This is a bold step that has been taken by Google, MTN and the companies working alongside these “IT Giants”. However, as you have rightly said we need “local content” to make these services effective, and ultimately be put to them to good use. I think for starters that the energies which has been channeled into the development of these IT services also have to be channeled into the development of content. These IT services have to be opened up in such a way that they allow local consumers to be content creators. In addition to this, there has to be at the very least a decent investment in marketing efforts in order to publicize these services, and educate the publics on their use and value propositions.

In Africa we are lagging behind not just in technology but also in the culture that drives the creation of content. If these services are to succeed as we hope they will, we need to invest resources not just in the technologies, but in all infrastructures necessary for the creation of the content that drives these services.

Ozo-Eson Omosigho
Zero&One Technologies (Nigeria)

As an aside, how much is Twitter used in places like Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria these days?