This study investigates the relationship between social media and inclusive human development in 49 African countries for the year 2012. Social media is measured with Facebook penetration whereas inclusive human development is proxied by the inequality- adjusted human development index. The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Quantile regressions. Ordinary Least Squares provided baseline results, Tobit regressions account for the limited range in the outcome variable while Quantile regressions are engaged to control for initial levels of inequality-adjusted human development. From Ordinary Least Squares and Tobit results, Facebook penetration is positively associated with inclusive human development. Quantile regressions confirm this positive nexus and further establish that the positive association is slightly higher in magnitude in the above-median sub-sample. From a comparative assessment, it is apparent that with the exception of the resource-wealth sub-samples, higher levels of Facebook penetration are associated with comparatively higher levels of inclusive human development. Accordingly, the positive association between Facebook penetration and inclusive human development is: (i) a positive function of income levels and (ii) more apparent in Middle East and North African countries (compared to Sub-Saharan African countries), English common law countries (compared to their French civil law counterparts), and coastal countries (in relation to landlocked countries).

这项研究调查了2012年非洲49个国家社交媒体与包容性人类发展之间的关系。社交媒体的衡量标准是Facebook的渗透率，而包容性人类发展则由不平等调整后的人类发展指数作为指标。实证证据基于普通最小二乘，Tobit和分位数回归。普通最小二乘提供基线结果，Tobit回归说明了结果变量的有限范围，而Quantile回归则用于控制不平等调整后的人类发展的初始水平。根据普通最小二乘和Tobit的结果，Facebook的普及与包容性人类发展成正相关。分位数回归证实了这种正向联系，并进一步证明在上述中位数子样本中，正向联系的幅度略高。从比较评估中可以明显看出，除了资源财富子样本之外，Facebook渗透率较高与包容性人类发展水平较高有关。因此，Facebook渗透与包容性人类发展之间的积极联系是：（i）收入水平的积极作用；（ii）在中东和北非国家（与撒哈拉以南非洲国家相比），英美法系国家中更加明显（与法国大陆法系国家相比）和沿海国家（与内陆国家有关）。显然，除了资源财富子样本外，Facebook渗透率越高，包容性人类发展水平就越高。因此，Facebook渗透与包容性人类发展之间的积极联系是：（i）收入水平的积极作用，（ii）在中东和北非国家（与撒哈拉以南非洲国家相比），英国普通法国家中更加明显（与法国大陆法系国家相比）和沿海国家（与内陆国家有关）。显然，除资源财富子样本外，较高的Facebook渗透率与较高的包容性人类发展水平相关。因此，Facebook渗透与包容性人类发展之间的积极联系是：（i）收入水平的积极作用，（ii）在中东和北非国家（与撒哈拉以南非洲国家相比），英国普通法国家中更加明显（与法国大陆法系国家相比）和沿海国家（与内陆国家有关）。