**2. Sub-Saharan Africa**

This section gives a brief of Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is the continent of Africa that lies in the Sub-Saharan region. In other words, Sub-Saharan Africa refers to African countries and territories that are situated in the African region. The region straddles the equator, having almost equal south and north extent. It is the most tropical of all continents. The climate and vegetation range from the equatorial rainforest, tropical deserts, and savanna grassland to the Mediterranean. The Sahara Desert, the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, is over 10.4 million km2 and the North to South is approximately 1800kms and East-West is 5600km" [2]. Forty-nine countries make up the sub-Sahara Africa namely: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Democratic Republic), Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,

#### *Perspective Chapter: The Use of Social Media in Sharing Information in Sub-Saharan Africa… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108473*

Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe (https://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/afr-countrylist.html).

The region has some major cities such as Abuja, Lagos, Harare, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, etc., and several towns and villages. These individual countries have wellestablished higher institutions of learning, petroleum refineries, organized administrative institutions, etc. with large population sizes. According to available UNHCR global trends statistics, the region has a population of 1.1 billion with diverse religious groups (Christian, Islam, Traditional faiths, and others).

The continent has over 1,000 languages with a large number of the population living in rural communities that lacks basic social amenities (electricity, water, schools, etc.). The major occupation in the region is agriculture and mining because some of the countries are endowed with mineral resources. In addition, one other important characteristic that distinguished the Region from other parts of the world is the unique cultural heritage of the region. The region has several cultural organizations and festivals (Mombasa Carnival – Kenyan, Calabar Carnival – Nigeria, Abu Simbel Festival – Egypt, etc.) that portray the unique cultural heritage of the region. And some of these cultural activities are celebrated annually by people from all works of life within and outside the continent. The continent is also recognized for its high profile in tourism. The study could have discussed some of the countries one after the other but, because of the limited space for the chapter, only a brief of Nigeria is discussed.

Nigeria is one of the most popular countries on the continent. It is situated in the West Africa region and lies between longitudes 3 and 14 degrees, and latitudes 4 and 14 degrees. It has a land mass of 923,768 square kilometers. The country is made up of thirty-six states with its administrative headquarter in Abuja as the "Federal Territory". Politically, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is divided into six geo-political zones. The population size of the country is over 180 million, with diverse cultural, and ethnic groups, and over 300 languages. And the major occupation of the population is agriculture and fish farming, very few numbers of the population work in government institutions, private industries, cooperative organizations, and small-scale businesses. In addition, the country is endowed with natural resources such as Petroleum, Gold, Coal, etc. which formed the major income of the country.

The petroleum resources are found in the Niger Delta area which is in the Southern part of the country. Administrative, economic, and health-wise, Nigeria has well organized political structure, economic sector, health institutions, etc. The country is proud of its diversity in religion, ethnicity, language, culture, etc. We have Christians, Muslims, and traditional faiths from different ethnic groups and languages living together in the various cities and villages. The country's diversity is also reflected in our social-cultural activities. Notable among these cultural activities include the Egbesu festival, Calabar festival, New yam festival, etc. celebrated annually in the various parts of the country.

In Sub-Sahara Africa, experience shows that all categories of persons regardless of economic status, financial and educational status make use of social media for one purpose or the others, particularly, in academic institutions, cooperative organizations, agro-industries, government, etc. most importantly for the sharing information relating to research findings, products, and prices, policies, etc. the region.
