I think Social Networks can contribute so much to politics in africa as it has done in america with the obama elections. Take an example of http://www.fabay.com, an african social network with one of the good features which can be used including groups, blogs, and video chatrooms. Politicians would for example use ethe video chatrooms like once a week to apear to the members and give feed back to their supporters. moreover in this chatroom you can create rooms for your supporters and campaign. The good thing is that it is free to join. I suppose if politicians take this in their stride, they can actually reach more people and supporters.

I agree that social networks can help change the face of politics in Africa and I do believe it is up to the site owners to push for their sites to be used to accomplish such.

But since both of them gain from this venture then i suppose politicians should take the initiative. Obama was helped a lot by the social networks and it is he who took the initiative.