I didn’t really have anything solidified when I resigned from Zoopy so it is with great pleasure and pride that I can now say that I am moving to Vodacom as the Product Manager in the Social Networking Porfolio.

My time at Zoopy was well spent, I learned alot regarding myself, what I want to do and what I am good at. I also figured out where I think the market is heading, what the industry is doing and where I should be positioning myself.

Zoopy is doing fantastic things right now and are one of the online companies to watch this year.

I am going to be working very closely with Vincent Maher, who is going to be my new boss. I’ve worked with Vincent before and feel that I can only learn more and get better at what I do working at Vodacom for Vince.

If you haven’t realised it yet, mobile is not the next big thing, it’s the big thing.

Here’s the piece:

Zoopy is the very first website to feature on the show with Poppy.

What we need from you is to head on over to Zoopy, register and upload content tagging it with “5fm”. It will then be pulled through to the Zoopy 5fm page where you’ll be able to see the uploads and share them around.

So head over to Zoopy now, listen to 5FM via streaming media and get registered and uploading!

This is not to say that I didn’t have a blast, the VIP section was a treat as they always are.

The event was one that was intended to be a tester for the Zoopy JHB crew. It was our first major live event that we covered.

Terri Hayward and Klaus Bauer (the Zoopy crew) did a sterling job if I do say so myself. They proved that Zoopy can get the interviews, be on top of events and provide top class coverage as it happens, when it happens – to quote a great radio station.

Some of highlights included speaking to Shameel Joosub, the MD of Vodacom, DJ Fresh from 5FM, the very first official Vodacom sold iPhone owner and Dot Field the Chief Communications Officer at Vodacom. We were taking photographs, doing interviews and uploading for almost the entire evening and it showed.

Zoopy recorded some great stats yesterday and a great achievement for us was having our content shown on CNBC Africa over lunch and in a late afternoon show.

So here’s to many more events being covered, many more shows being seen and many more interviews being done.

If you have an event coming up that you think could do with some almost live coverage, drop me a mail: nic at zoopy dot com.

Zoopy increases media delivery speed with local hosting

Two months after receiving investment from Vodacom (which now owns a
40% stake in the company), South African social media site Zoopy has
started to roll out some of the large scale community improvements
they hinted at when announcing the Vodacom deal.

Members of Zoopy.com, which launched in March 2007, are able to upload
and share videos, photos, podcasts and blogs – both online and via a
choice of mobile applications. Until now, users have been doing so
using international bandwidth to connect to Zoopy’s overseas servers.
This is standard practice for most medium to large online businesses
in South Africa, who are often left with little option but to host
internationally when faced with much higher local hosting fees. The
downside to hosting outside of the country, however, is reduced
loading speed of websites and, in Zoopy’s case, media files like
videos and photos.

According to Zoopy CEO, Jason Elk, this is now a thing of the past for
Zoopy visitors. “As of today, we have servers in South Africa that
will deliver Zoopy content using local bandwidth for South Africans.
The significantly slower international speeds and low bandwidth caps
in SA (many users only budget for the 3gb they receive per month) have
left us as frustrated as any other internet user in the country. So
we’re prepared to do what it takes to deliver our media at amazing
speeds, whether viewed on Zoopy.com or embedded on other sites or
blogs. And for our members, an increase in upload speeds when adding
media to your Zoopy profile will make things quicker and more
convenient too,” says Elk.

Zoopy has also just increased their upload file size limit from 100mb
to 200mb. Elk explains, “If we’re giving visitors a quicker and more
comfortable experience over local bandwidth, we wanted to add to the
enjoyment by giving them more space to express themselves as well.
Members now have 200mb to play with and can upload longer or better
quality versions of their videos, for example. As always, this service
remains completely free.”

“These improvements are part of a determined plan to bring the Zoopy
community everything they need to manage, view and share their media
in all the ways they’ve hoped for, and more”.

This is a very important step for us for various reasons. I wont go in to much detail as there is an entire blog post dedicated to the topic on the Zoopy Blog so head over and read it.

For now visit muti and digg and vote up the post.

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!

How I know is quite simple, Zoopy blogged about it:

As of last night, ‘views’ on Zoopy means the number of times the media item’s page has been viewed on Zoopy, plus the number of times the media item has been viewed when embedded on the home page or on other websites. We hope that the new figure will give Zoopy users a better idea of how many times a video has been watched, or how many times a photo has been viewed.

The above basically means that the numbers will become more representative and holistic including embed views as well as pageviews on the media item page on Zoopy and on the homepage of Zoopy. This is definitely a step in the right direction and a move that couldn’t have come at a better time. I was really beginning to think that Zoopy was slowing down. Now we can all see that things are picking up!

Now, Mr Jason Elk, when exactly are you going to own up to this bit of brilliance?

I wonder who’s next on Rex’s menu?

Why is it that Zoopy covers Zille so extensively? Why is the coverage not more representative. I am sure that Jason is going to come on here and tell me that they have covered Patricia de Lille too, but that really doesn’t count as extensive.

Just as the SABC is pressed for equal representation I think that an organisation such as Zoopy should be too. If nothing else, they need to be weary of aligning themselves subconciously with a party. It appears to me that this might already have happened…

This comes directly from the Zoopy “about us” section:

Who’s behind it all?

At Zoopy HQ it’s just the three of us, for now: Jason, Gerry and Pat. And a few carefully selected contributors.

Hmmm… carefully selected, sounds intersting, lets find out more.

I emailed Jason from Zoopy to get some comment on the issue and see if this is a definite trend that is to continue or an incidental happening. This is what he had to say:

Thanks for giving Zoopy some blog space – and on such a relevant topic too. It needs to be said that we’ve personally spoken with Ebrahim Rasool, Jacob Zuma, Trevor Manuel and indirectly with Patricia de Lille. None of them have responded in any way. Helen grasped the technology available from the first meeting we had with her and her team. They have a handheld video camera with them and have chosen to upload a range of political and non-political issues, ranging from aerial shots of a dam through to her new electric car and more. She responds in person to users who send mail via Zoopy and those who leave comments on her Zoopy profile.

There are also occasions when we’re out at events that she happens to be shaking hands at, or attending, and in those cases we upload any relevant footage ourselves. So really this is not a case of us showing favouritism toward any party or individual. It’s a case of the individual getting involved themselves, and us facilitating it as much as possible. We’d love to host social media relating to every South African on Zoopy (politicians, lawyers and bloggers included! hehe) and always promote the possibilities when meeting with interesting people.

That said, there are more high profile people going Zoopy very soon. Because of the technology, functionality and community available to them. Not because of who they are or whether or not we believe in their cause.

I think that is fair and valid justification of their stance. I wait with anticipation for the “high profile” people to get involved with Zoopy. Let’s see if this becomes a case of YouTube and CNN joining forces for the next American election.