Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      World Bank set to back South Africa’s big energy grid roll-out

      20 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Sita hits back at critics, promises faster, automated procurement

      20 June 2025

      The transatlantic race to create the first television

      20 June 2025

      Listed: All the MVNOs in South Africa – 2025 edition

      19 June 2025
    • World

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Gill Moodie » Vodacom plugs into The Grid

    Vodacom plugs into The Grid

    By Editor9 October 2009
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Gill Moodie

    [By Gill Moodie] There’s a fascinating thing happening underground. If you’re over 35 you definitely won’t have heard of it. If you haven’t a clue how you surf the Net on your phone you won’t care. But if you’re a media player you really need to know.
    With little fanfare, Vodacom has been growing a location-based social network called The Grid.

    It’s very clever so pay attention (particularly the over 35s). Here’s the science bit: using the triangulation of cellphone towers, The Grid pinpoints members’ locations on a map. Just like Facebook or Twitter, you can send messages, chat, hook up with friends, and upload pictures and video. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, The Grid is designed for your cellphone (though you can access it on the Web) and it’s not limited to Vodacom subscribers.

    Because you’re all located on a map, you can do fun things like see where your buddies are — is anyone close to the coffee shop you’re at? — or you can view all the messages, called “blips” on The Grid, written about a restaurant or a club, say.

    If this all sounds a tad gimmicky, think for a moment about the potential for advertising. If you’re a pub and you want to market your happy hour, why waste money on a newspaper or website ad that will be seen by people who live miles from your establishment. Something like The Grid could deliver your advert to punters within, say, a 20km radius. It could prove cheaper and more effective.

    Of course, The Grid is not reinventing the wheel. MXit, now part-owned by Naspers, got kids talking and networking on their cellphones. And, of course, the omniscient Google is offering Latitude with some geo-located fun up its sleeve, though not too many South Africans are using it yet.

    So The Grid might just beat Google to the bank given that it already has more than 1m signed up users in SA.

    And traditional media better pay attention.

    The ever-splintering advertising pie means that all traditional media houses have seen their revenues impacted, sure.

    But when a big company like Vodacom steps into the media fray, it’s time to sit up and take note. Not least because The Grid is being run by a respected new media guy called Vincent Maher, who has worked at the Mail & Guardian Online and was co-founder of blog aggregator Amatomu.

    Social networks typically take quite a while to build critical mass, which is why The Grid is still under the radar. But if you’re big and monied like Vodacom, you can afford to wait, and once it starts cooking, Vodacom can market The Grid in a heartbeat and very cheaply to its millions of subscribers.

    The Grid is even experimenting with gauging and mapping the moods of its users so that it can offer seriously targeted advertising. For example, as Maher explains on his blog: “Just before lunch, show my ad to women within 10km of Fourways Mall, between the age of 25 and 30, who are feeling sad, sleepy, angry or irritated”.

    I say kudos to Vodacom for a bold step out of the box. And, to the old-school media, it’s time to put on your thinking caps and find out how you can ride this wave.

    I’ve heard mobile gurus say that the problem with mobile news strategies is that, unlike newsprint and the Net, the media houses don’t own or control the medium so have to cosy up to the cellphone operators. Well, looks like Vodacom just figured out how to deliver content on its own — and they don’t even have the hassle or the expense of creating it. Their users will do it for them. In the parlance of Generation Y, I think that’s what you call “pimpin’ ”.

    I can hear the conspiracy theorists getting jumpy about Big Brother but, really, if you don’t want to be located, don’t sign up. If voracious aliens land on Earth and hack into Vodacom’s files at least they’ll know how we feel about it: angry, irritated, murderous, petrified.

    • Moodie, a freelance journalists, is editor of Grubstreet. She has posted a Q&A with Maher about The Grid on her website


    Gill Moodie The Grid Vincent Maher Vodacom
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleFNB to compensate some customers for online downtime
    Next Article With top speakers, Silicon Cape generates a ‘real buzz’

    Related Posts

    Listed: All the MVNOs in South Africa – 2025 edition

    19 June 2025

    MTN CEO edges Vodacom rival in pay stakes – but just barely

    18 June 2025

    Vodacom CEO Joosub bags R71m in pay – but taxman will take a big cut

    17 June 2025
    Company News

    Making IT happen: how Trade Link gears up to enable SA retail strategies

    20 June 2025

    Why parents choose CambriLearn for online education

    19 June 2025

    Disrupt first, ask questions later – the uncomfortable truth about incident response

    18 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.