How Do Ghanaians Do It?

With my last post in mind, I decided to do a survey of my own. With the help of a high school friend of mine based in Atlanta, we got as many of our friends in Ghana as we could in a few days to take a survey I created and tell us how they use facebook. We just wanted to know what keeps them coming and also what happened to Hi5, a social networking site that was very popular amongst Africans before facebook was born (yes, I still have mine even though I barely go there). What made everyone switch? Is it just a social thing or is it more than that? Here’s what we found out:

As you'll see from above, the numbers prove true about mobile phone use and the amount of time spent online. Mobile phone usage widely dominates the access with MTN being the largest mobile service provider. It was also shown that most of the users have been in use for three years or less. When asked, many prefer to use facebook to communicate with friends than even phone calls or email because its cheaper on their phones. A journalist uses it to spread information about his website and get readers for his articles. Many use it as the avenue to contact people outside the country instead of making international calls. Some gave stories of how they met friends that hadn't seen in over 10 years, some got jobs and contracts through facebook. One person even stated that they met their fiance on facebook.

Most said that they had been a member of Hi5, a social networking website that preceded facebook but they now are inactive even though they still have their accounts. Some dont even remember their passwords. They attributed facebook's takeover to it being user-friendly and the ability to chat. Other social networks used by participants include Twitter, Tagg, Myspace, LinkedIn and Badoo.