Privilege propels TikTok to top of SA social media landscape

The more we whine about social media platforms not delivering on our needs and expectations, we are in reality revealing our privilege.

This is probably the most unexpected findings to emerge from the South African Social Media Landscape 2023 study, released on Friday by brand intelligence consultancy Ornico and market research house World Wide Worx.

The headline story is that “Big Five” social media platforms in South Africa have been shaken up, as TikTok leaps past Instagram into second place, and challenges the dominant social network, Facebook, in several segments.

However, when we drilled down into the data on user demographics, based on Ask Afrika’s Target Group Index (TGI), which surveyed 24,744 respondents and represented 28,1-million South Africans, we uncovered a new insight into the digital divide. 

We found that, across most platforms, there is a strong correlation between race, socio-economic level (SEL), and general usage, as well as highly active usage.

This observation serves as a reminder to South Africans on social media to acknowledge their privilege and serves as a key theme throughout the report’s analysis of individual platforms for example, TikTok’s one weakness is the extent to which its penetration is correlated with socio-economic level (SEL) – a measure of privilege that has replaced the old Lifestyle Mesure(LSM).

At the highest level, SEL 1, TikTok has massive penetration, at 57% of this population segment. It drops off steadily to 28% at SEL 8, and then almost vanishes, with the two lowest SELs seeing below 8% penetration.

This partly tells us that TikTok and privilege go hand in hand, across all population groups. The same applies to all social networks. Facebook stands out, however, in the extent to which access is relatively even from SEL 1 all the way down to SEL 8. However, it drops off dramatically in SEL 9 and 10.

That even penetration across all SELs is the factor that underpins Facebook’s continued dominance of social media in South Africa. It has a commanding 56.7% penetration of South African aged 15 and over, living in cities and towns. However, TikTok has seen explosive growth, and surpassed Instagram to claim second position at 30.6%. Notably, TikTok’s appeal extends beyond its under-15 target audience, making significant inroads into the 15+ market. The study delves into this phenomenon further, examining the platform’s impact on different age groups.

Instagram remains a popular choice among South African social media users, boasting 27.6% penetration, while Twitter retains a significant following despite its troubled takeover by Elon Musk, standing at 22.5%. LinkedIn is far behind, but its 14.7% penetration is healthy for a professional networking platform that does not hold youth appeal.

The youth audience is key to social media in South Africa. When a platform like TikTok, which has deep reach among those aged under 15, breaks through to this extent in the older youth market, as well as among young adults, we can see the landscape undergoing a significant shift.

The study highlights the correlation between social media platforms’ popularity and the proportion of highly active users. Facebook emerges as the leader, with nearly 8 out of 10 users being highly active. TikTok and Instagram exhibit similar levels of user engagement, while LinkedIn has a relatively small proportion of highly active users. This distinction implies that platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram are deeply integrated into users’ lifestyles, whereas LinkedIn is more closely associated with their “workstyles”.

An industry survey conducted as part of study, among more than 100 of the country’s biggest brands, revealed that Twitter experienced a significant decline in the percentage of major brands using it as a marketing platform, dropping from 69% to 63%, compared to a high of 88% in 2019.

Says Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico: “One of the big shifts measured in the survey was in the proportion of companies at the highest spend category and those at the lowest. Almost the exact percentage of decline in those spending more than R50,000 a month, a 9% drop from 22% down to 13%, was applied to the increase in the lowest category.

“The survey saw a 10%, rise from 54% to 64%, in the percentage of those spending less than R10,000 a month.  Interestingly, this coincided with a similar rise in the proportion of companies using social media as a means to lower the cost of communications, from 20% to 27%.”

On the question of whether social media brought brand returns, the positive response remains rock-steady at 65%, says Patricios.

“When asked to specify returns, one stood out above all others: Brand awareness. While it did lead the way last year, at 60%, it thoroughly dominated, with 91% citing this benefit.”

The industry survey offers valuable insights into the changing dynamics of social media in South Africa. As brands navigate the evolving digital landscape, understanding these trends is crucial for developing effective marketing strategies and maximising their online presence.

Among other, Patricios warns in the introduction to the South African Social Media Landscape 2023 report that artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to hand control of social media to bots.

“As we witness the increasing integration of AI-based technologies into every facet of our online existence, we are inadvertently surrendering the right to our internet freedom to unconscious algorithms,” he says. “Once a space where the human touch prevailed, social media now veers toward a future where we engage with bots, moderated by bots, and our very opinions are shaped by bots.”

* To download the full SA Social Media Landscape 2023 report, click here.