How SA mobile firms compare on social networks

·13 Apr 2012

When it comes to activity and general presence on major social media platforms, Vodacom leads SA mobile operators with its activity on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Vodacom has accumulated more than 42,000 followers on two Twitter accounts, and is also popular on Facebook with more than 152,000 likes.

A global take

When looking globally, with more than 627 million subscribers, China Mobile is the largest operator in the world, but it does not have a Twitter account.

Singtel, with more than 415 million subscribers, has a Twitter account with 1,515 followers but is yet to tweet.

The world’s third largest mobile player, Vodafone, has 39,814 followers on Twitter for its UK account, but then its associate operators in Italy and Egypt, for example, boast 143,513 and 103,433 respectively.

Airtel India has 11,528 Twitter followers at last count.

Orange has 8,203 followers, with Orange Business at 16,693.

China Mobile also has almost zero presence on Facebook, while Singtel has 108,887 likes. Airtel India has a little over one million likes on Facebook.

The local figures

BusinessTech has provided the following brief insights into the popularity of SA-based operators on key social networks:

Twitter

Company	Twitter handle	Tweets	Following	Followers
Vodacom	@vodacom	12,942	4,029	32,695
8ta	@8tada	4,788	1,359	12,887
Vodacom Support	@Vodacom111	44,541	7,005	10,260
MTN	@MTNSouthAfrica	7,133	1,948	10,243
Cell C	@CellC	7,498	728	7,244
Virgin Mobile	@virginmobilesa	1,503	456	1,057

Facebook

Company	Likes	Talking about this
Vodacom	152,407	12,312
Ayoba MTN	21,632	1,024
8ta	35,990	950
Cell C	40,298	354
Virgin Mobile	5,705	62

YouTube

Company	Channel name	Subscribers	Video views
Vodacom	VodacomTV	599	386,568
Virgin Mobile	Virgin Mobile Video (Global)	533	301,023
MTN	MTNLOADED	90	206,216
Cell C	Cell C Web	141	204,527
8ta	8tada channel	17	15,286