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.

Gambia's Jammeh loses Banjul votes to opposition, heavy security deployedhttps://t.co/o75SOfrUuF
— africanews (@africanews) December 2, 2016

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.

Japanese promises 'cash for gold' to Nigerian football team in Rio https://t.co/WD5KHjOr3P
— Nigeria News (@NigeriaNewsNG) August 17, 2016

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.

Tens of thousands of protesters call for a regime change in Ethiopiahttps://t.co/kNrDyVPTQu
— gadisa (@gadisakhm) August 4, 2016

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

EU chief tasks Ethiopian PM to initiate inclusive political dialogue quickly | Africanews https://t.co/jvWF8vLKrh
— Don Mussie Zerai (@AgenziaH) October 17, 2016

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

Internet cut, arrest of bloggers, mass arrests not the solution – UN tells Ethiopia https://t.co/PoxTFVG7SB
— africanews (@africanews) October 7, 2016

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

'Military intervention to unseat Gambia's Jammeh should be the last resort' https://t.co/PY0fgY697y
— africanews (@africanews) December 17, 2016

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.

Gambia opposition activist died of 'shock, respiratory failure' in jail | Africanews https://t.co/whIw6TRgQu
— Gambiankolu Radio (@Gambiankolu) June 26, 2016

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

AU chairperson candidates to face off in a debate this week https://t.co/J3nxZin12o africanews _AfricanUnion
— Intl Economics Ltd (@TradeEconomics) December 5, 2016

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

Somaliland: Footprints of rare female engineers https://t.co/PlljF4C8ri
— Mustafe M. Khaire (@mmkhaire) July 4, 2016

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.