Networking on the web
Post created: May 04, 2008
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Courtesy of East Standard
By Gathoni Muraya
Facebook, MySpace, QuestionIt, Fanbox, Youtube, Blogging, these are just some of the names that are defining online social networking today. The developers of these websites have continued to explore the boundaries of creativity offered by the Internet and used it to tap into the growing online consumer market.
And the phenomenon has been catching up fast locally in recent times as developments like VoiP changed the spectre of online communication.
"In terms of progress, the last gap for us here as far as the potential of the internet is concerned is local online networking," Mr Kevin Ouma, I-Commerce Director at 3mice Interactive Media, states.
Chat time: Local chat websites like mashada.com are favourites among Kenyans.
He says Kenyans are just getting used to the concept of social online networking including blogs but budding technology entrepreneurs have espied the abounding prospects and fast taken advantage of this to set up resident websites.
"The psychology of this kind of networking is first and foremost that it focuses on community bonding revolving around the familiar and relevant," he explains adding that this is why even though a site like Facebook has been quite popular, local sites are rapidly gaining recognition.
"Some like Mashada.com, a social discourse forum and Clubxzalt which is designed for Christians of all ages, have specifics designed along the line of Facebook and are very precisely targeted at a local niche grouping," he says.
This is detrimental to the appeal because the sites are all about personal interests and interacting with people who share similar interests.
Whether it is discussions, reviewing or posting music online or business networking such as that offered Tujuane.com for professionals in East Africa, the diversity covers all areas of social intercourse.
So popular has this kind of networking become that businesses and the advertising world are keenly keeping tabs on developments as the potential offered by I-commerce continues unfolding.
The online networks have increasingly boosted business in local cyber cafes especially within the past couple of months.
"Social online networking has become quite popular especially with the new sites like Facebook that have generated high levels of interest for persons between the ages of 16 to 30 or so," says Ken Karanja who is part of the Technical Support team in Skylab CafÈ in Nairobi.
Maximum benefits
It is a mix of high school leavers, college going, graduates and young professionals.
"For the school leavers it is a chance to keep in touch with other friends who have graduated while for the savvy professionals it is a social forum that offers varied personal opportunities which include dating or even job postings," he further reveals.
Being able to interact with friends new and old across the globe on such sites which have enhanced the personal feel through modular components offering video and photo capabilities has been a driving force in consumer attraction.
"Cyber cafes like ours who keep abreast of latest technological developments and ensure you have the bandwidth and speed to meet demands reap the benefits," Karanja says and adds that added to the chat rooms and VOiP features, this network sites are proving to be the next big thing. "Users are drawn to spend more time on the net as they catch up with friends and view the latest message and pictures posted on their personal pages and thus they are spending more money," he says.
There is even a new term to define this favourite pastime known as ‘Facebooking’. On issues of security, he says some of these sites have passwords and other restrictions that users can apply to stem intrusion but admits there is a strong likelihood that they are not 100 per cent fireproof to bar hackers.
Mr James Muhia a Supervisor at Image Cyber CafÈ agrees and says that there is a danger of hackers posting virus applications known as malwares or Trojans onto these sites. "There is little we can do on our side to protect users and ourselves from such threats because if we put up firewalls there is a big possibility we will lose customers who do not want to be limited in their use of different applications," he affirms.
Blogs on the other hand do not require too many personal details and one can choose to be a member or not in order to participate in online discussions. A number of people do this through aliases thus reducing the likelihood of privacy invasion by online opportunists. Blogging is one of the important methods used by social networking sites.
The local blogging community has grown intertwined by common areas of interest such as the recent elections, which generated heightened escalation in users from the local to diaspora.
Some of the more famous local blogsites include Mashada.com, Abunuwasi.com, Kumekucha.com, Kenyanlist.com, Mchongowano.com among others where anything from politics, sports, daily occurrences to national eccentricities are discussed and dissected.
Opportunities
Ouma says online social networking presents prospects that will have an impact on offline and online business locally. "Eventually marketing managers will have to pay attention in order to use the trend to their advantage given that the average time that an individual spends daily on the sites of their choice range between 30 to 40 minutes," he says.
Advertisers need to target their products and services to consumers depending the content and demographics of the site, for example Clubxzalt.com , a Christian based site that meaning that any company marketing itself would be aware of the specifics. "Once the fibre optic cable is complete by the end of these year these sites will continue mushrooming due to cheaper costs and high bandwidth availability making e-commerce a critical factor in the coming year," he asserts.
Music artists can also market their music through these networking sites which is happening globally through some like MySpace.com and Youtube.com. These sites have launched some of the new big names in the music world who gained recognition after posting their videos.
Challenges
One of the key problems posed by online social networks in the local context is the restriction of content. "Such concerns especially when it comes to minors need serious redress and parents need to be made aware of the dangers involved in online surfing and take steps to install software like Nanny Patrol in home PCs," Ouma says.
There are also security and privacy concerns and he advises users to exercise caution when putting their personal details on these sites, as you can never be too sure. Such data is also in danger of being used by unscrupulous persons to devise con schemes.
Some of these sites also present platforms to discuss political matters and spreading of propaganda is a real danger. It is thus vital for the government to come up with the right ICT policies and regulations that address the dynamic challenges posed by the Internet environment.
"It is not very easy to do this as the government must not be seen to be curbing the freedom of expression and as experts in the field we are also collaborating in order to set up the right framework," he says.
By Gathoni Muraya
Facebook, MySpace, QuestionIt, Fanbox, Youtube, Blogging, these are just some of the names that are defining online social networking today. The developers of these websites have continued to explore the boundaries of creativity offered by the Internet and used it to tap into the growing online consumer market.
And the phenomenon has been catching up fast locally in recent times as developments like VoiP changed the spectre of online communication.
"In terms of progress, the last gap for us here as far as the potential of the internet is concerned is local online networking," Mr Kevin Ouma, I-Commerce Director at 3mice Interactive Media, states.
Chat time: Local chat websites like mashada.com are favourites among Kenyans.
He says Kenyans are just getting used to the concept of social online networking including blogs but budding technology entrepreneurs have espied the abounding prospects and fast taken advantage of this to set up resident websites.
"The psychology of this kind of networking is first and foremost that it focuses on community bonding revolving around the familiar and relevant," he explains adding that this is why even though a site like Facebook has been quite popular, local sites are rapidly gaining recognition.
"Some like Mashada.com, a social discourse forum and Clubxzalt which is designed for Christians of all ages, have specifics designed along the line of Facebook and are very precisely targeted at a local niche grouping," he says.
This is detrimental to the appeal because the sites are all about personal interests and interacting with people who share similar interests.
Whether it is discussions, reviewing or posting music online or business networking such as that offered Tujuane.com for professionals in East Africa, the diversity covers all areas of social intercourse.
So popular has this kind of networking become that businesses and the advertising world are keenly keeping tabs on developments as the potential offered by I-commerce continues unfolding.
The online networks have increasingly boosted business in local cyber cafes especially within the past couple of months.
"Social online networking has become quite popular especially with the new sites like Facebook that have generated high levels of interest for persons between the ages of 16 to 30 or so," says Ken Karanja who is part of the Technical Support team in Skylab CafÈ in Nairobi.
Maximum benefits
It is a mix of high school leavers, college going, graduates and young professionals.
"For the school leavers it is a chance to keep in touch with other friends who have graduated while for the savvy professionals it is a social forum that offers varied personal opportunities which include dating or even job postings," he further reveals.
Being able to interact with friends new and old across the globe on such sites which have enhanced the personal feel through modular components offering video and photo capabilities has been a driving force in consumer attraction.
"Cyber cafes like ours who keep abreast of latest technological developments and ensure you have the bandwidth and speed to meet demands reap the benefits," Karanja says and adds that added to the chat rooms and VOiP features, this network sites are proving to be the next big thing. "Users are drawn to spend more time on the net as they catch up with friends and view the latest message and pictures posted on their personal pages and thus they are spending more money," he says.
There is even a new term to define this favourite pastime known as ‘Facebooking’. On issues of security, he says some of these sites have passwords and other restrictions that users can apply to stem intrusion but admits there is a strong likelihood that they are not 100 per cent fireproof to bar hackers.
Mr James Muhia a Supervisor at Image Cyber CafÈ agrees and says that there is a danger of hackers posting virus applications known as malwares or Trojans onto these sites. "There is little we can do on our side to protect users and ourselves from such threats because if we put up firewalls there is a big possibility we will lose customers who do not want to be limited in their use of different applications," he affirms.
Blogs on the other hand do not require too many personal details and one can choose to be a member or not in order to participate in online discussions. A number of people do this through aliases thus reducing the likelihood of privacy invasion by online opportunists. Blogging is one of the important methods used by social networking sites.
The local blogging community has grown intertwined by common areas of interest such as the recent elections, which generated heightened escalation in users from the local to diaspora.
Some of the more famous local blogsites include Mashada.com, Abunuwasi.com, Kumekucha.com, Kenyanlist.com, Mchongowano.com among others where anything from politics, sports, daily occurrences to national eccentricities are discussed and dissected.
Opportunities
Ouma says online social networking presents prospects that will have an impact on offline and online business locally. "Eventually marketing managers will have to pay attention in order to use the trend to their advantage given that the average time that an individual spends daily on the sites of their choice range between 30 to 40 minutes," he says.
Advertisers need to target their products and services to consumers depending the content and demographics of the site, for example Clubxzalt.com , a Christian based site that meaning that any company marketing itself would be aware of the specifics. "Once the fibre optic cable is complete by the end of these year these sites will continue mushrooming due to cheaper costs and high bandwidth availability making e-commerce a critical factor in the coming year," he asserts.
Music artists can also market their music through these networking sites which is happening globally through some like MySpace.com and Youtube.com. These sites have launched some of the new big names in the music world who gained recognition after posting their videos.
Challenges
One of the key problems posed by online social networks in the local context is the restriction of content. "Such concerns especially when it comes to minors need serious redress and parents need to be made aware of the dangers involved in online surfing and take steps to install software like Nanny Patrol in home PCs," Ouma says.
There are also security and privacy concerns and he advises users to exercise caution when putting their personal details on these sites, as you can never be too sure. Such data is also in danger of being used by unscrupulous persons to devise con schemes.
Some of these sites also present platforms to discuss political matters and spreading of propaganda is a real danger. It is thus vital for the government to come up with the right ICT policies and regulations that address the dynamic challenges posed by the Internet environment.
"It is not very easy to do this as the government must not be seen to be curbing the freedom of expression and as experts in the field we are also collaborating in order to set up the right framework," he says.