A new year is born. As always, there are expectations regarding how 2016 will turn out. The digital media space is going to be the focal point as the year progresses. The events of the past year underscore the importance of social media in modern communication.
In 2016, the #ZumaMustFall advocacy will likely gather momentum in South Africa. Considering the number of reported cases of corruption in that country, President Jacob Zuma has had a low public rating.
The President’s dismissal of the former minister of finance provided a good rallying point to push the matter up. Even during the yuletide, there were Memes saying, “All I want for Christmas is #ZumaMustFall.”
ZumaMustFall was created as a result of the success of #FeesMustFall. South Africa will certainly have a serious hold on social media this year.
In neighbouring Zimbabwe, there are expectations that President Robert Mugabe may not be able to sustain his political domination of the country and continue to hang on to power.
It is expected that his party will have to give way at some point to the Movement for Democratic Change.
With old age believed to be already affecting Mugabe, online media will have to get #Mugabe trending. He has been the President of Zimbabwe since 1988.
#Rio2016 is also going to grip social media firmly. The 2016 summer Olympics, which is scheduled to hold in Brazil in August, will see various athletes compete in 28 sports at the event.
The thrills and frills of the various sports will create some buzz on social media for close to about one month duration of the games.
Later in the same year, the election for the most powerful leader in the world will shake the social media space for a long time. Americans will have to decide who becomes the 58th President and Vice President of their country. #USElection, #WhiteHouse2016 or their variants are certain to trend in 2016 globally.
In Nigeria, the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Presidency will be more visible on social media space than ever. Government decisions and policies will attract more criticism and questions from the public. Hashtags on electoral promises made during the 2015 campaign will haunt the APC, especially if the performance of the Buhari administration is not at par with people’s expectation.
Also, #DasukiGate will receive more attention as additional revelations on the corruption that trailed the last administration emerge.
Nigerians will witness the vilification of non-performing ministers as their activities will be scored in the public space.
On the country’s political landscape, the social media will also make an issue of the forthcoming governorship elections in Ondo and Edo States. @inecnigeria will get busy again in the social media space and Nigerians will watch as “inconclusive elections” become the norm. #OndoDecides2016 and #EdoDecides2016 are some of the hashtags that will likely capture the narratives of these elections.
More hashtags will be seen in 2016. As soon as a new event takes place, somebody will use a hashtag acceptable by most people to drive the news.
With social media playing a crucial role in terms of content creation, it is likely that search engine giant, Google, will continue to expand its inclusion of social media discussions into its search results. With several information getting lost in the social media space, Google may also need to work out how to capture new terms and how to aid translation of social media content from other languages.
We will be seeing more e-commerce integration on several online platforms this year.
Buy buttons will feature more on social media platforms and the ease of payment will also make these platforms to continue to generate funds for investors. There will also be a rise in the number of blogs and video content.
In 2016, Facebook Inc, which currently leads in social media in terms of capacity and reach, will continue its advocacy to get into China. The organisation knows that if that happens, it will be a huge value for the 12-year-old company.
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