See also: 
The State of Social Media in South Africa 2012
The State of Social Media in South Africa 2014
The State of Social Media in South Africa 2015

This month featured the Social Media Briefing Conference 2013 in Johannesburg South Africa, where keynote speakers shared their research and insights on the state of Social Media in South Africa. The information shared in this post is a collection of their research and findings, as well as key statistics collected from other prominent sources online (referenced at the end of this article):

Social Media Users in South Africa 2013 image

The Top Social Media Sites in South Africa (by number of users) in 2013 include:

  1. Facebook: 9,6 million users- ranked 3rd (+83%)
  2. Mxit: 7,4 million users – mobi site not ranked (+/- *)
  3. Twitter: 5,5 million users – ranked 13th (+125%)
  4. YouTube: 4,7 million users – ranked 4th (-28%)
  5. LinkedIn: 2,7 million users – ranked 5th (+40%)
  6. Pinterest: 930 thousand users – ranked 14th (+136%)
  7. Google Plus: 460 thousand users – Google.co.za is ranked 1st, Google+ is not featured. (0%)

Rankings: Most Popular sites in South Africa according to Alexa.
+/-%: Growth or Decline in users since 2012. (+/- *) Unverified at time of publishing

Search Trends on Google South Africa show the following interest trends since October 2011 to September 2013 for each platform for Gauteng (GAU), Western Cape (WC) and Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN):

  1. Facebook: Searches declining sligthly with most interest coming from KZN then WC.
  2. Mxit: Slight decline with most interest from WC and then KZN.
  3. Twitter: No significant change, however biggest increase in interest coming from KZN then WC.
  4. YouTube: Interest increasing with most searches coming from KZN then WC.
  5. LinkedIn: Strong increase in interest across all regions, with most significant increase in GAU.
  6. Pinterest: Pinterest interest increasing rapidly across all regions
  7. Google Plus: Interest dropped off in all regions KZN has not shown interest.

Trends: Shows trends for users searching for the Social Media Platform’s brand name on Google, according to Google Trends.

Watch the video presentation in-stead:

This PDF & Video Presentation includes:

Most popular social media sites in South Africa
Social Media Search Trends in South Africa
Facebook Statistics & Trends in SA
Mxit Statistics & Trends in SA
YouTube Statistics & Trends in SA
LinkedIn Statistics & Trends in SA
Google+ Statistics & Trends in SA
Pinterest Statistics & Trends in SA

Key Social Media Statistics included for these channels include:

Number of users, subscribers or members of each social media platform
Trends: Increase or Decline in interest and user activity since 2012
How South Africans use these Social Media Platforms

Source of Information: Portland Communications; Tweetminster;  Socialbakers; Alexa.com; World Wide Worx; Fuseware; Stream Social Report; Google Trends; Social Media Briefing 2013.

Click here to see The State of Social Media in South Africa 2014