Sanday Chongo Kabange in Dhaka, Bangladesh
With only weeks before the kickoff of the 28th edition of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by west African states of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea some football craze fans across the continent have taken to social media networking sites to cheer and rally behind their national teams. The social media explosion has cut across all spheres of society - politics, economics and social aspects of life.
During the last edition of the continental tournament hosted in the southern African state of Angola, there was less social media usage to cheer football, discus and debate the games. There was also limited usage of social media during the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.
The blow-up of social media after the Arab spring that toppled three regimes in Northern African countries of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in 2011 has led to the expected increase in the use of social media during the 2012 AFCON.
The uprising in North Africa and to some extent the invention of new and more interactive social media application and tools are expected to create an upswing in the use of social media.
Weeks before AFCON 2012 starts on January 21, several Internet savvy football fans are signing up on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, Dipidy, Vuvox and StorifyThis and other social media sites to share their football story, show support to their team or simply spark debate.
Soccer stars, administrators, commentators and officials have profiles or accounts on different social media platforms. They have equally been caught up in the social media frenzy where they are interacting with their African soccer lovers.
The stars are tweeting or posting materials ranging from match fixtures, venue logistics, friendly matches, practice sessions, potential winners or losers of this year’s tournament.
There is also a fair share of personal stuff that is filtering through the wire like what stars hope to have for their meal while in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea or how they hope to celebrate in an event they scored or won the trophy.
The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations tournament will run from January 21 – February 12, 2011.
The Africa Cup of Nations - the football championship of Africa - is organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s soccer government body.
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea won the right to host the tournament after defeating a Nigerian bid along with two other bid winning nations, Angola and Libya.
Bids from Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal were rejected.
For the first time in CAF history, the hosts of three successive tournaments were chosen at the same time; Angola was chosen to host in 2010, Gabon/Equatorial Guinea were chosen as hosts for the 2012 cup and Libya for the 2013 edition.
Nigeria was chosen as a stand-by host in the event that one of the chosen nations was rendered unsuitable.
With only weeks before the kickoff of the 28th edition of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by west African states of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea some football craze fans across the continent have taken to social media networking sites to cheer and rally behind their national teams. The social media explosion has cut across all spheres of society - politics, economics and social aspects of life.
