is a consequence of higher connectivity rates in North Africa. In other areas, where fewer people can access social media, its power to mobilise is diminished. In Egypt, for example, and largely owing to the Mubarak government's attempt to keep the country's tech-savvy middle classes onside, internet access had been expanded to some 21% of the country's 80m population by February 2010,according to Internet World Stats, and over 4.5m were Facebook users, with 70% able to access a mobile phone.

However, a combination of high connectivity rates and widespread desire for political change alone are insufficient to guarantee the successful use of social media by activist groups if the state equips itself against such mobilisation. Consider Sudan, where persistent online protests against Omar Al-Bashir and his ruling National Congress Party by groups such as Girifna and Sudan Change Now have generated some protest, but failed to achieve the success of similar calls in nearby Tunisia and Egypt, despite the country's 21% connectivity rate, equivalent to that of Egypt.

In Sudan, a more intelligent government response has curtailed social media's efficacy. Sudanese human rights activist Dalia Haj-Omar has observed that following initial online activism, the government created a "Cyber Jihadist Unit", reportedly able to hack emails and social media accounts, as well as monitor online activity, cracking down on those it considers to be the most dangerous activists. The approach appears to have had the desired effect. Many commentators observe that the country's online protest movement seems to be domiciled outside of Sudan, and a large amount of discussion on online forums takes place in English, rather than Arabic, Sudan's native tongue.

Conscious of the prominent role played by social media during the Arab Spring, political bodies in Africa have incorporated social media strategies into their election campaigning, and the majority of political parties across the continent now adopt a "use it or lose it" philosophy regarding the utility of social media during election campaigns.

These efforts have met with various degrees of success. Often this depends on whether or not political bodies adopt a horizontal approach to social media use, engaging with the electorate through interaction on Twitter and Facebook, as increasingly politicians are expected to do, or a "top-down" approach, where policies and political messages are simply published on social media.

The example of Kenya's 2013 elections demonstrates that adoption of the former approach is often the key to successful use of social media during an election campaign. The victors, a coalition of Uhuru Kenyatta, and William Ruto, also called the Jubilee Alliance, incorporated social media use into the very heart of their election campaign, successfully portraying themselves as "digital candidates", versus "analogue candidate" Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement.

The success of this ploy was greatly aided by the fact that Odinga was almost twenty years older than his rivals. Yet Jubilee's campaign was far slicker than that of ODM, and the coalition was able to attract the support of the country's youth through interaction on social media forums. This was in stark contrast to ODM's use of social media which, demonstrating less of an affinity for its use, adopted a more prescriptive, top-down approach. The coalition, through effective use of social media, was able to encourage the country's youth, which had largely been politically disengaged, to vote for it, swinging the balance in its favour.

Examples of good and bad use of social media by political bodies across the continent are too numerous to mention here. Suffice to say that for every Egypt-like success story, where spontaneous online demands for reform have met with political change, there is a Sudan, where the repressive machinations of the state are able to crackdown on online dissent. Likewise, for every Jubilee Alliance, there is an ODM, and many political bodies across the continent have yet to successfully incorporate an effective social media strategy into their election campaigns.

The various offshoots of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, in opposition to Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF, demonstrate this, using online communication platforms in much the same way as ODM did in Kenya, disseminating information and political messages from the top down, and failing to take the opportunity to energise the country's large youth population through online interaction.

However, as access to the internet and mobile devices continues to grow on the continent, political bodies will undoubtedly continue to adapt to its increased importance, making better use of online platforms to communicate and mobilise support.

 

William Map is a freelance journalist with a focus on Africa

 

Why is dotAfrica Important for the African Continent?

·       2

·       Posted by Sirius Centauri

·       on May 08 2014

Ask any African…one of most vexing mistakes someone from the West can ever make is to assume that Africa is a country, yet it is one that is still made all too often. On the digital frontier though, it is this very perception that may prove beneficial to the way Africans communicate and trade with each other and on a global platform.

In 2011, the Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN) - a body in charge of the management of internet domain names - voted to accept new generic top-level domains or gTLDs as of the following year. After a long debacle concerning legal documentation, foreign exchange compliance and name change issues that sprung up during the application process, former UniForum SA, now the ZA Central Registry (ZACR) finally signed the Registry Agreement with ICANN on March 26 to secure the dotAfrica domain name. The launch of the dotAfrica domain, which is set to begin its 'sunrise' phase at the beginning of May, has been described as being of historic significance to the African continent.

The three most important benefits of the dotAfrica brand are the optimization of African information, economic relations and ICT development. The dotAfrica gTLD will help governments, the private sector, organizations and individuals associate their services, products and information with the continent. The African Union Commission, which initiated the process of dotAfrica as far back 2009 under its mandate to unite the continent both socially and politically, received the support of 39 of the AU's 54 member states as well as the private sector. In its ICANN application, it defined the purpose of the dotAfrica domain as: "To establish a world class domain name registry operation for the dotAfrica Top Level Domain (TLD) by engaging and utilizing African technology, know-how and funding; for the benefit and pride of Africans; in partnership with African governments and other ICT stakeholder groups…in addition, to adhere to the spirit of inclusivity…"

With Africa and African resources being of great economic interest to investors in developed as well as developing countries like China; the implementation of the dotAfrica domain brand could bring about a more focused, more powerful way for African businesses to trade both amongst each other and internationally. ZACR CEO, Lucky Masilela, says of the branding and economic implications; "The value proposition for dotAfrica is that it allows us a new, collective identity. This translates to a new brand and creates a wide variety of names we can use in the digital space. dotAfrica will send you to a specific geographic space and you can zone in to the business, so it offers great significance for brand awareness." Among other domain names that will help geographic optimization are those named after South Africa's biggest cities such as .capetown, .joburg and .durban.

The ZACR's plans, however, extend beyond offering the continent its own digital identity. Masilela says in addition to being presented at an affordable price (about $18), the proceeds from registered domain names will go towards a foundation set-up to advance the local ICT industry.

"We will be establishing a Country Code Top-Level Domains (CcLDs) foundation which will offer training to ensure that there's better utilization of the digital space. The services of the CcLD are going to be empowered to run the service inhouse, instead of outsourcing the service internationally."

The ability to grow the African economy by making payments in local currencies has also been highlighted as one of the important benefits of the dotAfrica domain. Following the Registry Agreement, AUC Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy in charge of Information Society, Dr. Elham Ibrahim said; "The establishment of DotAfrica means that African business and individuals will soon be able to pay for their domain names in their local currencies and this will save Africa valuable foreign exchange which currently goes to foreign-owned registries. Africa will now contribute more to the digital economy".

The initial phase of registration that begins on May 1, will include receiving and processing applications for reserved names by various structures of government, trademarks and official organizations. Masilela emphasizes the importance of safeguarding historically relevant names under the dotAfrica domain, saying names like Mandela and others of relevance to Africa would be reserved during the 'sunrise' period which is set to run for four months.

September will see the launch of the 'land rush' phase which entails the general availability of the dotAfrica domain to the business sector and the public. Masilela admits that the magnitude of the project means it will not be without its challenges but he seems confident that their accredited registrars will provide sufficient support to make dotAfrica a great success.

 

Sirius Centauri is founder & MD of Penoptic Press - a South African web development, digital communications & content company