Facebook kills notification activates 3rd party email contact

Imaging subscribing to about 30 facebook applications with emails activated, how will you feel if you receive one email from each everyday? Such is the possible reality to the addition that Facebook is adding to their product.

Formally, Facebook application communicates with users via the notification feature but now, they can contact you directly! This change was part of the proposed features last october. So expect more!

Business time is now

As the Facebook economy expands with over 80,000 sites currently using Facebook connect and more than 350 million users, now is time for Facebook to monetize its product. This move is part of its business strategy to become profitable. In yesterdays valuation, Facebook has been estimated to be worth $14 billion. This means that, fun times are over its time to do business.

How it works

This service is not automatic as it ask you to allow implementing application to contact you via email. You can as well withdraw your approval. Treat all application as you would any website you visit. The days of privacy are numbered so as we watch it fade out, control you online persona!

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Facebook Users in Nigeria and Africa sees Growth

I last reviewed Facebook Users across (Selected) African countries in August here. Another look at the users’ increment is outlined below. Let’s first take a look at Nigeria’s Facebook Users;

Total: 901,840
Male:577,580
Female:313,560
18 and above:866,960
25 and above:519,460

The total users’ of 901,840 represents a total of 27% or 244,480 new users from last review (August). The gender structure shows a sharp difference from male and female as the Male users edge the Female counterpart with 577,580 and 313,560 respectively. If you say Facebook is not yet for kids in Nigeria, you are quite far from being wrong as a whopping 866,960 or 96% are above 18 years of age. Also a look into the adult usage shows that Facebook is widely used among working class Nigerians above the age of 25; representing 57% of the total Facebook users from Nigeria. I look forward to seeing Nigerians on Facebook crossing the 1 Million mark by the end of the year.

Across Africa, Nigeria is placed fourth among top countries with Facebook users. Nigeria comes behind Morocco which is the third and South Africa being the first and seconded by Egypt. South Africa added more users than any other African country with as much as 422,200 or 18% followed by Egypt with 342,760 or 16% then Nigeria 244,480 or 27%. Morocco added 222,540 or 21%, Tunisia 198,900 or 22%, Kenya added 128,320 or 25% lastly Ghana with 82,280 or 29%.

Facebook usage is wildly popular in South Africa with more than half (50.4%) of Internet Users in South Africa represented on Facebook. Tunisia followed with 45% of its Internet Users registered with Facebook, then Ghana 29%, Egypt 17%, Kenya 15.2%, Morocco 10.2%, and Nigeria 8.2%.

November

August Compare to November

Looking at how Facebook is growing outside of the US, there is room for growth amongst the countries under review. Facebook has already reached the mainstream in the US and other developed countries. In South Africa, Facebook growth has been phenomenon as it as it is reaching the mainstream gradually.

What is your prediction towards Facebook adoption in Nigeria and other African countries?

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Kilonshele.com launches, Nigeria’s sport and entertainment shop-spot!

Kilonshele.com is a live entertainment and marketing company. We connect the world to live entertainment events in Nigeria by providing up-to-date information on live events and giving fans opportunity to buy tickets conveniently. Kilonshele® provides ticket sales, marketing and distribution through www.kilonshele.com, one of the best e-commerce sites on the Internet.- The official intro of the newly launched website (launch date Friday 30^th Oct. 2009 at Silverbird Galleria). Owned by Asheville Services Limited and set for a revolution in the entertainment industry.

Looking at how things are unfolding in Nigeria web industry, we are approaching “mainstream” kind of, this is a new and creative way to get you connected to the entertainment world seamlessly. Imaging buying ticket to any of the popular cinemas in Nigeria? That is one of the major values set to be unloaded by Kilonshele.com.

You may want to ask what the word “Kilonshele” means, the word is a Yoruba word which simply means “what’s up?” or “what is happening?”.

A New Deal?

Yea! In recent years, Nigerian Cinema industry resuscitated with the advent of Numetro, Silverbird  and others, giving people another option of entertainment from the usual fast food, beach and sitcoms. As the Nigerian web industry evolves so are ideas and better ways to do things, this is a game starter as its set to open a new chapter in the Nigeria entertainment industry. Looking at their official statement; “…We connect the world to live entertainment events in Nigeria by providing up-to-date information on live events and giving fans opportunity to buy tickets conveniently…” A good pitch I must say!

The Real Deal

Now what’s the deal about? How will it serve you?

• Online ticketing: you can now buy your tickets online via a secure web platform, giving you access to do adequate planning for your weekend without a rush. No more sold out events!
• Connect with Live events: Well, I hope to see how this will pan out. Is it going to be video streaming? Twitter or text? Anyhow it is you can always get connected.
• It also promised to send email and SMS alerts of your favourite artist/comedian shows, hot movie in town and things of interest to you.
• The events listed also provide means for you purchase ticked right away!
• Events and tickets are available across Nigeria.

The challenge

The site design is aesthetic and cool! As a trends setter, the site will need to create a standard worth competing for. As always popularity is of great importance, and the bunch of it will happen on the launch date.

Technicality: I think a review needs to be done to the customer area so as to give accurate personal data. (I have some reservations there).

Talking about money now, holistic approach needs to be done to the billing process as more Nigeria are yet to master online payment and trust them as well.

Business Model

The model employed buy this site includes; Advertisement and Infomediary, making money off ticket sold and from attention generated.

Have a similar site, idea? “Ki lo n she le?”

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Corporate Web Strategy: Setting up the implementation team

In my last post I discussed about what corporate strategies was and how to get started defining one. Title for today simply wants to focus on how to form a team that will deliver a fulfilling web strategy.

The Team

Snap shot of those who should be on the team;

• The CEO or COO
• The CIO or top IT personality in the organization
• Customer Support personnel
• Sales & Marketing
• External consultant (Web designs, Developer and Strategist)

That’s the ideal fulcrum of people you should make members of the team, now let’s look at their respective roles in the building process. Remember, less is better, don’t let too many people be in the team so as not to slow-down the process.

CEO or COO

The CEO is the engine room of the company, with keen understanding of the business role, the role of company in the industry and the future of the company. In case the CEO is not available, the COO or vice-president can stand in. These other people are members of the Management and will be able to voice the importance of the web project and be able to allocate resources according to the company’s budget and strategies. Even though the CEO may have an idea of the importance of the web campaign, he should further be educated by the consultant or the IT person on the strategic roles of the web. The CEO will be more concern about the ROI of this campaign hence making sure that overzealousness is curtailed in the process. I have seen in some companies in my course of consulting with clients that, some CEO may have read, heard and seen some positive effect of the web (and IT), they just want it implemented ASAP, hence given less room for thorough implementation and strategies. So, thorough briefing or education is very important.

CIO or IT Personality

In most organizations, there are separate department for IT and a figure-head in form of manager or CIO. IT personalities are generally informed to a large extent as to what is happening on the internet, the service providers, competent vendors and experience as to how to implement the web strategies. Their roles are very important so that you don’t over pay for services to be rendered by the external consultants.

I have seen some companies making the web building process a sole responsibility of the IT department to their detriment. Most IT persons don’t know rudiments about the business, and mostly placed in the support department. So they just implement the website just the way they think other people do it with the company’s operations in mind.

Customer Support Personnel

The web has evolved from just another brochure for marketing to customer service. With the advent of web 2.0 and its child social media, web sites are now responsive giving the customer service department a better way to help customers faster. The customer service personnel should be in the team to tell their story, how customers respond, which method they like to be served and the trends.

Sales & Marketing

As Newton once said “Everything remains at the staff of rest until a force is applied”, in business nothing really happens until a sale is made! The sale is what brings in the money, while the marketing is worth expose to people what you have to offer! The input of these departments is very important because it is the ultimate thing that will affect the bottom line which will make the CEO happen and every other staff members and investors.

The sales and marketing persons explains the method they have been using, how they have performed so far, what they want change, what is hot in the market and ways to make them reach the customers better. If all their comments are well taken note of and integrated into the web strategies, the success of the web campaign is inevitable.

External consultant (Web designs, Developer and Strategist)

Getting an expert in these areas is very important, if your IT department are not web savvy, you must consult an external person to help you in this process.

Talking about the web consultants, you need to understand that, the web is vast and in most cases one person doesn’t know it all. Firms generally consultant with a web designer or developer who are basically tech people and may not be able to maximize the potential of the web. Yea, well they will provide their service to your liking but I will like to add that the impact of a strategist is the void currently needed to be filled in your next web campaign (in case you don’t have one). The role of the strategist is simply to create a bridge between the business process and the web technology at hand for optimum return. This will make sure that, all efforts are geared towards serving the customer and at the same time getting good return on your expenditure.

Summary

I will summary the works of each team members as; CEO brings the business needs, challenges and focus to the ground, while the customer services & sales and marketing personnels brings the business process, customer needs and their ideas to fore, the web designer/developer create the web pages and application while web strategist link the business need with what the designer/developer is doing for effective return and monitoring.

Do you have a web team? What are they comprised of and how have they performed so far? Drop comment below…

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Top Nigerian Web Hosting Companies

We featured here last week, Nigerian top web hosting companies. As promised, we will feature other taking note of the game changers and the most creative ones. The two for today are Web4Africa.com and Nairahost.com, I have followed the two sites for the couple of years and I must say they have been consistent.

Web4Africa.net

Founded by a top Africa blogger, Oluniyi David Ajao, a young Nigerian base in Accra, Ghana. He started the company in 2002 and since then it’s been in upward trajectory. This young man has also been profiled as one of the most influential Nigerians online here, and was present at the last barcamp Nigeria held in Lagos. Web4Africa operate both in Nigeria and Ghana serving its teeming customers across Africa and other continents.

web4africa.net has been  live for 7 years now and still competitive. I will group the company as a game changer  in the industry given their way of operation and means of payment.

Nairahost.com

Founded in 2004, by another young Nigerian based in Malaysia Kayode Muyibi popularly known as Kazey. In fact, Seun of Nairaland had to make a lot of public notice that he was not the owner or had any interest in Nairahost.com during the startup period. The site was recently rumored to have been acquired by Deolu Akinyemi of Generis Solution for $500,000, but when I got in touch with Deolu, his response was “No comment!” well am not sure he acquired it but with all indication he probably might have acquired it since he is the current CEO of the company. Both Deolu and Kazey were recently profiled as Most Influential Nigerians on the internet here.

Nairahost.com has been  live for 5 years now and still competitive. I will group the company as a game changer  in the industry given their way of operation and means of payment.

I will be reviewing more hosting companies in Nigeria next week. Keep it locked down here!

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Top Web Development Companies in Nigeria

I will be reviewing on this page, top web development companies in Nigeria, we would look into applications they have developed, how long they have been in the business and their general influence on the web space in Nigeria. Don’t mind if I start from the big guns, I think we should appreciate the impact they have had on the industry.

Sidmach Technologies

They developed Waeconline.org.ng, jamb.org.ng Nigeria‘s first online examination registration websites. I will say these projects opened a new chapter in the web industry in Nigeria!

Looking at Sidmach’s portfolio, they have more government related projects than Taviatech.

They have offices in Lagos, Abuja and Portharcourt.

Taviatech

“Tavia Technologies Limited is an experienced technology company offering Web, Wireless & Business Intelligence services. We have consistently provided first class services to our valued customers in the Telecommunication, Banking, Oil & Gas, Law Firms, Insurance, Real Estate, Non-Profit, Recreational, Manufacturing Industries and other sectors. “

Taviatech has been in the business for 10 years and have deployed high-end solutions including Interswitch e-payment system (website), MTN, Access Bank, FCMB, Starcomms portal and other great solutions. Their office is located at Motor ways centre in Ikeja, Lagos.

This is just the beginning as more companies will be featured here. We will also look at individual designers that are world-class from Nigeria.

Stay tuned!

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Nigerian top web hosting companies: signonafrica.net, mcreal.net

We will be featuring Nigerian web hosting companies in this newly created section, I will start with the veteran then to the innovative and game changers. Web hosting and domain registration as we may all know, are the bedrock of your online success, hence choosing one is very critical. I will advise first of all that you should not accept a free domain or hosting you won’t have access to move around. Think about it this way, if someone’s name is written on your business certificate, wow, am sure he owns the business. Think about it this way again, if someone has the key to your office or has a cheque of yours and still a signatory to. He definitely owns your business. This must be taking serious I must say, because it has brought down a lot of promising websites!

The 2 companies above have been in the industry since the internet usage became widespread in Nigeria and I must say, they still remain relevant and operative till now.

Back in 2004, I registered my first domain name with signonafrica.net printing my presence on the websphere. Then remained with them till I founded my own web hosting company. Signonafrica.net became the yardstick of other budding web hosting firm. I could remember using their prices for benchmaking and doing our business projections. Almost half of the sites I knew then were hosted by signonafrica. In webhosting like every other ones, there are challenges and ups and down, Signonafrica also experience a fair share if theirs. There server was shut down sometime about 3 years ago because of a fraudulent website registered. The website signed up with them under false pretense to perpetrate phishing and subsequently affected a whole lot of other sites.

Their office which is located at the heart of Ikeja, Allen Avenue in Lagos remains functional.

Mcreal.net is also a veteran in webhosting business in Nigeria, having been in the business for over 5 years and still keeping it real! Their website was one of the coolest in terms of design and graphics. Mcreal.net is also selected as one of the official .ng registration company.

This is just the beginning, 2 other companies will be featured next week, while not subscribe to our feed to get an alert.

Disclosure: This review is not sponsored by any of the companies under review hence they are as objective as my experience with them and observation over the years.

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WebStartAfrica Launches to empower Africa Technopreneurs

Yet again another buzz to signal the emergence of the scramble for Africa in the Web-Technology space. WebstartAfrica, created to help support African technologist. Ranging from students to hobbyists to veterans. WebstartAfrca believes that young technologist are the future of Africa.

Founded by Josef Scarantino, a web professional based in Washington DC. Josef have passion and believe in African and its potential and He has volunteered in various humanitarian missions to Africa.
WebstartAfrica says: “Consider webstartAfrica the support organization for those pursuing Web and mobile technology in Africa. We exist to help lower the barriers to accessing technology. From conferences to education to employment, we are passionate about connecting technologists to opportunities.”

This is a non-for-profit organization added to the list of other Venture Capitalists like VC4Africa, Afrifunding, Fundman and a host of others.

WebstartAfrica currently focuses on Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South africa. Targeting the highly technology aware cities in the countries; Kampala, Nairobi, Accra, Jo’burg, & Lagos.

This is a giant step taken to continue to bridge the gap between Idea and funding in Africa.

WebstartAfrica is currently recruiting interested technology enthusiast to serve on its board. Show interest here
Technopreneur, What are you thinking?

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Most visited Nigeria Sites for September, Punchng.com finally drop off top 10

Welcome yet again to our monthly ranking table. We would be dissecting the movement and trends one after the other, but before that let me welcome you to our newly structured ranking format.

The new format allows you to see how the sites moved from the start of the year till current month. This helps you look at the trending and make sense of the ranking. You can view the current ranking and historical ranking here

The Elites Sites

Punchng.com, Nigeria’s premier newspaper finally dropped-off the top ten Nigerian sites. As usual Nairaland.com maintained the top spot having bounced back since July. While Punchng.com languishes on their model’s downside, other news sites have taken prominence ever since. Sunnewsonline.com seals it on the second spot for the second time in a row. While vanguardng.com, moved 3 places to displace ngrguardiannews.com.

Naijahotjobs.com dropped 2 places to stay at 6^th position, what is happening to Naijahotjobs.com? Well the recruitment industry has witnessed a boom with new entrant coming into the industry. Jobberman.com recently launched a job search platform and has since garnered considerable hits. 234next.com also confirmed its presence in the top 10 sites by remaining on the 8^th spot for the second month in a row. Goodlife.com.ng a debutant last month rally surprisingly to join the Elites club, with a rally of 15 places, it indeed shows sign of seriousness.

Overall, 60% or 6 of the top 10 sites are news site, while 2 forum sites and 2 portal site makes up the remaining top 10 for this month.

Nigeriamasterweb.com rally back up to the top 21, after drop by 14^th places last month. Flyaero.com dropped 6^th place from the top 10 of last month.

The Movers

Goodlife.com.ng is our top mover for the month, moving 15 places while nigeriamasterweb.com is second top mover with 14 places move. Thepmnews.com comes third, moved 4 places to stay at 30^th spot.

The Shakers

Cscsnigerialtd.com is the biggest shaker for the month dropping a whopping 26 places, followed by zain.com which dropped 19 places and odili.net which also dropped 14 places.

Worldwide

Yahoo remains the most visited website in Nigeria followed by Facebook then Google. While Blogger.com is gaining momentum, this buttress the fact that, worldwide rave of blogging is also finding its feet in Nigeria. Youtube.com and also are forces to recon with on the space. Microsoft websites (live.com and msn.com 6^th and 9^th respectively) are also not left out, though dropped so many places in recent times. Twitter.com and wordpress.com also remained solid on the hit grab from Nigeria.

Summary

News website remains the top hit grabber followed by forum and portal. Various events happening around the country contributed to the hit being generated by these sites. Whilst newly launched sites are finding their ways into the ranking table, more sites are beginning to generate considerable hits to get them on the table.

Note: this ranking is based on Alexa ranking.

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MTN Google SMS, Etisalat EasyCliq Great Products

MTN the largest mobile Telecom operator in Nigeria recently introduced Google SMS Search, an innovative product from Google which gives Telecom operator and mobile users flexible platform to get access to information on the go. The services allows you to get;

• Foreign News
• Local News
• Definition
• Q&A (Fact based questions)
• and Conversion

Etisalat one of the new entrants in the Telecom market in Nigeria, took a giant step by coming into the market despite the domination of MTN, Globacom and Zain. Their product EastCliq Facebook Service, I must say is very innovative. EasyCliq allows you to update your Facebook Status on the go. Things you can do include;

• Update Facebook status
• Upload pictures to your Facebook account
• SMS Blog
• Write on you wall

We recently reported the number of Facebook users in Nigeria(657,360), developing service to reach them I must say is a good development. I personally have used this service and I must attest to the fact that its launch is timely.

Adoption

MTN Google SMS

The advert is everywhere, there is really no estimate as to the number of MTN subscribers using this service. MTN’s growth in Nigeria has root in its usage of the media and I wont be surprised to see them move this also to every subscribers and non-subscribers. N10 is charged to use this service. Read more on their website here.

EasyCliq

In our last ranking of most visited site in Nigeria, we reported that Facebook has toppled Google to stand as the second most visited site in Nigeria after Yahoo. Looking at the rapid growth of Facebook in Nigeria, the product is timely but we need also to note that Etisalat user base is low compared to MTN. N20 is charged per update using this service. Read more their website here.

Similarities  and Differences

Both services does not require you to have internet access, network coverage is enough for you to enjoy it.

While MTN charges N10, Etisalat charges N20. I think this will count on Etisalat, for me the price should be reviewed.

Mathematically looking at the trends online; Internet users in Nigeria are moving more to Facebook than Google. I believe MTN can counter this by bringing in service like this. Etisalat really needs to push the Facebook Service more as I could see that the all night call is more advertised than this.

I will like to know choice, have used any of these services? How was it?

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