why the future of african journalism lies in mobile social networks

Jude MathurineCoordinator New Media Lab

Rhodes Universityj.mathurine@ru.ac.za

Why the future of African journalism Why the future of African journalism lies in mobile social networkslies in mobile social networks

Presented @ Media140, SydneyPresented @ Media140, SydneyFuture of Journalism in Social Media ageFuture of Journalism in Social Media age

Are African produsers ready for social media?

• Internet is still elite medium• This affects what is represented, who is represented

and how they are represented• Africa constitutes about 4-5% of world’s Internet users • 10% of South Africans have Internet access• 5% in Nigeria• 5% in Namibia• 8% in Kenya • 2,4% in Uganda

Not really!• But constrained by income, education, literacy, access

to bandwidth, electricity and geography and bad regulation among others.

• This skews WHO is able to use the Internet in general and social media in Africa in particular

Example: South African web

• 13% of South Africans 16yrs and older in major metropolis have accessed the Net in the past 4 weeks (+- 1.3 Million people)

• 50/50 male/female split • 2/3rds of users are White • Predominantly still English speaking • Ave. household income has come down a bit (+- R13K /

month) High LSM • 2/5ths have a tertiary degree

The reality is

• 2005 average household income is R6 215 p/m (Stats SA)

• This does not account for racial differences in income which has SA with the 2nd worse Gini coefficient in the world

• Blacks constitute 80% of the total population• Whites constitute about 9-11%• English speaking population as first and additional

language totals only 13 million out of population of 44 million

So what?

• Online social media biased towards wealthy, educated, urban elites (generally English speaking); people in communications disciplines et c.

• Conversation in African social space is not representative of majority aspirations and replicates inequalities in social power

• But it’s a great captive market – high LSMs, early adopters

So what?

• If local media in Africa want to grow social networks as new public sphericules and as markets for monetisation, they have to help foster national ICT capacity; monitor ICT policy and market players

• Groundwork in creation of social media already done by NGOs, commercial organisations, international social media e.g Ushahidi, Haiya, Zoopy

• Means PARTNERSHIPS• Traditional media proprietary and BAD at partnerships

Are journalists ready for social media?

• Not really• Little new media education• Shortages of computers• Shortage of cell phones• Shortcomings in the basic distribution of ICT,

Are journalists ready for social media?

• Expensive broadband: In Africa, the cost of basic broadband per month was $366 in 2006. In Europe the average cost was estimated at $40

• Malawi: one newsroom allows internet access for 30 minutes a day (2008)

• Many newsrooms don’t have basic Content Management Systems

• Some major titles in Southern Africa still don’t have web presence – not even a free blog

• No ICT or social media policy in newsrooms

Are journalists ready for social media?

• Only few well-heeled news operations allow journalists’ access to Facebook

• Fewer allow access to Youtube; • Africa’s leading PBS, the SABC doesn’t even allow

comments on news stories• Twitter?• Result – arid ground for open and conversational

journalisms

Does The Digital Divide mean Africa will be left behind in real-time and social media revolution?

Not really!!

MADAGASCARYahooGoogle.mgGoogle.frGoogleFacebookMoov.mgSobikaWindows LiveFreeMSN

KENYAYahooGoogle.keGoogleFacebookWindows LiveMSNYoutubeBloggerWikipediaTagged

ZAGoogle.co.zaFacebookGoogleYahooYoutubeWikipediaNews24BloggerGumtreeMSN

NIGERIAYahooFacebookGoogle.comGoogle.com.ngWindows LiveYoutubeMSNWikipediaBloggerVmn.net

Alexa ranking of top ten websites circa May 2009

Two African countries are Opera’s Top 10 international

users

Mobile Use/Consumption

Mobile Use/Consumption

Mobile Use/Consumption

Mobile Use/Consumption

The revolution will be mobilised

The African participatory web will be mobile

• Personal customisable information and communication platform

• Leapfrogs infrastructure and distribution limitations of fixed line Internet

• 2002 to 2008: global fixed line grew by 27 million. • 2002 to 2008: global mobile subscriptions grew

by 3.1 billion

Growth trends

• Africa 2007: 28,5m landlines • Africa 2007: 198m mobile phones• Even lowest functionality mobiles can be used for SMS

and creating SMS social networks• China: 30% of citizens access the Internet on their

mobile phone. • Jamaica: Mobile web surpassed fixed line Internet

Social media roles

• Time space distantiation, mobilisation, resource coordination, education, health

• Communicating with Africa’s diaspora• Providing real time market information etc.• Example: Niger saw a 6.4% drop in grain price due to SMS

sharing of market info• Political accountability e.g Ghana, Zimbabwe• Real-time monitoring and conflict reporting and

prevention in Kenya, South Africa, Palestine, DRC (Ushahidi)

Youth

• Youth are the future of African media as constitute the largest population demographic

• Youth are also most vulnerable and least considered in editorial strategies and agenda setting

• Youth are future of African democracies• Social media provide youth’s ‘gateway’

experience for further interaction with web

Mxit – 15m users

The Grid –location based social network

The Grid – GPS based social network can be used for locative reporting

Kabissa – networks African civil society groups using ICTs

Gatorpeeps –Twitter knock-off (integrates with Twitter account if desired)

Zoopy – online video community

Haiya – Kenya

But what about?

• High handset costs?• Unreliable electricity supplies?• And low literacy levels?• Whatever works

No electricity, no problem

Yes, it is a solar powered donkey cart

No electricity, no problem?

Informal rechargers. Solar jackets for Boda Boda riders

What about handsets?• Google Android Open Source mobile operating

system frees OS from hardware• Could result in cheap local cellphones• Venezuela produces Vergatario• Vergatario includes

telephony, MP3, 3MP camera and MP4 playback

• Price - $15

Bandwidth costs?

• Four new subterranean sea cables to increase bandwidth capacity and (hopefully) decrease costs:

• Seacom• EASSY• West African Cable System• Google’s O3B Project

SMS Africa’s killer near real-time app

• Not all phones are smart phones but technology is recycled and handed down every two years

• SMS is still the ‘killer app’ in Africa• Even lowest functionality mobiles can be used for

SMS• In developed world, SMS is used as one to one

tool – in developing world, it is a one to many tool using SMS networks

• That is why Google introduced SMS search in Uganda in July

SMS in newspapers

• SMS becomes talkback mechanism • User tips, viewpoints, responses, helps set editorial

agendas• Reader SMSs published in newspapers and online• Where media freedom may be limited SMS provides

outlet for free expression• As result, newspapers like The Namibian take flak

from politicians for publishing SMS comments

The Namibian

Izindaba Ziyafika (the news is coming)

• Knight funded project in School of Journalism• Linked to South Africa’s oldest independent

newspaper• Links a Content Management System (Nika - give)

for curating and managing newspaper workflow• Digital content available for other platforms like

SMS networks, wired and wireless web• Thatha (Take) creates a SMS gateway for receiving

user text messages

Grocott’s Citizen Media Newsroom

Citizen contributed media(Grocott’s fire photograph below)

Grocott’s Citizen SMS

MyMakana Citizen generated stories

Izindaba Ziyafika (the news is coming)

• Citizen Journalism newsroom established• Platoons trained – students, NGOs, municipal

councillors• Pro-am relations necessary to foster news awareness,

basic skills for using computers and mobiles • Nika CMS available as Open Source tool for distribution• Nika CMS shifts analogue newspapers into the digital

age• Changes news model from lecture to conversation

Concepts

•A future for African social web is possible

Conclusion

• Social media in Africa will be part of strong mixed media systems where mobile will be more important than the desktop access

• Growth and use of African social media must be driven by media leaders who should learn from counterparts in commercial, NGOs and ICT4D sector

• Social media can be important spaces for public discourse for democratisation and development especially among youth

Join the conversationJoin the conversation

Jude Mathurine@newmediajude

http://nml.ru.ac.za