Tegan Zimmerman, Mount Saint Vincent University and Adebola Esther Osegboun, Federal University, Oye Ekiti It has been a little over a decade since 270 female students were kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Nigeria by the extremist armed group Boko Haram. While, many of the girls escaped, were rescued or were released in exchanges, many […]
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Fabrice Lollia, Université Gustave Eiffel Social networks have revolutionised the way we communicate, stay informed and share moments of our daily lives. We use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to keep in touch with our friends and family, share our experiences, keep informed, and express our opinions. But beyond these personal and often […]
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Maxwell Maseko, University of the Witwatersrand It’s a bumper year for elections on the continent: by the end of 2024, 20 countries ought to have gone to the polls to vote in national elections. A handful of others are also scheduled to conduct local-level elections. As is the case elsewhere in the world, digital technologies […]
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T.J. Thomson, RMIT University and Shehab Uddin, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute Smartphones are a staple of modern life and are changing how we see the world and show it to others. Almost 90% of Aussies own one, and we spend an average of 5.6 hours using them each day. Smartphones are also responsible for […]
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Carlos Diaz Ruiz, Hanken School of Economics Deceptive online content is big business. The digital advertising market is now worth €625 billion, and their business model is simple: more clicks, views or engagement means more money from advertisers. Incendiary, shocking content – whether it is true or not – is an easy way to get […]
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Sisanda Nkoala, University of South Africa; Blessing Makwambeni, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and Trust Matsilele, Cape Peninsula University of Technology The number of South African internet users has nearly doubled in the past decade. One 2023 study of 45 developed countries suggests that South Africans even lead the world when it comes to the […]
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As Zimbabwe holds its 2023 elections, young creatives are taking to social media like YouTube to discuss politics and to create comic spoofs and critiques that speak back to the country’s autocratic government. One notable social commentator is Taffy Theman (Tafadzwa Ngubozabo), who hosts a popular YouTube channel that uses comedy, music and a mock […]
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Wasim Ahmed, University of Stirling and Mariann Hardey, Durham University Mark Zuckerberg’s new social media platform, Threads, has been released in smartphone app stores (although not in the EU). Zuckerberg, who is chief executive of Threads’ parent company Meta, says that at least 30 million users signed up in the app’s first day. According to […]
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