Our latest edition of the Watercooler is a first. In each of our previous analyses of content sharing on LinkedIn, several posts have resonated equally strongly across regions. There have always been overlaps in the top ten most shared posts for Europe, Latin America, The Middle East and Africa. On this occasion, the common ground on content has disappeared. For the first time, not a single post appears in more than one of our regional top tens. The topics that engage audiences seem to be diverging.
This analysis covers content sharing over two months, and features the ten posts that generated the most shares in a given month during November and December. The divergence in content sharing over this period seems to reflect the fact that different regions find themselves at different points in the curve of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Europe, caught in an accelerating second wave, professional interest continues to focus on the impact of the pandemic, ongoing debates about how society should respond, and the prospects of vaccines bringing a return to normality. The content shared in other regions focuses far less on the virus directly. It’s concerned with the wider impacts on professional life, and the strategies that different businesses are developing in response. This may reflect the fact that infection rates, though high in areas such as Latin America, remained relatively more stable during this period. In the Middle East, in particular, the content conversation continues to look forward, focusing on investment opportunities rather than pandemic-driven disruption. However, a new variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa towards the end of December could change the picture when we come to analyse content sharing in January, as could early signs of a second peak in Brazil.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the content divergence is the relative lack of sharing outside Europe for posts focused on vaccines. It’s the hope of governments and the World Health Organisation (WHO) that vaccines will help economic activity and professional life return to normal worldwide. However, that normality may feel closer within reach in Europe, where governments have been able to invest large sums in securing vaccine supplies, than elsewhere.
The pandemic is not the only theme that resonates differently across regions. The need to transition to new energy sources features in the ten most shared posts everywhere apart from Latin America. However, the focus shifts from one country to another. Depending on your location, the conversation could focus on the UK’s ban on sales of new diesel and petrol vehicles, the hidden environmental costs of renewable energy, the economic opportunity in Hydrogen or the disruptive impact on state power companies with operating models built around fossil fuels.
What does all of this mean for content creators and brand content strategies? It’s a timely reminder of the need to bring a regional perspective to global topics and themes. A challenge may be shared worldwide – but it can still play out very differently in different contexts.
The Watercooler for Europe:
From Figaro Vox
2. Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK
From The BBC
3. Covid vaccine: First 'milestone' vaccine offers 90% protection
From The BBC
4. La face cachée des énergies vertes
From Arte TV
5. Je pars plus tôt que mes collaborateurs et voici pourquoi je les encourage à faire comme moi
From Huffington Post France
From Pfizer
7. Méthode Agile: la justice rappelle l'importance du cahier des charges
From LeMonde Informatique
8. Covid: Rishi Sunak to extend furlough scheme to end of March
From The BBC
9. Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM's green plan
From The BBC
10. Boris Johnson: Now is the time to plan our green recovery
From The Financial Times
Lessons from Europe’s Watercooler:
Five of the ten most shared posts in Europe address the Covid-19 pandemic directly, and four of those five offer a positive reason for sharing. The UK’s approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and that vaccine’s 90% protection rate in trials led to videos from BBC studios of radio presenters celebrating, and predictions that life could return to normal by spring. The reaction to the UK Chancellor’s extension of the country’s furlough scheme, which pays 80% of employees’ wages, didn’t generate the same levels of emotion – but still represents a positive development for many businesses.
The region’s most shared post of all took a more critical view of governments’ response to the pandemic, however. In it, the political philosopher Jean-Loup Bonnamy argues that a virus strategy based on lockdowns has been far less effective than an Asian approach that prioritises widespread testing and isolation of those infected. It resonates across a region where professionals have had reason for looking enviously at economies in Asia that have been able to suppress the virus with less widespread disruption to professional life.
The environment and the transition to zero-carbon energy proved the other dominant content theme during the period. Two posts, including one written by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, focus on that government’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. This includes a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030. However, the most shared post on this subject offered a different perspective. Linking to a hard-hitting documentary from the European public service TV channel, ARTE, it warned of the hidden environmental damage caused by green energy technologies. The ARTE documentary argues that auto manufacturers are hiding the real environmental footprint of zero-emission vehicles, and exporting environmental problems to the countries where rare metals are mined. It picks up on a growing theme in discussions about the future of the auto industry, which also featured in our last Watercooler roundup.
A Huffington Post article from the co-founder of workplace consultant Germinal picks up on one potentially positive impact of the pandemic. It argues that remote working represents an opportunity to push back against presenteeism, and measure performance based on how employees deliver on objectives rather than by the hours they work.
The technicalities of legal cases don’t often make the top ten most shared posts – but Le Monde Informatique reports on one with real relevance for tech buyers and businesses on LinkedIn. It concerns the impact of the agile development methodology on the contractual requirements involved in IT projects. And it warns businesses that, however nimbly they want to approach digital transformation, it’s important to be clear about objectives and specifications up-front.
The Watercooler for Latin America:
1. A aposta da Ambev para o futuro: a nova diretora de saúde mental
From Exame
2. Mercado Livre agora tem frota própria de aviões no Brasil
From Exame
3. Companhias desistem do home office em tempo integral
From Valor Globo
From El Financiero
5. Bill Gates prevê que a pandemia mudará o mundo destas 7 maneiras
From Revista PEGN
6. Visa logra acuerdo que permitirá que sus clientes tengan beneficios al adquirir Disney+
From La Republica
7. Conheça as Melhores Empresas para Trabalhar em TI no Brasil
From IT Forum
8. Conoce las últimas tendencias salariales
From Michael Page
9. Cultura de feedback é o maior problema da gestão brasileira, diz pesquisa
From UOL
10. Renner faz parceria com brechó para cliente vender roupa que não usa mais
From Exame
Lessons from Latin America’s Watercooler:
Workplace culture and career insights often dominate sharing at Latin America’s Watercooler – and the last two months have been no exception. The most shared post of the period focused on innovations in people strategy at the Brazilian brewing company, Ambev. The business has created a new position of mental health director and designed its culture around psychological security and the permission to make mistakes.
A similar theme was picked up by posts sharing Best Places to Work’s ranking of the top IT companies in the region, which picked out Adobe, Microsoft Brazil and Dell for praise. There was also news of an employee experience survey which highlighted difficulties giving constructive feedback as a major flaw in Brazil’s management culture. Practical insight came in the form of the annual remuneration study from recruitment specialists PageGroup, which offers professionals the opportunity to benchmark their salaries against sector trends.
In the circumstances of an ongoing pandemic, many Latin American businesses have been grappling with a trade-off. They’ve prioritised employee safety by encouraging remote working, but they’ve faced nagging doubts that productivity and effectiveness suffer from fewer in-person interactions. This explains the interest in a post from Valor Globo, which reports on a new trend towards businesses encouraging employees back into the office – even at a time when infection rates remain high.
Posts also captured attention when they focused on the intersection of the pandemic with business strategy. The ecommerce and financial services group Mercado Livre has launched its own airplane fleet to handle the delivery of online purchases. It promises to increase access to next-day delivery and help keep commerce flowing during the pandemic, while further increasing brand visibility. In contrast, El Financiero announced that the impact of the pandemic on trade would result in Best Buy closing its 41 branches in Mexico and leaving the country after 13 years. Meanwhile, La Republica picked up on a region-wide tie-up between Visa and Disney+ that reflects growing demand for streaming content at home.
Bill Gates has emerged as an authoritative voice on the pandemic and society’s response to it – and regularly features in the top ten most shared posts across each of our regions. In a podcast interview that also features the Director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gates predicts seven key changes as a result of the pandemic. They include the normalising of remote work and big innovations in technology to support it, greater focus on local communities as a social hub, a long wait for a return to normality – and greater preparedness for pandemics in the future. “We will not be so stupid the second time,” as he puts it.
The Watercooler for the Middle East and North Africa:
1. UAE allows 100% ownership of businesses for foreign nationals
From Gulf News
2. UAE sets out legal overhaul of personal and family law
From The National News
3. UAE revamps foreign ownership rules for commercial companies
From The National News
4. F1 adds Saudi Arabian Grand Prix night race to 2021 calendar
From Formula 1
5. A glimpse into the Careem Mafia
From Wamda
6. The new fuel to come from Saudi Arabia
From The BBC
7. UAE allows 100% ownership of businesses by foreign nationals
From Khaleej Times
8. UAE introduces changes to criminal, civil codes and inheritance law
From Gulf News
9. Oman to Break Gulf’s Income Tax Taboo to Curb Deficit
From Bloomberg
10. UAE grants 10-year golden visa to certain categories
From Gulf News
Lessons from the Middle East and North Africa’s Watercooler:
In recent months, content sharing in the Middle East and North Africa has been noticeably forward-looking, focusing on developments that offer growth opportunities in the wake of the pandemic. During November and December, that sharing was dominated by two news stories from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One involves a decree enabling foreign nationals to own companies without the need for UAE nationals as major shareholders, which is expected to encourage the flow of foreign capital to key sectors. The other seems likely to make residency in the country more attractive to those from different cultures. It involves legal changes enabling divorce cases to be settled by the law of the country where the marriage took place. The same package of reforms also decriminalised alcohol consumption and introduced tougher sentences for harassment and assault.
The vehicle hire business Careem is one of Dubai’s great entrepreneurial success stories. A post from Wamda explores its impact on the business landscape of the Middle East through the graduates of the company that have gone on to invest in other tech businesses. It argues that this represents a shift towards alternative sources of business funding to traditional inherited wealth. That trend seems likely to be encouraged by another development featuring in the top ten most shared posts: employees in key tech sectors are among those able to apply for 10-year residency visas for the UAE.
The Watercooler for Sub-Saharan Africa:
1. TAKE A LOOK | Mr Price launches store in a container - aimed at township shoppers
From Business Insider South Africa
2. MPesa Partners with Visa to Enable International Payments
From The Kenyan Wall Street
3. Droits d’enregistrement: de nouveaux avantages pour l’immobilier
From Medias24
4. Kenya Power raises alarm over clients solar switch
From Business Daily Africa
5. Le Rwanda recrute Tidjane Thiam pour promouvoir la place financière de Kigali
From Jeune Afrique
6. Vale Moçambique advertises 170 job vacancies and encourages the participation of women
From Club of Mozambique
7. Pourquoi être freelance va devenir une obligation?
From Maddyness
8. SA gets strict new recycling rules for plastic, paper and many other products
From Business Insider South Africa
9. Eight Ways Business Travel Will Change after the Pandemic
From Corporate Traveller
10. Les 10 puissances économiques mondiales au fil du temps
From Financial Afrik
Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa’s Watercooler:
Local innovation is often the focus of the most shared content in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly when that innovation is focused on increasing economic opportunity or accessibility. The most popular post of the last two months fits this template exactly, with South Africa’s fast fashion chain Mr Price developing a model for micro stores in containers that can be rolled out across townships and provide jobs in local communities.
Innovation with a wider social impact also powered sharing for the story of mobile payments network MPesa expanding its range of international services through a tie-up with Visa. The Brazilian mining company Vale similarly drove engagement with the announcement that it would prioritise hiring women when filling 170 job vacancies in Mozambique.
Environmental sustainability is another theme that consistently resonates in the region. Business Insider South Africa generated interest with a post discussing a new policy of extended producer responsibility, which puts the responsibility on manufacturers to arrange the collection of waste from their products. Meanwhile, audiences took notice when electricity distributor Kenya Power warned that its sales were suffering as industrial customers switch to solar power. It’s a sign of accelerating change – but also a warning that governments and infrastructure need to be ready to adapt.
That same theme of change recurs in two other posts of the period that anticipate changes brought about by the pandemic. One predicts the future experience of flying for business; another argues for the benefits of a more flexible approach to knowledge work, built around freelancing. As Africa moves through 2021, it’s likely that we’ll see a growing range of content exploring these future-facing themes.
Topics: Research and insights Trends, tips, and best practices
Related articles