US President Barak Obama's use of new technologies, such as Mxit, will probably make him more in touch and more popular with young African voters than their own domestic leaders, says political commentator Daniel Silke
Yesterday, the US embassy gave SA's only home grown social networking service, Mxit, the green light to collate and deliver to Obama questions that its users would like to pose to the US president. Questions were being collected from 6pm yesterday and the session will end at 4pm today.
Obama is on his first African visit since being elected US president and will be visiting the West African country of Ghana from 10 to 11 July, during which his answers will be sent back to the MXit user base of some 14 million people.
The US president is also known for being a bit of a device geek himself as, after being elected to office, he bemoaned the loss of his Blackberry and the Secret Service had to provide him with a secure mobile device to replace it.
Silke says Obama was the first real politician to master the use of technology in campaigning and is not afraid to try new technologies.
“He is probably way ahead of domestic African leaders in using this technology and this may make him more popular in their own countries than they are. Obama is setting a real example here,” he says.
Silke says technologies such as MXit have the potential to develop a very close relationship between government and its citizens, but few leaders have actually made real use of it.
“We are very proud to have been asked to be part of a campaign to better understand and engage with African youth,” says Herman Heunis, Mxit's founder and CEO. “We are simply delighted that such an important and influential president understands and acknowledges the power of social networking.”
MXit has users in 254 countries and delivers over 35 000 messages per second, making it one of the largest and most popular global mobile social networks. It is especially popular in Africa, where it offers users a means to engage with family and friends through chat rooms that offer communication at a fraction of the cost of mobile SMS or voice calls.
To send a message to Obama, on MXit, go to www.mxit.com/wap on your mobile phone to download the social network and IM and follow the prompts to leave a comment or question.
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