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I have refrained from blogging about this for the past few weeks. Partly because I had a lot to do at M&G Online before I left and partly because there is still a lot that I had to find out about Zoopy.

I managed to get much done with M&G and have the utmost confidence that they are on a path to absolutely fantastic things under new leadership. A new GM has taken on Matt’s role, Jason Norwood-Young has taken on Vince’s role and I can almost certainly say that M&G is heading down one helluva great path and we are all in for some interesting times.

Moving on to Zoopy.

I have taken up the position of Gauteng GM for Zoopy. The decision to move to Zoopy was a tough one because it meant that I was leaving a company and brand like Mail & Guardian Online. But Zoopy presented me with some very enticing ideas, goals and movements for the next 12 months or so. The plans are innovative, interesting and like nothing being done in the online market in SA at this point in time. I couldn’t say no to a chance like this.

Basically I am going to be setting up Zoopy in JHB for now. That means staff, offices, equipment and most importantly relationships with anyone who thinks they can offer something of value to our vision.

That’s all I’m going to say for now as it has been a long day and I have yet to step in to my first meeting here in Cape Town. Bring them on.

For those of you attending the 27 Dinner in CT this week, I’ll see you there and look forward to meeting many of you for the first time in real life, really!

As many people know the mobile industry is big business, especially here in SA and in the broader African market.

I’ve been making some inroads in to trying to undestand the mobile market as fully as possible recently.

I am lookingt at the mobile market as someone heavily involved in the media industry and trying to find a place for the media in the mobile market. I am not considering the mobile market from the point of view of a startup, website, portal, communication idea or gaming company. I am looking at the mobile market from the perspective of an organisation that produces weekly content that goes in to a newspaper.

There are some things that I have noticed and some problems that I have seen with the theory that mobile is going to be the next big thing very soon.

Lets begin with three quick points:

1. Communication is actually THE mobile market
2. Social Networking is the up-and-commer
3. Gaming is already making a mark - a massive one - on the market
4. The service providers are the ones making the money

And now let us go through the barriers to entry that I feel exist for media in the mobile market.

1. Newspaper content is a push market
2. Mobile users want to own their content - pull it towards themselves
3. Understanding of extensive mobile web surfing is low in higher LSM’s
4. Portals are non-exist, with the exception of service providers

The basic barriers that I have listed above make it extremely difficult for media organisations to make a valuable stand in the mobile market. Users are looking to interact with one another and content. This means they want to create the content, interact with it, send it to their friends, invite their friends to interact with eachother and their content. This is difficult as a media organisation when you are producing the content and pushing it to the market.

I am interested to know if you agree with these barriers? Do you think that media is stuck in a “push” business model? Or are they making inroads in to the “pull” of content creation, distribution and user interaction?

Amatomu is being heralded by many as the South African Technorati. This is not a bad description as far as I can see it. You get to post your blog in the list, it gets ranked, your feed gets posted, you get exposure, there is a tag cloud, there is a widget (a must have!) and a cool stat counter that show’s you your blogs influence on the market!

These are all great but for me the simplicity of the site is what sets it apart. Vincent Maher (online strategist from MG Online) has done a sterling job of making a complicated process and concept look and feel incredibly simple to the average blogger. The process is almost and just about idiot proof and this is an important and necessary feature. Not all bloggers are coding experts or IT freaks. Many, if not most, are simply trying to blog their thought.

Amatomu is an incredible tool to get your thoughts out there. Join today, lets crash the MG server and show our support for innovation in the South African market.

Some may argue that MG being behind the site is a problem. I say hell no to that. I think that media organisations taking the leap in to the burgeoning online market is refreshing and needed. Congratulations to the team for their efforts and result!

P.S: What is that name about, Amatomu? Sounds cool but possibly a bit hard to remember.

Tyler, screw you for beating me to this post!! For a detailed look at the features, read Tyler’s post!