Navigating digital pathways: how South African youth use social media to access employment

This study explores how South African youth use social media to access employment in a context marked by high unemployment and digital inequality. Drawing on 60 qualitative interviews with job seekers, employed youth, and entrepreneurs in KwaZulu-Natal, the study examines how platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Instagram are used for job discovery, professional branding, and entrepreneurship. Guided by social capital and digital inequality theories, the findings show that while digital platforms offer new employment opportunities, these are shaped by uneven access to digital resources, emotional labour, and platform literacy. The study makes four key contributions: it reframes weak ties as dependent on digital capital, identifies emotional labour as central to digital participation, conceptualises social media as a precarious space of informal work, and highlights how geographic and gendered exclusion shape access. The study contributes to a more grounded understanding of digital labour in the Global South and its implications for youth employment.