Social Media and the Glocalisation of SADC’s Regional Economic Integration

Abstract

The Constitutive Act of the African Union commits to accelerating the socio-economic integration of the continent (Art 4c) by establishing conducive conditions that would enable African economies to be linked to the global economy. The key to implementing effective integration of African economies in both the local and global networks is communication through innovative technology. This paper explores the centrality of social media platforms in growing and enabling the implementation of effective Southern African Development Community (SADC) policies on commerce, trade and economic development. Although traditional methods of exchange of information continue to be used between SADC and the global world, little appears to have been written on the capacity of social media to communicate information on trade in goods and services. Therefore, the central questions are: 1) To what extent have social media platforms enabled the flow of information regarding tradeable goods and services within SADC and between SADC and the global world; and 2) What are the future opportunities and challenges of using social media in advancing SADC commerce? Using the concept of glocalisation, this study engages the political economy of communication technology as a tradeable service, analyses the use of some selected forms of social media in advertising new economic opportunities within SADC, and debates the commoditisation of social news as a form of economic activity. The paper argues that whether social media is used for good or bad in SADC, it remains an instance of creating glocal networks that circulate economic information in ways that are opening new opportunities for and challenges to SADC regional economic integration.