The social media space received a lot of attention since the beginning of the internet, but more evidently since the start of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (this one we never fully understood), LinkedIn, YouTube and the list continues.
Each platform was created with a more distinctive purpose than that of its predecessor. Even though the basic idea of sharing was a general key objective, there was one or maybe two new add-ons that would differentiate the one from the other.
Since the beginning of time, man has not only had the need to share but he also wants to do so in his own language, and that’s what all of this boils down to social media and the opportunity to share and interact in your own vernacular.
And today (The beginning of ‘A Space Odyssey’ playing in the background) the needs of every Afrikaans speaking social media user are met. You no longer have to change your Facebook setting to Afrikaans as an expression of your purist heart. Now you can express yourself fully, not only in Afrikaans, but on a platform that was designed with nothing but Afrikaans in mind. Ladies and gentlemen we introduce toeter.com, the world’s first ever Afrikaans social media platform!
toeter.com was launched on May 1, 2014 as an initiative to get Afrikaans-speaking people, regardless of their race or background, to collaborate socially in their own language. Based on a very similar model to that of Twitter, it allows you to ‘Toet’ your thoughts, photos and videos. toeter.com’s research has shown that this platform has the potential to reach a million people around the world, making it a viable tool for individuals, media and businesses to use to interact with Afrikaans speaking people.
We have been playing around with this new platform for a week or so and here’s what we think:
Who should use it: Everyone, from individuals to high-level businesses who would feel the need to express and connect socially in Afrikaans.
Who is already using it: With just over 3 000 users (from what we could see), the demographic ranges from ages 12 and up as well as a variety of races throughout South Africa. Steve Hofmeyr and Emo Adams, both South African celebrities, are already avid users of this platform.
What to share: Start, join, and lead conversations; interact directly with brands and customers who share thoughts, photos and videos.
Post frequency: As often as you’d like, multiple times per day even.
Useful tips: Well first you need to sign up and go through the motion of completing your profile. Once that is done, go follow as many people as you’d like. To gain followers, we have found that it’s better to post an announcement on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter that you are now a toeter user. Then go and ‘Hertoet’ a few of you friends’ statuses on toeter, and Bob’s your oom!
PS: Just because we couldn’t resist, listen to this song right away, it will inspire you to start ‘Toet-ing’ immediately!
