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Nearly half of all countries that have restricted social media access since 2015 are African, making the continent the least tolerant of social media globally, a new tracker says.

Thirty African countries have restricted social media access in this period, out of a total of 66 globally, according to the cybersecurity company Surfshark, which describes Africa as a volatile environment for social media.

Surfshark analyzed social media restrictions in 180 countries from 2015. It collected data through open-source information from Freedom House, which is a nonprofit that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights; Netblocks, which is a watchdog organization that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance; and news reports.

The tracker considers social media as social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and communication apps including Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber.

Social media restriction is one tool that African governments use to stop dissent, with another being complete internet shutdowns. They typically do these during elections and protests.

The practice of limiting social media access is usually the product of anti-democraticgovernments seeking to suppress citizens freedom, the tracker says.

The results are far-reaching, as these actions conceal human rights violations, restrict access to information and negatively impact businesses.

According to the Surfshark tracker, at least 16 African countries have restricted social media access in the past due to elections and at least seven have done so due to protests and demonstrations.

This year alone, at least four African countriesUganda, Senegal, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congohave restricted social media access.

Globally, about one third of countries have restricted social media since 2015. The tracker notes that restriction of social media access is particularly prevalent in countries where state authorities own or control the internet infrastructure.

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African countries that have restricted social media access - Quartz Africa

It's no secret that I've been in love with social media since its very early days. As far back as 2012, I was called one of the most "social CEOs" in the country.

Back then, being a social CEO meant that you used Twitter and Facebook to communicate with Zillow's employees, users and advertisers. I loved how social media made me accessible to a variety of constituencies and it helped me scale.

To this day, I have three screens on my desk, and one is dedicated to social media.

I'm probably a Twitterphile for life, but I don't use social media the way I did in 2012. Nobody does. Facebook and Instagram boast over 3 billion monthly average users (MAUs) combined. Social media has essentially become the web.

But as these horizontal platforms continue to broaden and amass more users, the harder it becomes to discover or strengthen an authentic human-to-human connection. Oftentimes, the content shared is a curated highlight reel of picture-perfect moments, or your platforms become an algorithmic echo chamber with little room for varied discourse.

Thankfully, these broad-based platforms can be used to amplify concerning world issues and important activism. But when logging onto Instagram becomes more anxiety-inducing than enjoyable (especially for the always-connected Generation Z), users are apt to either log off or look elsewhere for a digital reprieve.

Enter the unbundling of social media. I don't believe Twitter and Instagram are in danger of imminently losing large portions of users, but evidence points to many people finding that human-to-human connection on social media platforms that are dedicated to shared interests.

Commonly, a user's connections on horizontal platforms span a wide range of interests. Work friends are combined with workout buddies, closest-knit friend groups with casual acquaintances, and so on. The fragmentation of these groups into category-specific, or vertical platforms feels natural and, in some cases, necessary.

Category-specific platforms are nothing new. LinkedIn, the largest platform for career and professional networking, officially launched in 2003. As of 2020 - it boasted 722 million MAUs. LinkedIn is the place to connect with people interested in your area of work and to manage your career.

These networks have become even more niche over the years.

Strava, founded in 2009, now has 70 million cycling and running enthusiasts on the platform and continues to grow each month. Fishbrain, founded in 2010, now connects over 5 million fishermen and women all over the world.

Doximity was also founded in 2010 for doctors and medical professionals and as of 2018, over 70% of all U.S doctors were on the platform. (Doximity also recently went public - currently trading at a market cap over $10b. So there's clearly incentive to tap into these unbundled audiences.)

The options are endless. Food, fashion, finance, hiking, biking, sports, business, gaming, books, movies, travel, gambling...there could be a vertical social media platform for everyone.

One major advantage of vertical platforms is the ability to build specific feature sets for the audience. Users of AllTrails, for example, can access a massive database of location-based maps and routes for hiking and outdoor activities.

These maps are crowdsourced, reviewed, and vetted by other enthusiasts - and are a feature you would never find on a broad platform like Instagram.

Vertical networks also provide a safe space for these shared interest communities, allowing users to post and engage without the self-imposed curated confines of broader platforms.

Posting every accomplished (or failed) run on my Facebook seems odd - but on Strava, it is natural.

Another advantage: users are likely to strengthen authentic connections within these shared interest platforms: finding support, encouragement, celebration, and solidarity.

At 75 & Sunny, we're currently incubating and investing in new platforms based on this vertical social thesis. Squad, for example, is a new way to connect with only your closest friends. Squad encourages authentic communication through a combination of audio technology and habit-creating notifications.

We're also excited about Path, which provides travel recommendations from your trusted friends - and also a new stealth company dedicated to helping you decide what to stream and watch next.

Last month, 75 & Sunny Labs officially launched Recon Food, a food-centric vertical platform. Recon Food is an online community that is entirely devoted to food and drink lovers. It was co-founded by my daughter Sophia and me as a result of all the time we spent together cooking and ordering new foods during quarantine.

Whether it's a homemade masterpiece (or mishap), or a chef-driven night out, Recon Food provides the digital platform to share these experiences, reconnect, and bond over our shared love of food. It also gives a welcome escape from the social media burnout experienced on horizontal platforms.

It is fascinating to follow this unbundling of social media. I look forward to welcoming the next crop of vertical platform innovators and social media disruptors.

Related Articles Around the Web

Originally posted here:
Column: Welcome to the Unbundling of Social Media - dot.LA

Team India, with 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze, topped the list of countries with the most engagement on Facebook during the Tokyo Olympics. India's first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India, Neeraj Chopra, was the second most mentioned athlete on the global social networking platform.

India outranked countries like the US, Brazil and Philippines in terms of highest engagement. The social media giant shared data from July 23-August 8, 2021 reflecting trends on Facebook and Instagram.

In terms of the 'Loudest countries engaging about the Olympics over the course of the Games' (ranked by the number of people talking about Olympics on Facebook), India stood at the numero uno position, followed by the US, Brazil, the Philippines and Mexico. The mentioned sports on Facebook over the course of the Games globally were Track and Field, followed by Gymnastics, Rowing, Boxing and Swimming.

The most mentioned athletes on Facebook were:

Simone Biles (American artistic gymnast)

Simone Biles of the United States reacts after performing on the balance beam. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Neeraj Chopra (Javelin thrower)

Neeraj Chopra of India competes during the men's javelin throw final at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 7, 2021. (Photo by Li Ming/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Hidilyn Diaz (Filipino weightlifter)

Gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines reacts. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Suni Lee (American artistic gymnast)

Sunisa Lee of the United States in action on the balance beam. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

Tom Daley (British diver)

Great Britain's Tom Daley during the Men's 10m Platform Final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the fifteenth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)

There was plenty to talk about over the course of the Games, but the top three days that had the most Olympics conversation globally on Facebook were August 7 (Neeraj Chopra won gold for India and Team USA basketball won gold), July 28 (the day after Simone Biles withdrew from the gymnastics team competition), and August 2 (Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won gold in badminton), it said.

Tai Tzu Ying and Sindhu

Tai Tzu Ying's post thanking everyone for their support while she competed in Tokyo was the Facebook post from an athlete that drove the most interactions over the course of the Games, with more than 1.3 million interactions.

On Instagram, athletes gained more than 75 million followers over the course of the Games, driving more than 410 million interactions and posting more than 300,000 stories.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal winners Wrestler Bajrang Punia, Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra, Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Hockey team captain Manpreet Singh pose for a group photograph in New Delhi. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Neeraj Chopra gained 2.8 million new followers, PV Sindhu 7,02,778 and MC Mary Kom 2,70,104 new followers.

Story continues

CASH AWARDS TO FREE TRAVEL: It's raining prizes for India's golden boy

WATCH: Fans erupt in celebration as Neeraj Chopra ends India's 100-year wait

Chopra was second globally after Rayssa Leal (Skateboarding, Brazil) who added 5.8 million new followers.

Silver medalist Rayssa Leal of Brazil celebrates. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Most mentioned athletes on Instagram over the course of the Games globally was Chopra, Biles, Leal, Greysia Polii (Badminton, Indonesia) and Apriyani Rahayu (Badminton, Indonesia).

Leal's video of her skateboarding journey was the most-liked video from an athlete over the course of the Games, with more than 11 million views.

In a separate statement, Facebook said it has partnered with UNICEF India to launch a one-year joint initiative on ending violence against children with a special focus on online safety. The partnership seeks to create a safe environment for children online and offline, and aims to improve children's resilience and capacity to access the digital world safely, the statement said.

The intent is to increase awareness on violence against children and its impact on children, families, and communities, as well as increase skills of communities and frontline workers to better prevent and respond to violence, it added.

This partnership will include a nationwide social media awareness campaign, and capacity building for 100,000 school children on online safety, digital literacy, and psychosocial support.

DON'T MISS:

Meet the stars of India's best-ever Olympic performance

Spectacular images from the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony

Left my mark, Papa, Neeraj Chopra's first words to father after winning gold

India celebrates Bajrang's bronze, but the champion wrestler is 'not happy'

Glorious moments from Neeraj Chopra's historic gold medal win

World No.200 Aditi Ashok misses Olympic medal by a whisker

WITH PTI INPUTS

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Guess which team had highest engagement on social media during the Olympics? - Yahoo India News

Relationships are everywhere, and not just in our personal love lives. They are present throughout the social media and business world as well.

An instance of social media marketing involves marketing products or services using social media sites and social networks. Businesses can use social media to reach out to their existing customers and reach new ones while promoting their businesss culture, mission, or tone.

An example of social media marketing is using social media platforms and websites to advertise a product or service. Researchers and practitioners are becoming increasingly interested in social media marketing, even though e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant terms in academia.

Social media marketing is a growing career opportunity. Because of these working social media marketing methods, the industry is continuously growing at a super fast pace.

Relationship marketing allows businesses to keep in touch with their customers. Customers use brands products and services in different ways, and brands observe additional unmet needs, enabling them to develop new features and offerings to fulfill those needs, strengthening relationships.

Lets look at some social media marketing strategies for promoting your relationship blog or relationship marketing.

It is possible to leverage relationship marketing through networking, both online and offline. You dont have to be a job seeker to apply! Business owners should think about their interests and join groups that share those interests.

As a result, you increase your brand awareness and take advantage of new opportunities. Its a win-win situation.

Besides, all you need is your brain to accomplish this goal. Consider what people like you might enjoy as well as what you enjoy.

The way every company says they do it is not enough. Make sure you show your customers you value them every time you interact with them.

You can reap great benefits from the spontaneous recognition of current customers. A person who feels valued tells others about it.

Keep your customers happy by surprising them (in a good way) and being there for them no matter what. Monitor your impact through social monitoring tools, such as Brandwatch. This is particularly true when tying physical campaigns to digital gains.

Customer service is key! Not all businesses follow through or apply what they say. You can benefit from listening to compliments and responding to them too. People love hearing that theyve been heard. You can even use complaints to your advantage.

Many people are simply looking for someone to share their concerns with. Listening to these concerns ensures your customers feel valued. Additionally, your business can benefit from learning what people love and dislike about you.

The PowerSurvey and PowerSurveyPlus tools in Dynamics CRM allow you to obtain information like this. You can also respond anonymously.

Your brand must be memorable, so you and your product are easy to find. What customers find memorable will attract them.

They will remember your brand if it resonates, and you can develop the relationship further.

When you have a strong brand identity on social media, the people who want to become your fans know who you are and why they should care.

Free is the best thing, isnt it? A little bit. It is your customers who are interested in your product. Questions are being asked. Answer their questions! Identify your customers topics and interests.

Give them free access to something creative that relates to those topics. You are just trying to get their contact information if you gate it. Leads can be generated in this way, but youll also want to give away something of value. Answer the peoples questions!

The importance of social media in relationship marketing cant be overstated. Social media reflects the closeness of marketer and consumer, as it acts as an indication of closeness.

Marketers and consumers should form friendly ties using this method. The brand message can thus be embraced and promoted among peers and friends.

We hope you enjoyed this article, and if you did, you will probably enjoy some of our other popular reference guides as well. We recommend you take a moment to look through our Fintech and Affiliate Marketing guide, and also how to run an audit on your IG account.

The more resources and tools you add into your day to day operations, the more likely you are to see improved results across the board.

Published August 9th, 2021

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5 Social Media Marketing Tips to Improve Branding Relations - Influencive

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Unified Communications and Collaboration Market by Technology, Infrastructure, Solution, and Applications, Sector (SMB, Enterprise, Government) and Industry Verticals 2021 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This unified communication and collaboration (UCC) market report evaluates the evolution of silo communications and collaboration solutions into uniform platforms.

The report also analyzes each aspect of UCC technologies such as voice-based technology, video-based technology, messaging technology, collaboration technology, and mobility technology.

The report addresses important enterprise ROI areas such as application productivity improvements within industry verticals. The report also provides global and regional forecasts for each market segment within the UCC ecosystem through 2026.

UCC combines enterprise communication and collaboration tools into a single interface and management system, removing the siloed and fragmented challenges of previous solutions that otherwise caused many inefficiencies. Communications and collaboration tools assembled together emphasize real-time communication and include voice telephony, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing, content sharing, and social networking. These are combined in a manner in which they are seamless to existing systems such as email, voicemail, calendars, and scheduling.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the adoption of remote work on a wide scale, causing virtually the entire employee base of many companies to embrace an employee work-at-home operational framework. We see this impacting the long-term remote work policies of many companies, precipitating further adoption of UCC platforms and services.

We expect that the ongoing impact of pandemic planning will shift businesses strategy to long-term policies that involve remote employee productivity as a core human capital management requirement. This shift will push the UCC market to grow dramatically over the next five to ten years.

Select Report Findings:

Key Topics Covered:

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Unified Communication and Collaboration

2.1.1 UCC Architecture

2.1.2 Ambient Communications

2.2 Workplace Communication

2.2.1 Work from Home and Productivity Suite

2.3 UCC Taxonomy

2.3.1 Voice Based Communications

2.3.2 Video Based Communications

2.3.3 Messaging Based Communications

2.3.4 Content Collaboration Technology Platforms

2.3.5 Team Collaboration and Communications

2.4 Enterprise Cost and Benefit Analysis

2.4.1 Determine Critical Elements

2.4.2 Analyse Challenges and Benefits

2.4.3 Develop TCO Models

2.4.4 Vendor Selection Considerations

2.5 Business Model Analysis

2.5.1 Unified Communication as a Service

2.5.2 Communication and Collaboration as a Service

2.5.3 Communication Platform as a Service

2.5.4 Managed UC Services

2.6 Regulatory Landscape

2.6.1 MiFID II

2.6.2 PECR

2.6.3 GDPR

2.6.4 Dodd-Frank

2.6.5 HIPAA

2.6.6 POPIA

2.6.7 ECT Act

2.6.8 NCA 2003

2.7 COVID 19 Pandemic Impacts

2.8 Market Drivers and Challenges

2.9 Value Chain Analysis

2.9.1 Platform and Infrastructure Providers

2.9.2 Software Solution Providers

2.9.3 Hardware Solution Providers

2.9.4 Service Providers

2.9.5 Technology Providers

3.0 Technology and Application Analysis

3.1 UCC Technology Evolution

3.2 UCC Technology Analysis

3.2.1 Voice Based Technology

3.2.1.1 Teleconferencing

3.2.1.2 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

3.2.1.3 Audio Conferencing

3.2.1.4 Contact Centre

3.2.2 Video Based Technology

3.2.2.1 Video Conferencing

3.2.2.2 Web Conferencing

3.2.3 Messaging Technology

3.2.3.1 Unified Messaging System

3.2.3.2 Instant Messaging and Presence

3.2.4 Content Collaboration Technology

3.2.4.1 Social Network

3.2.4.2 Video/Picture Sharing Platform

3.2.4.3 Code Hosting Platform

3.2.4.4 Project Management Platform

3.2.5 Team Collaboration Technology

3.3 Analysis of Supporting Technologies

3.3.1 Mobility and Mobile First Technology

3.3.2 IoT Technology

3.3.3 AI and Machine Learning

3.3.4 Augmented Reality

3.3.5 WebRTC

3.3.6 VoLTE and Vo5G

3.3.7 SD-WAN

3.3.8 VoIP Access and SIP Trunking

3.3.9 SBC and VDI

3.3.10 Fixed Mobile Convergence

3.4 UCC Application in Industry Verticals

3.4.1 Financial Industry

3.4.2 Office Buildings

3.4.3 Government and Public Sector

3.4.4 Telecom and IT/ITES

3.4.5 Media and Entertainment

3.4.6 Healthcare and Hospitality

3.4.7 Retail and Consumer Electronics

3.4.8 Transportation and Logistics

3.4.9 Education and Research

3.4.10 Energy and Utilities

3.4.11 Manufacturing

3.4.12 Defense and Aerospace

4.0 Company Analysis

4.1 8x8 Inc

4.2 Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

4.3 Apple

4.4 AT&T

4.5 ATLASSIAN

4.6 Avaya Inc.

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Global Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) Markets 2021-2026 by Technology, Infrastructure, Solution, Applications, Sector and Industry...