Having held successful events in scores of cities across five continents, Social Media Week (SMW) is making its debut in South Africa, and is to be hosted in Johannesburg from September 22 – 26, 2014.
The leading media platform that started in New York in 2009, made its first trip to Africa last year, making Lagos, Nigeria its first stop. With two successful events in two years – February 2013 and 2014; Lagos has given SMW the confidence to take the event to other parts of Africa.
“Social Media Week Johannesburg proposes to aggregate in real time the many different conversations that make up the nation’s voice, to present an authentic picture of where we are at and, just as importantly, to project the possibilities of where we can be thanks to the leaps and bounds in advancement that technological innovation allows,” a statement by SMW said.
Renowned for hosting world class events, Joburg; as it is fondly called; was an easy choice. Its great media and communications infrastructure, large social media audience and expanding start-up scene also made it a good choice for SMW.
According to a report by memeburn, there are 9.4 million active Facebook users in South Africa, 7.4 million active Mxit users, 5.5 million Twitter users, 2.7 million registered LinkedIn users, 1.1 million 2go users, 680,000 active Instagram users, 466 828 active Google+ users and 1.5-million account views each for the top 200 YouTube users.
This social media use statistics of South Africa creates the right environment to propagate the message of SMW.
As it continues to capture, curate and share meaningful ideas, trends and best practices with regards to social media’s impact on business, society and culture; Social Media Week has set “Connecting Our Futures” as the theme to govern the week-long gathering of thought leaders and change agents.
Local digital media agency Digisense will host and manage the event, aligning the most relevant and impacting content with the city’s players in fields such as business, technology, entertainment, media and education.
While Jo’burg prepares for the groundbreaking event, “Social Media Week Johannesburg’s organisers will be inviting our community to submit ideas for events they would like to host in order to give the world a candid insider’s view on Johannesburg’s thriving creative and entrepreneurial community,” a statement by SMW said.
SMW will also hold for the first time in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Sydney, Australia this September.
*Ventures Africa
