Research indicates SA has a generally positive online reputation among international Internet users, as well as South Africans.
In an analysis conducted by Acceleration Media, covering 530 000 discussions about the country over the last 30 days, results showed 11% of the discussions had a strongly positive tone, with only 2% being negative. The balance of mentions about SA was neutral.
Acceleration Media MD Diane Charton notes that while 11% may seem relatively small, in the context of the type of research conducted by the firm, anything above 10% is considered to be very high.
“For comments considered to be 'strongly positive' they have to include very strong, emotive words such as 'love', 'fabulous', 'amazing' or 'fantastic',” explains Charton.
“When we talk about neutral comments, we're referring to those in which people are just generally talking about visiting SA. In a way, we could interpret such comments as positive, but we opt to differentiate between general statements and those that actually have value judgments.”
Good sign
Acceleration Media online reputation product manager Gordon Geldenhuys says many of the international conversations centred around discussion of SA as a destination for investment, tourism and trade.
"Our analysis of online conversation shows there is a lot of goodwill towards South Africa in the international market. This bodes well for the country in the years to come as it looks to attract more tourism and investment."
In terms of discussion among South Africans, the research also showed a generally positive attitude.
“Of the 60 000 conversations about the country tracked among South African users, 14% reflected positive sentiment and only 2% were negative in tone,” says Acceleration Media.
Bad Juju
Charton says the majority of negative comments were those that made mention of Julius Malema, the ANCYL riot and the nationalisation debate. Last week, BrandsEye research showed that events surrounding the ANCYL hearing received 6 826 mentions in 24 hours, and generated 8 419 565 opportunities to see.
“This implies that 87% of the South African population with Internet access was exposed to this conversation in some form,” said BrandsEye.
“This equates to advert value equivalent of R1 945 867. Unfortunately, most of this didn't show South Africa in a positive light. That's a considerable amount of particularly negative coverage that we ourselves generated about our own country.”
Charton says: “There was an incredible amount of online buzz about Julius Malema, but all not all of it was absolutely negative.
“Things like the surge in comments about Malema do not have an absolute long lasting impact on SA's overall online reputation.
“While yes, there is negativity around that particular incident, it certainly didn't have the same impact as something like the London riots. So it's important to always take into account the event or action itself, as well as the surrounding commentary,” notes Charton.
“On any given day there is an average of 400 mentions of Julius Malema. On the day of the riot, that figure shot up to 9 750 but by the next day it was down to just over 3 000. So it was really actually fairly short-lived, and should be taken in context.”
Rugby fever
Charton says in terms of conversations among South Africans, the positivity overshadows the negativity.
“Most of the positivity currently being generated by South Africans is around the Rugby World Cup and the Springboks.”
Geldenhuys says many of the international conversations took place in richer online channels rather than micromedia channels such as Twitter. About 21% of the conversations tracked took place in blogs and 14% on Facebook, compared to 39% on Twitter. Channels such as forums, news sites and news aggregators account for the rest of the discussion.
According to the research, 71% of the conversations about South Africa by South Africa took place on Twitter as users shared links and information with each other.
"International users are hungry for more detailed information and richer media - including images and video - as they plan for a trip to South Africa or share their experiences of the country with other people," says Geldenhuys, adding that South Africans are mostly sharing information using the quickest channels at their disposal.
Share