Most online discussions among South Sudanese continue to happen mainly on Facebook and WhatsApp groups. It is also clear that digital natives are more interested in social issues around music, sports and comedy rather than politics and/or conspiracies.

A 211 Check, Defy Hate Now South Sudan Report

Introduction:

This social media health report is based on data collected during working days from October 1st to October 31st, 2021. The major goal of the report is to examine the main and most talked about conversations on various social media platforms. 

The report as well studies the overall dynamics of hate speech, dis/misinformation and incitement to violence contents shared by South Sudanese online and foreign nationals related to South Sudanese regardless of being situated within the country or abroad – the study also looks at South Sudan’s digital and social media landscape and growth. 

This month’s monitoring comprises an overall assessment of top Facebook pages, groups, Instagram Accounts and Twitter Handles using CrowdTangle, Vicinitas and other social media monitoring techniques. Report’s key topics are identified based on the level of participation and the amount of attention it receives on social media.

In the October 2021 reporting period, 122 of 196 pages published posts in the current timeframe for a total of 1,725 posts and an average of 2.02 posts/day. 

Compared to the previous time frame, interactions were -24.45%. 

Key issues of the month – Facebook:

1. Foreign Ministry sets exams for candidates wishing to be enrolled into foreign service.

The Ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation conducted entry examinations for candidates enrolling into foreign service. The move is said to have come after the government said some employees are obtaining certificates through fraudulent means.

The post shared by Nyamilepedia on Facebook got over 610 reactions, 95 comments and 28 shares. Many commentators raised doubts with some saying there is possibility that the examinations “were leaked” while others wondered why in the first place they didn’t see advertisements for the enrollment.

2. Emmanuel Jal visits Juba

Emmanuel Jal, a South Sudanese recording artist based in Canada arrived in Juba in the last week of October to a warm welcome by family members. In a video he shared on his Facebook page, there were 65,000 views, over 2,700 reactions, 263 comments and 89 shares. The comments were mainly thanking him for coming home and others asked for a charity concern so he can perform his songs.

3. What is stopping you from marrying a dinka?

A question by Juba TV “What is stopping you from marrying a dinka?” generated a huge debate in the comments section – some of which constitutes hate speech against certain tribes. The post had 665 reactions, 309 comments and 10 shares.

4. Motivational Post from Max Jay

Max Jay, a South Sudanese artist, posted “God always got you” giving the example of a Rwandan who was once called a monkey. His Facebook post got over 23,000 reactions, 1,300 comments and 449 shares.

Many commentators expressed sympathy and how merciful God is.

5. A reflection of the Mundari Culture

Visit South Sudan shared a photo captioned “Mundari culture, friendly people” in which a white lady posed for a picture with some Mundari ladies. The post attracted 6,000 reactions, 192 comments and 77 shares. Many comments were appreciative about how the Mundari people continue to uphold their culture.

6. Ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines for all in South Sudan

UNICEF reflects its efforts to encourage women to get vaccinated. UNICEF says it was working with partners to dispel rumors and to create a demand for vaccines.

The Facebook post attracted 8,300 reactions, 123 comments and 37 shares. 

There were some cases of vaccine misinformation in the comments section.

7. Silver X meets Vice President Wani Igga at a youth peace camp

South Sudan Singer Silver X meets Vice President Wani Igga at a youth peace camp in Lobonok. 

8. South Sudan Football Association expresses hopes of winning

South Sudan Football Association Coach Simon James Yor tells fans that they are hopeful of securing a win against Gambia following a bad start in their first two matches of the competition.

Key issues of the month – Instagram:

1. MTN CEO meets President Salva Kiir

On Instagram, one of the leading posts of the month was President Kiir’s meeting with MTN Group Chairman, Mcebisi Jonas and CEO Ralph Mupita in which they promised to invest $120m in capital ventures in the next three years.

2. Acacia village welcomes hospitality trainees

A picture shared by the Acacia village welcoming their three hospitality trainees in the hotel sector.

3. South Sudanese Model, Monica Ayen wins Eric Omondi’s wife material show

Monica Ayen, a South Sudanese Model wins Kenyan Comedian Eric Omondi’s wife material season 3. The post by Hot in Juba has over 350 interactions and a few comments.

4. Emmanuel Jal comes to Juba

Emmanuel Jal, a South Sudanese recording artist based in Canada arrived in Juba in the last week of October to a warm welcome by family members. In a video he shared on his Instagram had 2,151 views and about 45 comments.

Key issues of the month – Twitter:

On Twitter, where South Sudan has a small number of users, about 718 handles in the last 10 days of October made 2,000 posts with an engagement of 7,000 and influence of 4.3 million.

Our analysis found out that most of the posts by South Sudanese on Twitter are retweets constituting about 68.6%. About 29.6% are original tweets while 1.82% are replies.

The type of rich media used are photos constituting upto 95.8%

#SSOT, remains the most popular hashtag among South Sudanese on Twitter followed by #SouthSudan

Analysis

Most online discussions among South Sudanese continue to happen mainly on Facebook and WhatsApp groups. It is also clear that digital natives are more interested in social issues around music, sports and comedy rather than politics and/or conspiracies.

Instagram and Twitter: The number of South Sudanese on Instagram and Twitter continues to be really low. Most of the interesting and engaging discussions around South Sudan topics happen on Facebook and in WhatsApp groups. On Twitter South Sudan content is unified by the hashtags #SSOT and #SouthSudan. The word cloud above clearly gives an indication of the dominating discussions on Twitter.

Conclusion:

Using advanced social media monitoring methods, conversation, and content analysis, this report analyzed online hate speech, misinformation and fake news in South Sudan. 

According to the month-long assessment report, contemporary social media behavior is becoming a severe worry. Hate speech can be found not just in postings, but also in comment sections.

Furthermore, the study discovered that what individuals are talking about and sharing on social media overlaps. People are exposed to a variety of realities, and as a result, they express varying viewpoints and instead of being honest and having a reasonable dialogue, social media users prefer to utilize slurs and incendiary phrases. 

As a result, the report identified that overall social media involvement is widely healthy, with minimal nasty content and calls for violence being produced and disseminated. 

The 211 Check team also observed that mainstream media was not involved in the spread of conspiracies but employed  conflict-sensitive reporting practices. However, this is the moment for all stakeholders to address key issues before they become a source of unanticipated events.  

End….