**6. The benefits of social media use in Sub-Saharan Africa**

Several researchers reported that several benefits of social media cut across all human endeavours of life in Sub-Saharan Africa continent. The most frequently cited advantages of the use of social media by students is their ability to aid collaborative learning and communication amongst their peers and others in academia." In addition, social media technologies are notable with the capability to aid digital literacy and information distribution. Other than communication, "academics who used Twitter refer to "information distribution" as one of the main advantages of using the medium. Its use has proven popular, particularly in academic conferences" [21–23]. Some other benefits of the use of social media in education in Africa include the following:


In the economic sector, Writer [27] also identified ten potential benefits of social media usage in business in Sub-Saharan Africa including the following:


It is evident that "previous academic studies have explored social media in the context of marketing communication strategies by universities to reach prospective customers, social media for brand engagement and social media for teaching [20]. In addition, it was summarized the benefits of using social media are increasing social interaction; providing access to information sources; encouraging creativity among individuals and groups; creating a sense of belonging among users; providing more choices to promote engagement among individuals and groups; reducing barriers to group interaction and communications and increasing the technological competency levels of users" [28].

In the health sector, it was revealed that the use of social media reduced costs, create ways for the patient to access medical workers and patient to patient interactions, increased access to tailored consultations, and improved chronic disease management among others" [29].

In a summary, this paper concluded that Sub-Saharan Africa has benefited immensely from the users of social media networking sites, especially in the digital economy, e-learning, distance learning, e-libraries, marketing and digital literacy. Other areas of benefits include; creating awareness of health-related issues, promoting social-cultural activities, enhancing communication, etc. that equally improve the style of living, creation of wealth and the development of the entire continent.

## **7. Challenges of social media use in Sub-Saharan Africa**

In Africa, it is believed that the number of users of social media is on geometry increase but, there is still a very large population that is yet to use social media technologies due to one challenge or the other. The challenges may cut across all areas of life. In Africa, the common challenges prohibiting "the use of social media include the following: the high cost of subscription to Internet data bundles, high cost of social media enabled phones (smartphones), poor internet connectivity, low ICT literacy, low awareness of the social media for academic purposes, the apathy of friend to communicate academic issues, Poor knowledge of social media application software and sites" [4].

Similarly, other challenges were also identified militating against the successful integration of most social media for strategic communications in Africa. And these highlighted challenges are from the perspective of the university as they make effort to engage with their stakeholders" [20]. These challenges are:

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


It was revealed that the failure of healthcare institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa to adopt social media may be due to inadequate implementation policies, standards and frameworks among other factors [29].

Students in Nigeria and South Africa are facing the use of social media in education due to a lack of basic amenities, lack of conducive environment, lack of access to computers, the cost of Internet connectivity and a lack of enthusiasm on the part of instructors, lack of time, lack of access to the Internet, lack of interest in online groups, and the lack of the necessary skills required to use social media [31, 32].

In Ghana, it was reported that "social media sites are not monitored properly, there is the likelihood that some pornographic being accessed. Underage children could have access to such materials and this may lead to moral corruptibility in the children. Therefore, there is a need to intensify effects to restrict students to such sites by using passwords to prevent easy access. Furthermore, social media tends to make both students and teachers become social media addicts. Instructional hours are lost when teachers rather than teaching in the class are caught in social media milieu outside of the class" [33].

Similarly, in Tanzania, "the notable side effects of social media are, the posting of nude pictures, propagation and posting of hatred clips, defamation of people, posting of false and misleading information, just a few to mention" [3]. In a summary, this paper draw conclusion from the literature reviewed that, despite the increased use of social media platforms recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are still a series of challenges prohibiting the integration, customization and effective utilization of social media in the various sectors of the continent.
