0 Persons are tagged with #southafrica

#southafrica

One person like that
1 Shares
danie10@squeet.me
Danie

Mobile phone USSD shortcodes to know for South Africa’s mobile networks

Close view of a smartphone dial pad on screen, with an index finger hovering over the number 8
The Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) protocol that has been around since 1997.

It allows users to enter a combination of numbers, asterisks, and hashes in their regular dialling app to execute various actions on their mobile network account.

Although GSM, which includes 2G and 3G technologies, is set to be shut down over the next few years, USSD can be supported on LTE and 5G.

If you know the shortcodes your mobile operator uses for the various services, then USSD is often the fastest option for managing your cellular plan.

It also does not require an Internet connection or consume mobile data. When you’ve run out of airtime or data, the right USSD code can be a lifesaver.

Some are really useful, like being able to send a “please call me back” message, or sending airtime to another user, or requesting airtime from another user.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/522557-ussd-shortcodes-used-by-south-africas-mobile-networks.html
#Blog, #southafrica, #technology, #USSD

One person like that
danie10@squeet.me
Danie

South Africans were the most addicted to screen time per person than any other country in 2023

World map showing countries in different colours representing average screen time person per day. The counries South Africa, Brazil, Philippines, Argentina, and Columbia show as the worst. Japan shows as the best with the least time.
Smartick gathered data from DataReportal.com on digital behaviour to put together maps showing who’s the most online.

South Africa spends the most time on desktop and mobile, averaging nearly 10 hours a day per internet user. Brazil, Philippines, Argentina and Colombia also average more than nine hours a day. South Africa also wins the award for most internet usage via a computer, with almost 4.5 hours per day. Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia were also quite close to the four-hour mark.

I dug through the DataReportal website to try to find out why this is. This specific dataset is sourced from GWI, but DataReportal does not go into the actual specifics of the “why”., except to state: “this may suggest that users in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have increased the amount of time that they spend online, even as users in more developed economies reduce their online activity”. They also go on to say: “the median age of the population is also a key factor. Overall, average daily internet time tends to decrease with age, which may explain why Japan sits at the bottom end of this ranking”.

The median age of South Africa’s population is 27.5 years old. One interesting statistic in South Africa is that the unemployment rate is just under 40%, and if I remember correctly, for the youth it is around 60%. But there is no evidence presented that this has any correlation with Internet usage.

Social media usage shows the highest numbers of South Africans on Facebook (22.15 million but has decreased by 8.5%), YouTube (25.8 million), and TikTok (11.83 million which is a massive 83% increase). LinkedIn is also well represented with 11.00 million users, but Twitter is as low as 3.65 million users (65% skewed towards males, although the Twitter data seems to vary quite a bit).

South African Instagram’s users are now at 5.65 million, but is a 9.9% decline in numbers. Snapchat users have also declined by 6.4% to now show 5.85 million South Africans.

So, it does look like users are using Facebook a bit less and using YouTube and TikTok a lot more. Would this mean that this is where South African Internet users are spending their time?

Bearing in mind that 2024 is going to be an interesting election year in South Africa, the release of the ad reach per platform is quite topical (as it is for other countries with elections in 2024).

A last thought of mine is, so, what happens when most users have veered off onto decentralised social media platforms that do not make a point of gathering and reporting on all this user data? It’s going to be a whole new intriguing challenge to reach populations in 5 to 10 years’ time.

See https://www.smartick.com/data/the-worlds-screen-addiction-how-much-time-you-spend-online-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-world/
#Blog, #onlineaddition, #southafrica, #technology

4 Likes
One person like that
faab64@diasp.org
Farhad A

Presenting South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice that Israel is guilty of perpetrating genocide in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, South African High Court advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi explained how the Israel Defence Forces had called up Israel’s oldest army reservist and settler, the 95-year-old Ezra Yachin, to speak to soldiers in the run up to the ground invasion of Gaza that began on October 27.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/01/17/zzih-j17.html
#ICJ #SouthAfrica #Genocide #WarCrime #DeirYasin #Gaza
#SaveGaza #StopIsrael #SaveTheChildren #Gaza #Yemen
#palestine #Israel #Occupation #Apartheid #Politics #PeaceNow #StopTheWar #CeasefireNow

How the Israeli army used 95-year-old veteran of Deir Yassin massacre Ezra Yachin to “motivate” the troops

Presenting South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice that Israel is guilty of perpetrating genocide in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, South African High Court advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi explained how the Israel...

One person like that
One person like that
One person like that
One person like that
One person like that
faab64@diasp.org
Farhad A

#Germany rejects South Africa's allegation against #Israel and to speak for Israel at the #ICJ. Germany's spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, states: "We firmly reject the accusation of #genocide made against Israel. It has no basis whatsoever. We will, therefore, speak as a third party in the main hearing before the International Court of Justice."

#SouthAfrica #Gaza #Politics
This is truly disgusting.

One person like that
3 Comments
1 Shares
One person like that