2go is a mobile social networking application that targets users in emerging markets, particularly Africa. With over 21 million registered users in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya and approximately 50,000 registered users joining the bandwagon daily, 2go’s popularity is steadily increasing. In Nigeria alone, 2go has over 10 million users, making it more popular than Facebook which has about 5 million users in Nigeria.
The application’s success can be attributed to the need for social network users in Africa to have affordable platforms they can connect, share and meet new friends on. This is a need that 2go has satisfied by allowing its users send instant messages to each other, meet new people, upload photos, and share updates with their friends and family – all for free*.
According to 2go Director, Peter Lockhart, “Building mobile technology for an African market is tough; data and SMS are expensive and our users are price sensitive and savvy. That means we have to deliver an application that uses the absolute minimum of system resources and bandwidth. Our response has been to develop proprietary communications protocols and compression algorithms that minimize the app’s data usage.”
2go mobile app was launched four years ago by South Africa based developers who realised the benefit of active participation from their users. They put in place a system where users could add suggestions, product reviews, and recommendations for other services that could be added. According to them, the insights gained in Nigeria have helped in improving the app.
2go has a simple yet elegant user interface, support on major mobile devices such as Blackberry (with BIS integration), Android and over 800 feature phones, and integration with other web based social networking sites like Facebook, Gtalk and MXIT. Users can also buy content, play games, make use of chat rooms and access other special features using GoCredits, the app’s currency. With all these features, there is little wonder why we 2go users like it.
[image via Flickr/ Tallent Show]
