Mixing IT
IF THE BACKLASH by the technologically savvy concerning corporate South Africa’s clampdown on social networking sites – such as Facebook and MySpace – is anything to go by, then the assumption that technology-driven social networking is finding a niche in the corporate establishment seems reasonable.
The growing number of subscribers in the corporate sector who habitually while away the hours on their PCs or cellphones exchanging notes with networking partners worldwide contradicts the perception that novel social networking services were mainly targeting teenagers with a basic competence in technology.
But whether social networking – be it via instant messaging (IM), Facebook or MySpace – is itself such a disruptive influence in the workplace to warrant this draconian response from the establishment remains highly debatable.
As demand for “anywhere, anytime” social networking services remains on the upswing, service providers were almost certain to design other novel content and service distribution channels. Thus the next Facebook, MySpace or a second life on a cellphone-based platform remains a huge possibility. According to research group IDC, the mobile messaging market in Western Europe, which includes mobile IM, SMS and MMS, will be worth more than US$15,4bn by 2010.
Herman Heunis, CE of Mxit – an SA grown and popular IM application that runs on cellphones – cautions employers from adopting radical positions on the matter. To subscribe to the service a user has to download the enabling software to his cellphone or PC to allow him to receive and send messages to subscribers connected to the service via either mobile handsets or computers. Users are charged 2c/message compared to the SMS rate of 80c.
However, they’d be required to pay an additional R2 for each megabyte of Internet data from cellular network operators Vodacom, MTN and Cell C.
Says Heunis: “You can’t forcibly shut employees out of instant and other Internet-powered chat services. Internet social networking must be encouraged in the workplace because it makes it easy for employees to quickly and easily catch on to international, social and economic trends. Also, the reality is that addictive technologies tend to fade with time.”
Heunis is perhaps correct. Who ever thought that the legendary BlackBerry – christened the crackberry because of its addictive nature – could lose its lustre in the corporate data establishment within so short a time?
After a stuttering start, the response to Mxit’s IM offering has been phenomenal. Mxit has, since launching almost three years ago, grown its subscriber base to 5m spread across SA’s racial spectrum, with males in the 14 to 30 age bracket dominating in the number stakes.
However, the technology which is popular among students, has come under fire in recent times. Raunchy email pictures of teenage girls – one showing a scantily dressed young girl using the name “Toxic Bitch” in several suggestive poses – sparked outrage from angry parents who believed that the images had originated from the fledgling cellphone chat facility.
Arthur Goldstuck, of SA research group World Wide Worx, jumps to Mxit’s defence. “It’s important for parents to regulate teenage use of the service. They need to know the kind of people that their children chat to and the kind of messages and pictures that they send out.
In this era, software and cellphone permitting, you are able to download pornographic material from the Internet to a cellphone. You really can’t blame that on Mxit.” Due to encouraging subscriber uptake, Mxit is soon to launch IM services in three SA languages: Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa. Media group and Finweek parent Naspers – keen to entrench its presence in the lucrative mobile messaging market – earlier this year acquired a 30% stake in the fledgling IT business group.
Heunis has set ambitious targets that should see Mxit spread its footprint into the international market to augment its ambitious subscriber recruitment drive. Mxit, with currently 520 000 international users on its books, intends to add 30m subscribers by 2009.
Naspers – whose footprint extends to Russia, China, Brazil, India, Taiwan, Greece and a swathe of countries to the North of Africa – is certain to give Mxit the much sought-after exposure to untapped markets.
And Mxit could help Naspers grow its market overseas because its user base uses the Internet effectively through both computers and cellphones.
Despite its search to expand its services in international markets, Heunis is quick to say that the SA market remains important. “We’re an SA-based company and growing our local subscriber base is very much a part of our strategy.”
Finweek
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