mobile social network
Posted by on Sep 22, 2011
biNu data sheet 3133 Views
Organization that developed the Tool:
Problem or Need:
biNu’s mission is to deliver mobile web services that are fast and easy to use. For most people, using their mobile browser is not a pleasant experience. The HTML browser architecture of the web works well on PCs but does not work well over mobile wireless networks and small handheld mobile devices.
biNu is designed from the ground-up to work within these limitations and deliver a superior and more efficient mobile data experience by providing access to internet services such as search, wikipedia, education, religion, messaging (chat,SMS).
77% of the world’s population, or 5.3 billion people, are mobile subscribers. However:
- feature phones outnumber smart phones 4 to 1
- 3.9 billion mobile subscriptions are in the developing world
- many mobile-web users are mobile-only
- soon more people will access the web from their phones than PCs
Brief Description:
biNu enhances the feature phone user experience by improving Internet access speeds, social media and app availability. biNu delivers content in any language to any phone, irrespective of the installed language capabilities of a mobile device.
biNu offers Google Search & Translate, Wordnik English Dictionary, Wikipedia, news and blogs, weather, live sports scores, exchange rates, job listings, health information, the Bible and Quran in multiple languages, SMS services and more.
Tool Category:
App resides and runs on a mobile phone
Key Features :
biNu is a cloud-based software platform that delivers mobile internet services:
- in any language
- to mass-market and smart phones
- with ultra-fast (10x) response times,
- a simple, minimum key-click interface
- and low data bandwidth.
Main Services:
Mobile Payments
Mobile Social Network/Peer-to-peer
Information Resources/Information Databases
Stand-alone Application
Platforms:
Android
Blackberry/RIM
Java ME
Organizations Using the Tool:
biNu is used by consumers.
Number of Current End Users:
Languages supported:
English, Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, French and 150 others.
Handsets/devices supported:
All feature phones 2500 + devices and models
Andriod
Black Berry
Reviews/Evaluations:
http://www.techzim.co.zw/2011/09/binu-registers-rapid-growth-in-zimbabwe-mobile-app-market/
Is the Tool's Code Available?:
Is an API available to interface with your tool?:
Posted by MelissaUlbricht on Mar 23, 2011
SMSall is a service in Pakistan that enables mailing-list style interaction over SMS. It serves over 2.1 million people, and an average of 300 million SMS messages are sent every month (follow the total SMS count on the website). It is Pakistan’s largest SMS social network.
The founder of the service, Umar Saif, refers to it as “Twitter for SMS,” or as “Twitter for the 4 billion,” referring to the 4 billion people in the world who have access to mobile phones but not the Internet.
SMSall formed in response to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan. Like most Pakistani’s, Saif said, he tried to help during the aftermath but realized that although there were many rescue workers, there was no way to coordinate activities. “You would travel to a remote region with medicine, only to realize that there is plenty of medicine and all they needed were tents and warm clothing,' he said.
So Saif took action. On his laptop, he hacked together a basic response service, connected a mobile phone, and set up a broadcast group for all the rescue workers in the area. Those who subscribed to the “rescue group” would then receive SMS messages and information from the entire group.
From this grew the current-day SMSall service, the largest SMS social network in Pakistan. MobileActive.org spoke with Saif to hear more about the growth and next steps for the SMS service.
How does it work?
With the Kashmir earthquake, people could send an SMS to the service and ask to subscribe to the rescue group. Subsequently, they would receive SMS messages from everyone who posted to the rescue channel. This way, rescuers could keep in contact, in real-time, with only a basic mobile phone.
Now, SMSall users can create a group, join a group, follow a group, and broadcast to a group. The service has been used to spur blood donations, to communicate emergency responses, and to mobilize citizens in political protests. The service is used both by NGOs and more informally by people to keep in touch with friends and build communities around common interests.
SMSall became a popular platform for communication during media bans at the end of Musharraf’s rule. Political activists and members of civil society used SMSall to coordinate protests and activities. “One of the biggest groups on SMSall was run by an NGO setup by families of “missing persons” -- people who disappeared without trace during the political upheaval that gripped Pakistan in 2007 and 2008,” Saif said.
When a disaster or breaking news event occurs, specific groups form almost organically. An SMSall user will first notify an established group of friends and family, and from these many simultaneous chats, specific disaster or emergency groups are often formed, Saif said. The service resembles Twitter in that messages are being “pushed” out and viewed by any number of followers. Currently, there are over over 150,000 established groups on SMSall in Pakistan.
During the early days of SMSall, it was used to coordinate class quizzes and exams and communicate course schedules at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Saif worked with several students to tweak the system and used it in a course he taught. Other professors followed his lead, students started using it, and “before we knew it, the system went viral, very quickly,” Saif said. SMSall is currently used by over 180 colleges and universities in Pakistan. And from this grew the “SMS mailing list” in Pakistan.
| SMSall: The Largest Group “SMS Mailing List” in Pakistan data sheet 5196 Views |
| Countries: |
Pakistan
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Posted by KatrinVerclas on Jul 27, 2009
MXit is a mobile social networking service hugely popular with young South Africans who flock to it by the millions. Marlon Parker is a social entrepreneur and lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology where he’s doing his PhD who saw his drug-addicted brother go to jail. Put Marlon's personal experience together with the conversations happening on MXit every day, and you have DAS, Drug Advice Support.
In an article in South Africa's Business Times recently, Parker describes DAS:
Drug users can “chat” with the services’ counsellors when they feel the urge to use, says Parker. It is the first step in a rehabilitation programme run with nongovernmental organisation Impact Direct. The service, which is called Drug Advice Support, has since expanded to include advice on careers, rape and child abuse and an advisory service for those infected with HIV/Aids.
