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Our most popular African stories on social media in 2016

Our most popular African stories on social media in 2016

2016 Review

Africanews has a vibrant audience on social media and throughout 2016, a number of stories were of interest to our readers on Twitter and Facebook.

We documented the top ten most read articles on social media published by the leading pan-African news channel for our social audience.


Facebook

On Facebook, thousands of our audience were much more interested in the launch of the African passport which was received for the first time by Chadian president Idris Deby and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.

There was also interest in Ethiopian government’s cabinet reshuffle which saw the appointment of two Oromos to key positions. The reshuffle followed series of protests in two regions against marginalization by the government.

Gambia’s political crisis after the refusal of outgoing president Yahya Jammeh to step down also gained a lot of interest. Many people read about the reported refusal of entry for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Chairperson, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the country.

Kenya’s first donkey slaughterhouse article was shocking to other parts of Africa and one of the most read articles from Facebook.

The beginning of the most recent protests in Ethiopia where tens of thousands of people gathered to call for a regime change made an impact on our audience.

This was followed by the story on the call by the European Union chief on the Ethiopian Prime Minister to initiate a quick inclusive political dialogue.

The Ethiopian interest was also visible during the Olympic Games in Brazil when an Olympic marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa who supported protesters in his country, refused to return home.

The United States’ complain against the effects of the Ethiopian State of Emergency on their work, received a number of reads.

The Ethiopian dominance in the top ten most read articles on facebook ended with the Olympic protest athlete’s recognition by Foreign Policy magazine as one of its Top 100 Global Thinkers.

The tenth most read article on Africanews’ Facebook page was the decision by the regional body ECOWAS during its summit in Abuja to take measures against Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh.


Twitter

For Twitter, Gambia’s election specifically President Yahya Jammeh’s loss in Banjul was of much interest for our audience on the platform.

This was followed by an interest in the story about a Japanese philanthropist who offered to give the Nigerian national football team cash if they win gold at the Rio Olympics.

The next most read story was that of the Ethiopian protest which saw tens of thousands of protests gather to call for a regime change.

The European Union chief’s call for a quick initiation of an inclusive political dialogue in Ethiopia gained some readership.

Still on Ethiopia, our coverage on the United Nations’ call against internet cuts and arrest of bloggers was popular.

On Gambia, Senegal president’s statement calling for military intervention in its neighbouring country to be a last resort attracted our Twitter audience.

Gambia’s opposition activist who died while in prison was reported to have died of shock and respiratory failure. This gained the interest of our readers.

The maiden debate of the African Union Chairperson candidates got Twitter buzzing.

It was the same for some rare female engineers Africanews met in Somaliland.

Finally, Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to heed to the call of activists who requested that the internet be stabilized on Gambia’s election day was of interest to our readers.