The Starcom MediaVest digital team analysed the use of social media and its impact during #SONA2015 and the implications for future political events.
30 tweets per second had mobile screens scrolling madly during #SONA2015.
According to SMG Social: the real media topic is the social media engagement of South Africans. While people were following and discussing #SONA2015, social media platforms went crazy. SABC certainly had the advantage when it came to viewership because it acted as the official TV station for #SONA15.
The SMG Social team identified that there were over 394 000 SONA mentions during the period of Thursday, 12 to Monday, 16 February this year. 260 000 were just during the live telecast which equates to about 30 tweets a second. This shows a massive increase of 63% from #SONA2014’s social media engagement.
Although there has been significant growth in social media platforms, this year there was a definite upward trend as a result of more people tuning in to watch the expected and promised antics.
It is clear to see exactly at what point of the day #SONA2015 mentions took off on Twitter. At 18:00, members of parliament took to the red carpet and Democratic Alliance (DA) members were arrested. At 18:45, #BringBackTheSignal began with over 60 000 mentions between 19:00 and 20:00 and before the President was interrupted by #PayBackTheMoney and members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were forcibly removed. At 20:00 the DA left parliament and Twitter calms down to mentions falling in the 5000 mark.
Although not televised, the scuffle which took place while EFF members were being removed was captured mostly on cellphone cameras by delegates and journalists within parliament and within minutes had been shared on social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.
Several of the uploaded YouTube clips from the evening have received nearly 500 000 views, again demonstrating the power of social media.
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