Zexit flurry surpasses previous social media records
WITH a combined viewing of more than 675 billion‚ Jacob Zuma’s exit as president was the biggest story to hit South African social media. It even dwarfed online activity on Oscar Pistorius.
Zuma and the Blade Runner both broke the internet on Valentine’s Day‚ five years apart.
Internationally, 40% of the world’s reporting focused on Zuma’s exit‚ making it bigger than #WinterOlympics and #Trump combined.
According to media monitoring firm ROi Africa‚ 80% of social media conversation in a 24-hour-period before and after he resigned focused on Zuma.
Statistics show that 70% of posts related to Zuma’s exit, while 11% were about Gupta arrests.
“South Africans did not take to the streets like our neighbours [in Zimbabwe] but instead took to their devices‚ as timelines were flooded with celebration.
“The story drowned out Valentine’s Day and many wished South Africa a happy Valentine’s Day even though we are single‚” ROi Africa managing director Tonya Khoury said.
Holding the top spot for close to three years‚ the #ZumaMustFall hashtag finally fell off social media on Wednesday night and was quickly replaced with #ZumaHasFallen‚ #ZumaResigns and #ZumaRecalled.
“What I find interesting is the lack of physical celebration on the streets – no South African flags‚ no hooting or shouting‚ no dancing on the streets.
“Perhaps we are all just relieved and exhausted from a week of late-night anxiety‚” Khoury said. – TimesLIVE