An analysis of Social Media use
in The SADC region - 2014 - 2020

The aggregate score in mobile connectivity index78 in the region seems to be improving. In the 2019
Index, the region saw a modest 2 percentage-point improvement in average score in 2018 over the
previous year, to reach 37.8 but still some way off global average across all enablers, as shown in
figure 9 below:
Figure 9: Mobile connectivity index of the SADC Region

Source: GSMA79

The infrastructure and availability of content/services enablers recorded the highest increase as a
result of significant investments in 3G and 4G network expansions and the increasing availability
of locally relevant online content. 80

Internet usage – social media time distribution
According to Research ICT Africa, 81 the share of Internet users who spend most of their
time on social media is found to be higher in relatively low-income countries than in

78 The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index is a global mobile connectivity and digital economy guide covering 150 countries and 7 sub-regions : http://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/
79 https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/topic/connected-society-topic/mobile-connectivity-index-2018-analysing-the-state-of-mobile-internet-connectivity-across-the-world/
80 https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/topic/connected-society-topic/mobile-connectivity-index-2018-analysing-the-state-of-mobile-internet-connectivity-across-the-world/
81 https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019_After-Access_Africa-Comparative-report.pdf

20

https://zimbabwe.misa.org

Select target paragraph3