South Africa's largest mobile operator, Vodacom, announced last week the release of its social network, The Grid, to a worldwide audience, following its successful reception in parts of Africa.
The Grid is a mobile social network, which builds its niche around location-based services, using cellphone mast triangulation to detect where a user and their connections are, and enabling them to recommend places, post pictures and leave notes for each other.
The international release of The Grid will not include these services. Instead, The Grid will simply be another social network. The difference, according to Vodacom, is that it's developed with the mobile platform in mind.
“It has chat/IM functionality, but - in addition - users can drop blips linked to their profile. Blips can contain photos, video or text - which means your profile can be compared to that of a mobile blog viewable by your friends in The Grid community,” says Vodacom Ventures executive head, Phillip Boshielo.
Boshielo says the release aims to open up social networking to those who may not have Internet access aside from using WAP. After evaluating the uptake overseas, Vodacom will consider introducing the location-based aspect in the international offering.
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Vodacom expands The Grid
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