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Why African social networks kick Facebook's mobile experience in the ass

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the rest of their ilk are taking over the world, right, and forming a homogenous mass of consumer data and eyeballs across the globe from which no one can escape. Or not.

By Vanessa Clark

11 Sep 2012

Definitely not when one considers the local and regional social networks springing up, particularly in Africa. A key differentiator of these networks is often that they better serve the mobile market - usually because this is their primary or only market - whether on smartphones or not so smart phones.

...Facebook has been talking the talk about being a mobile company for some time, but I'd suggest it would do well to take a peek at what's happening in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and other mobile-first countries. A perfect storm of love for social networking and a MacGyverish approach to making stuff work - especially if it involves a cellphone - is resulting in regional mobile social networks gaining traction across the continent.

Two examples presented at Mobile Entertainment Africa in Cape Town at the end of August: the grand-daddy of mobile social networking, Mxit, chatting about improving its user experience for all mobile users; and newcomer 2go, sharing some staggering adoption rates and insight into what makes mobile chat users tick.

Read the full story on www.memeburn.com

Source: Memeburn

Launched in April 2010 by Matthew Buckland, Memeburn is a news and opinion platform tracking tech culture, innovation and business. It plays particular attention to the web, mobile, social media, online media and social networking fields. Key opinion-leaders contribute to Memeburn, providing their insights on the online industry. Subscribe via email or RSS for regular updates. Follow memeburn on Twitter at @memeburn.

Go to: http://www.memeburn.com

Vanessa Clark

About Vanessa Clark

Hi! I'm a freelance journalist, copywriter and editor based in Cape Town, South Africa. I write as a journalist and for corporates and agencies. My specialties are business-to-business and technology writing. I like unpacking complex ideas so they are more easily understood - especially when it involves innovation taking place in South Africa, and the rest of Africa.