Mimiboards, also ‘electronic noticeboard’, has witnessed rapid uptake across Africa despite it still being in Beta stage and with almost no marketing, the Mimiboard network is attracting a million visits per month and could as well reach 5 million visitors a month by February 2013.
Among those instrumental in spreading the Mimiboards are media owners from South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, also distinguished as the first adopters of the service.
Johan Nel, CEO and Founder of Umuntu Media, the developers of the Mimiboard service, believes the service is well suited to media companies.
“Every morning when I wake up, I cannot wait to get to the office and introduce Mimiboard to more media owners. Being in the media industry for years I understand the challenges, Mimiboard solves some of those challenges for the industry.
“And that is why it works and grows so fast. We are extremely positive about the future of Mimiboard and what it can do for the local content and monetisation ecosystem in Africa and then the world,” Nel said.
Umuntu Media says it is due to introduce the monetisation model early next year.
Asked on why the uptake of the service has been this good, Nel said: “Because it works,” adding that, “Mimiboards get the message across, whatever that message might be. They are taking off because there is a need forthem. You can use them to advertise goods for sale, a schedule change, restaurant specials, offer a lift to another town, or advertise that job you need to fill, now!”
“Like the noticeboard in the school or business, Mimiboards are the place where people come to find out what’s going on, and what they need to know, and want to know. The boards become the heartbeat of a local area and when backed and managed by local bloggers, community leaders or media owners, they quickly become indispensable,” he went on.
According to Umuntu Media, its service fulfills a media company’s needs as it addresses its aim to be relevant to its target market: to create and place real, meaningful information right there where their target market will see it and respond to it; and because media companies want to make money out of the service.
Mimiboards is a free-to-use technology, that allows users to aggregate all their communication channels on an easy-to-use noticeboard, embed the conversation on their website and drive traffic to it.
