The first twitter map of Africa revealed that thousands of tweets were generated in Ethiopia. A total of 6450 tweets were sent from Ethiopia over a three month period according to the map.
An analysis of more than 11.5 million tweets, originating from the continent and identified geographically, was conducted by Tweetminster, a media platform and the Kenyan office of Portland Communications.
The highest number, for the time period, a total of more than 5 million tweets was recorded from South Africa and Kenya with 2.48 million tweets came in second place.Nigeria (1.6 million) and Egypt (1.21 million) also recorded more than 1 million tweets with Morocco (750,000) coming in under the million mark.
The study discovered that Twitter was increasingly becoming a significant source of information in Africa. Twitter is used primarily for social purposes although significant numbers also use it to follow news and seek job opportunities.
The average age of an African tweeter was estimated to be between 20-29 years which is much younger than the international average of 39 years.
A majority of tweets in Africa, 57%, are sent from mobile devices such as iPhones and Blackberrys according to the research.
The findings are consistent with the African reality because more people have phones than computers on the continent said Toby Shapshak, South African Magazine Editor.
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
