Ghanaians’ taste for the use of social media is gradually increasing by the day with users spending a chunk of their productive hours scrolling social media sites each day. GWI
According to the Global Web Index’s (GWI) flagship report on the latest trends in social media, the average social media user in Ghana spent an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes last year scrolling through all their favorite social media sites each day. With this time spent on social media, the report ranked Ghana the third most addicted social media user on the African continent in 2021.
However, compared to 2020, there was a decline in the time spent by Ghanaians on social media by 2 minutes on average per day.
Since 2017, the use of social media in Ghana continues to rise except in 2019 when there was a slight decrease in the average time spent on social media. According to the GWI report, Ghanaians spent 2 hours and 59 minutes on social media in 2017 and this rose to 3 hours and 10 minutes in 2018.
In 2019, the average Ghanaian spent 3 hours, 07 minutes strolling their favorite social media sites. Time spent on social media rose significantly in 2020 as the average social media user in Ghana spent 3 hours, 22 minutes on their favorite social media site a day.
Social media trends in Africa
Undoubtedly, Africa’s largest economy and the most populous country, Nigeria, was ranked the most addicted social media user in Africa. On average, Nigerians spent a shocking 3 hours and 42 minutes on social networks every day in 2021. In second place, is South Africa, where users spent on average 3 hours and 37 minutes scrolling through their favorite social media sites last year.
Other notable countries with high social media user rates on the African continent are Kenya where users spent 3 hours and 08 minutes a day on social media. In Egypt, social media users spent 2 hours and 57 minutes on average each day scrolling through their favourite social media site. Another North African country with high social media usage last year was Morocco where users on average, spend 2 hours and 31 minutes a day on social media.
The report noted that WhatsApp is the most popular social network in Africa, while Facebook remains the world’s most popular social network despite reports of Facebook deleters growing in ranks.
Global social media trends
Globally, social media usage has plateaued, according to the Global Web Index’s flagship report on the latest trends in social media. On average, global internet users spent 2 hours and 26 minutes on social media platforms each day in 2021.
The report, which provides the most important insights on the world of social media, found that since Q2 2021, time spent on social media has increased in 32 of the 47 countries, with consumers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) upping their usage by around 20 minutes in the space of a few months.
According to the report, time spent on social media has been a bit of a rollercoaster over the last five years.
“Between 2014- 2018, the average time spent on networks was making steady strides forward, increasing by almost 40 minutes. The numbers then started to plateau in 2019, only to be interrupted by the pandemic; Q2 2020, when around half the world’s population was under some form of lockdown. Back then, the long-term impact of this uptick wasn’t clear; but it is now. Engagement has fluctuated a little, but ultimately levelled off. If we take MEA out of the equation, the global average is what it was three years ago”.
GWI
Expected decline in social media usage
The report concluded that as vaccines give more people the confidence to venture outdoors, competition for their spare time is bound to intensify. New Year’s resolutions offered clues into upcoming trends, and compared to 2020, last year’s participants were more likely to have settled on travelling more (+24%) and spending less time on social media (+9%).
“For now, social platforms are maintaining the hold they have on users’ time, but an attention recession could see action-based metrics gain even more relevance, and others like views to become less dependable; these could simply be a reflection of consumers spending less time scrolling, and not the true effectiveness of a brand’s campaign or social strategy”.
GWI
The report states that while some consumers are looking to spend less time on social media, there are things brands can do to add value and ensure their contents land with younger audiences.
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