Scramble is on for social media users in Africa_businessday
“For us it’s all about enhancing the user experience of Google,” says Ade Oshineye, head of development for Google+ in the Middle East and Africa.
Google says since the launch of Google+ in June last year, more than 100-million people have joined in a world all about numbers. These figures cannot be verified, as Google declines to provide a breakdown of users. But Mr Oshineye says the uptake in SA and the rest of Africa has been very “positive”.
He also downplays competition from rivals. “For us it’s not competing with existing social networks. For us it’s about the existing Google experience and improving that.”
Yookos CE Tomisin Fashina believes the market is ripe for the new entrant and he plans to challenge Facebook head on. Its aim is to have 20-million active users by the end of this year.
“Africa has 140-million internet users, of which only 38-million are on Facebook. That leaves 100-million to target.
