Tanzania’s Tuwasiliane-Swahili for let’s communicate has launched in Tanzania with plans to be the country’s first local social network and also the go-to place for all things East African.
” Our goal is to connect Tanzanians with each other and with fellow East Africans and eventually Africans altogether,” says Rodney Walter Swai the founder. “Our easy to use platform allows users to create profiles, add friends, private & public messaging, create groups and content-specific forums within the groups and outside the groups as well.”
Swai says he aims to create a much more meaningful online social networking environment with a new section to allow users to sell and buy from other users on the network. He adds that the network also aims to have an open homepage which allows unregistered people to get a glimpse of what they are missing but provides them little interaction until they register.
Apart from the ‘Shop’ feature, the network also has a feature called “Sitewide Activity” which is basically a news feed of what is going on publically on the site apart from one’s own friends’ activities.
With just 18 members and 11 groups and 40 total users as at press time, Tuwasiliane has a long way to go to sign up users and even stand as a social network. Global giants like Facebook and Twitter will always carry the day until Tuwasiliane launches features users cannot find on Facebook or on other platforms. His plans to pivot into a marketplace might also help but it’s too early to tell if he will give up after a month or go all the way.