Nelson Mandela is undoubtedly a world famous icon that inspires millions of people world wide – so then what better way to spread Madiba‘s inspirational words and messages than through his very own social network.
Yes, you read right. Just like Lady Gaga‘s social network, littlemonsters.com, Madiba will now have his own online community; mandela.is.
Of course, the idea of a Madiba’s social network, did not come from the ailing 95-year old himself. The idea was conceived by two of Mandela‘s grandsons.
30 year old Ndaba Mandela said: “œIt‘s a social network around the inspiration my grandfather gave to the world. People can share what Mandela inspired them to do, to give back to their communities.“
mandela.is is intended to be used as a platform for users of the social network to share inspirational thoughts, photos and articles and to connect with like minded people, in order to emulate Madiba‘s positive impact on the world.
Users on the social network are called “˜citizens‘, thus furthering the theme of a freedom icon throughout the online community.It also seems that the Mandela grandsons were quite inspired by Lady Gaga‘s own social network. littlemonsters.com is supported by Gaga‘s Born This Way foundation, which aims to spread a feeling of equality among young people.
The very same company that Gaga used to help build her online social community, Backplane, is being used by the Mandela‘s to set up mandela.is.
The Mandela grandsons hope mandela.is will do the same to channel energy for a bigger impact, especially because of who Madiba is and what he stands for.
However, with the former president clinging to life in hospital for the past two months, many critics have questioned the true intentions of the (already controversial) Mandela grandsons.
“œIt‘s not about the money,“ Ndaba Mandela said.
“œWe came together as a family and said “˜guys, let‘s not wait until he is dead, let us start the celebration now (while) he is still moving, talking, communicating.“
The long-term plan does include some fundraising as they eventually plan to generate some money from the site and then pledge a part of the network‘s revenues to their non-profit foundation, Africa Rising.
The grandsons insist that their main priority is “œto create a platform that is credible, respectable and enjoyable by users“ and not a money making scheme, riding on the back of their iconic grandfather.
Ndaba, an entrepreneur, developed the idea with his cousin Kweku, 28, who has a background in entertainment and marketing.
So, as Ndaba claims the social network is more of a celebration of his grandfather‘s great life and astonishing achievements, it is important to find out what real time “˜citizens‘ say about the social network.
Surprisingly, mandela.is already launched in March of this year – with almost zero media attention.
While mandela.is is still in it‘s beta phase, it already has around 1000 members, and some of them are already using the network to voice their opinions and feelings.
28-year old Nigerian journalist, Kukogho Samson, regularly posts his poems to the site:
“œSeek the honour in doing good: A word to sweeten sour mood, A loaf for mouths that lack, A cloth to cover naked back.“
While some people post personal content like poems, others use the platform to speak out against injustice, abuse and corruption.
Kathleen Ndogomo, a 34-year old entrepreneur from Cameroon, utilises the network to get vocal about the injustices in Africa, specifically concerning forced child-marriages and corruption across the continent.
mandela.is combines features from social giants, Facebook and Twitter, into one site where the “˜citizens‘ can post pictures, different information and multimedia.
The “˜citizens‘ can also tag their posts with keywords like “œeveryday heroes“, “œrandom acts of kindness“ and, of course, “œinspire“. All of this functionality also contributing to the whole “˜Madiba-vibe‘ of the network.
The site also states that it‘s goal is to inspire: “œRather than focus on Nelson Mandela‘s singular achievements, our goal is to engage a global community in dialogue about the inspiring acts of those all around us.“
Only time will tell as to whether or not mandela.is becomes yet another, sneaky scheme or if it truly evolves into an inspirational platform, addressing Africa‘s issues and connecting like-minded Africans – let‘s hope it‘s the latter!
Source: MyBroadband
