Using The East African Social Network Will Help Your Business Grow

By Eugenia Dickerson


The advent of the internet and social networking has without a doubt changed the way human beings interact with one another. No longer must one wait as physical mail and messages snail their way across time and space. The lightning speed of the internet means that you can now close the gap in communication faster than ever before and reach further in the East African social network than you ever have.

This of course has massive potential for African citizens as the sale of mobile telephones in the continent is one of the fastest growing in the world. This is owed most likely to the relative ease and low cost of setting up radio telephone communication rather than that cabled communications in sparsely populated areas or areas of dense landscape or poor infrastructure. People living in remote areas are now able to connect to those further afield without having to travel to them.

Today in Africa there exist ten times as many mobile phones as there are landlines and sixty percent of the population has access to a mobile telephone. By the end of 2010 it was estimated that African users make up sixteen percent of the total number of worldwide Facebook users. However the largest social network in Africa is the South African based MXit which holds a massive 27 million users across the continent.

The primary reason for the existence of the internet and social networks is largely the provision and dissemination of information to any who seek access to it. Such information could be invaluable to less fortunate individuals who could make use of this information for improving education, health or even local and international news. Knowledge is power and access to the internet might even help to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS which is so rife across the African continent.

Now with access to social networks, African citizens can share and engage in debate like never before and avoid being swayed by government propaganda and hate speech. The uprisings against the dictatorships in Libya and Egypt during 2011 are evidence of the power of such free and fair information. It is important that a people are given the power to tell their government what to do, rather than the other way around.

Maybe it's online dating that you're interested in. Nowadays more and more people are taking to online dating than ever before and the stigma behind it is slowly becoming something of the past. The site offers a number of options for singles to meet that guy or girl of their dreams, which is all very convenient.

Even if it is only friendship that you're interested in, the site caters to that too. Share and chat with your friends online and even partake in some fun and casual games like Angry Birds. You can even keep up with the latest entertainment news with a host of music channels and movie trailers to keep any entertainment buff busy for hours.

It's time for Africa to take massive strides into joining the global information economy. Mobile communication is key to this due to the high availability in much of the population. It's time the continent came in out of the dark and the East African social network is among the best options for this.




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