Political parties are bolstering their social presence on Mxit in the run-up to the elections on 7 May.
Following successful voter registration drives by the IEC earlier this year on Mxit, the ANC, DA and Agang have used some creative methods to rally support and promote engagement on the South African mobile social network.
Agang allows users to create community groups by location or interest on their Mxit app. Members who joined the group could then create topics and post comments to a forum-style wall. Group creators, or leaders, could also send announcements and updates from within the app to the members of their group.
The ANC is hosting a series of “Live Chat” sessions on their MyANC app, where a number of government ministers engage thousands of young people in a promoted one-hour session. It allows users to ask questions and voice concerns directly to high-ranking officials and decision makers.
The DA has opted for an interactive game as Mxit has one of the biggest gaming communities in South Africa. The DA’s game, DemocraCITY, allows a user to take control of a virtual country and look after its people.
In a fun and interactive way it addresses a wide range of socio-political challenges and users need to make decisions and take actions on matters ranging from the building of schools, coping with natural disasters, resisting bribes and confronting corruption as they lead “their” community to prosperity. The game is currently generating more than 1,3-million page impressions per day.
Activity across the board is set to increase over the next few days as Mxit offers a strategic opportunity for political parties to speak directly to their voters in this very important election year.
“Political parties understand the far-reaching potential of Mxit as a medium to give the youth an opportunity to make their voice heard in an environment which they are familiar with, whilst at the same time educating them about viewpoints,” says Francois Swart, CEO of Mxit.
The ANC currently has more than 420 000 subscribers to their apps, the DA 390 000 and Agang just over 38 000.
