A 2019 Analysis of South Africas Top Twitter Accounts

There once was a time when social media sites we're the darlings of the industry. These sites we're breaking down barriers and bringing more users online and allowing them to share their thoughts and opinions online and share information with friends.

These platforms have also given a platform for personalities and influencers to gain considerable reach and turned their social media accounts into lucrative businesses with brands willing to pay to tap into these audiences.

Social media making big bucks

Social media ad spending and influencer spending are now Billion dollar a year industries and with big money has come more scrutiny. Social media influencers, as well as the platforms themselves, have come under fire for the value they provide.

Rightly so, with many of these social media metrics either inflated or looked at out of context.

While having millions of followers on a social media platform may seem impressive, not everything that glitters is gold. In the interest of transparency, we decided to have a little fun and review the top 10 Twitter accounts in South Africa.

According to business insider and social bakers data the biggest local accounts are:

1. AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) - 6,775,482 followers
2. Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) - 3.7 million followers
3. Bonang Matheba (@bonang_m) - 3.4 million followers
4. Minnie Dlamini Jones (@MinnieDlamini) - 3.2 million followers
5. News24 (@News24) - 2.9 million followers
6. Zinhle Jiyane (@DJZinhle) - 2.5 million followers
7. Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) - 2.4 million followers
8. SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) - 2.4 million followers
9. Cassper Nyovest (@casspernyovest) - 2.2 million followers
10. Pearl Thusi (@PearlThusi) - 2 million followers

How the audit works

This audit analyses a sample of 2,000 random accounts from the most recent 100,000 accounts that follow the accounts in question. The tool then looks at 25+ factors correlated with spam/bot/low-quality accounts.

None of these, alone, indicate a spam/low-quality account; but, when many elements are present, there's a strong correlation with low quality.

For more on the methodology click here

Fake follower definition

After a little cleanup

I broke out the handy andy and started giving these Twitter accounts a good scrub, and this is what I found.

1. AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) - 41.8% (2,832,151) Fake Followers
2. Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) - 31.1% (1,221,903) Fake Followers
3. Bonang Matheba (@bonang_m) - 35.5% (1,272,981) Fake Followers
4. Minnie Dlamini Jones (@MinnieDlamini) - 34.5% (1,166,450) Fake Followers
5. News24 (@News24) - 32.5% (978,441) Fake Followers
6. Zinhle Jiyane (@DJZinhle) - 28.5% (747,184) Fake Followers
7. Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) - 31.0% (793,450) Fake Followers
8. SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) - 24.6% (612,946) Fake Followers
9. Cassper Nyovest (@casspernyovest) - 28.7% (675,521) Fake Followers
10. Pearl Thusi (@PearlThusi) - 30.3% (643,454) Fake Followers

Note: Data pulled on the 12 September 2019

On average, the top 10 South African Twitter accounts had 31.85% of the following considered fake, spam dead or bot accounts.

Removing the rose coloured glasses

When removing the fake followers from these accounts these account numbers are still pretty impressive. However it does give us something to think about, especially when it comes to paying for reach with though influencer marketing.

Brands looking to use social media influencers should be investing in tools or working with agencies that can do the proper due diligence on accounts. That way brands get a fair reflection of their reach and influence and pay influencers accordingly.

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If you require a more detailed guide on how to create your profile or your listing, then we highly recommend you check out the following articles. 

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Tags: Twitter