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Citi FM, Joy FM cross the 1 million mark on Facebook in 2nd Quarter Social Media Index

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Penplusbytes released today its 2nd quarter social media index on Ghana’s Radio, Television and Print media. The SMI is a review and ranking of the performance of traditional media, gauging how they use social media; Facebook and Twitter, to engage the ever growing number of online audiences. The SMI ranks the best performing media houses on social media out of the 350 radio stations, 60 Newspapers and 34 TV stations with legal operating licenses in Ghana and on air using a criteria of followers, likes, most up-to-date posts and level of interactions.

The report reveals that as at 30th June, 2017, social media followership numbers were a close marked race between two of the most patronized Accra based radio stations, Citi FM and Joy FM. Notable in this report is the consistency with which some media houses have maintained their place in the top 10 list including stations such as YFM, ATL FM, Ultimate FM and Starr FM.

The Radio Index has consistently had the likes of Joy FM, Adom FM and Citi FM on the list of top 10; the Daily Graphic and Daily Guide have also maintained their place in the Top 10 list of Newspapers. These media brands represent a small percentage of best managed pages that are easily identified as officially verified accounts on social media with up-to-the-minute posts, updates and interaction with their audiences.

Highlights of the 2nd Quarter SMI findings, which is downloadable here, indicate Citi FM is the most followed Ghanaian radio station on Facebook; after crossing the 1 million mark with 1,048,027 Facebook ‘Likes’ and beating close rival Joy FM  who had 1,029,531.  Joy FM appear to have lost some grounds. In the 1st Quarter SMI report the station was the first to cross the mark with 1,008,733. Joy FM however, maintained its reign in the twitter rankings with 705, 546 followers as against Citi FM’s 600,356 followers. Peace FM barely made it into the top 10 of the twitter rankings for Radio stations, appearing at number 10.

The SMI index shows that many media houses do not exist on social media or exist but fail to efficiently and effectively manage their accounts. Most pages on these platforms are left without updates for many months, and even years, in some cases. This defeats the purpose of wanting to engage with wider audiences and poses potential harm to these brands.

Kwami Ahiabenu II, Executive Director of Penplusbytes, said “the quarterly SMI report is focused on indirectly encouraging more media houses, especially those based outside the Capital, to commit a lot more to building quality online presence and using new media tools as a useful and cost effective news production means.”

There is no doubt that factors such as the quality of Ghana’s internet infrastructure, which is presently either slow or costly have translated into low internet penetration; making online activities a lot more cumbersome than necessary. These factors notwithstanding, Ghana’s media brands are simply yet to make more pronounced their work in virtual spaces.

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Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.