The use of Facebook for political commentary in South Africa

Abstract The use of the Internet, and especially social media networks, is becoming increasingly relevant for 21st century politics, not only for political campaigning purposes, but also as a platform to encourage the public to engage in political discourse. This study considers comments posted on two South African political party Facebook sites: the African National Congress’ (ANC); and the Democratic Alliance’s (DA). It examines how both the South African public and the political parties are using the site for discussion, debate and opinion formation. The study also investigates the perceived benefits and challenges that are offered to members of the Facebook groups. According to the findings, the public are using the Facebook site(s) to engage in discussion of a political nature as well as using the platform to connect with each other and share political information in new ways. However, it is this article’s contention that the two political parties are not fully capitalising on the potential offered by Facebook.