Deutsche Welle brings social radio to Africa
The 30-minute radio show will bring listeners’ broadcast content Monday through Friday at 16:00 UTC, featuring currents affairs from Africa, Germany and the rest of the world. The African editorial team has also started a new Facebook account, DW Africa, which encourages users to participate in dialogue.
The social media team will highlight trending topics and popular hashtags from Africa, incorporating user comments into the latest discussions and thus conducting a direct dialogue with AfricaLink fans. DW Africa's Facebook page will showcase exclusive video content, such as the popular DW series "Africa on the Move".
Meanwhile, the radio programming side will introduce the weekly "Blog Report," featuring well-known online activists from across Africa; as well as the new formats "On the Spot," which builds on correspondent reports; and the youth column "YouZone." In addition to covering the latest events in Africa, there will be news featuring top stories from Germany and Europe.
DW's director of programming Gerda Meuer stressed that radio "remains extremely popular in Africa. Simultaneously, the use of social media continues to attract scores of new users. We fully take digital media usage into account with the new format for AfricaLink. It will be younger, more dynamic, more conversational."
Deutsche Welle started its first radio programs for Africa more than 50 years ago. The format AfricaLink has a network of roughly 200 local correspondents.
A representative survey reveals that DW reaches an audience of roughly 40 million listeners in Africa. On Facebook, the number of DW's Amharic, French, Hausa, Swahili and Portuguese language followers has reached more than 2,3 million.
