You’ve got to hand it to Facebook, this is a absolutely genius move to encourage growth and usage, especially in developing markets where access to computers is limited. In many cases these new users will never see the desktop version of the site.

I can now see Facebook hitting 1 billion users within a year, that will be insane, think about it, a social network with one billion users. My my.

Oh and guess how many people in these new markets will give a flying toss about privacy? Especially when people who can’t even afford a TV can now message each other for free using Facebook. Whatever you want to think about Facebook, this could improve so many peoples lives.

Just look at the kind of thing Google has done with SMS in Africa, there is no reason why Facebook can’t go down this route.

List of countries here:

There must of been some serious negotiations with mobile networks to get the Facebook site zero-rated (not a easy thing to do). You hardly ever see this in the UK let alone 50 countries.

I want to see how this one develops, my question is – now Facebook is in bed with operators, will deals be done to provide user location to them via a normal WAP session, enabling LBS status updates? That functionality is key for Facebook location to launch globally.

Also what about the opportunity to provide unique services to developing markets via Fan Pages/Groups?

Tata Docomo said:

“The cost of any Diet-SMS will be only one paise per character used (100 paise= 1 rupee), thereby providing complete value to customers,

The company, frontrunner in the pay-per-use business model in the mobile telephony segment, will not charge for space between words.”

So the blank spaces are free!

Quite a innovative business model and could fit really well in poorer regions of India. Nice to see operators thinking of new ways of working.

[Via Textually]

In an effort to save the last 700 primates alive in the world, the Ugandan Wildlife Authority has come up with a cool viral marketing strategy.

At the end of the month the UWA plan to release the largest ever family of captive gorillas back into the wild.

In an effort to raise funds and create awareness users of Facebook and Twitter will be able to ‘friend’ a gorilla and watch live footage of the animals eating and trekking through the terrain as well as new births. All this is possible via geo-tracking and GPS technology.

The Ugandan National Park has 340 of the estimated 700 remaining gorillas worldwide so more publicity could not only help generate donations but also attract tourism.

This sounds interesting as the wording used in the press release indicates that it’s not just going to be another fan page but an actual profile. It’s also pretty cool you can track the gorillas in real time.

Can’t wait to see the news feed update of ‘Mr Gorilla….is no longer listed in a relationship’

How do you help villagers in rural India and Uganda gain the benefits of the Internet when there are no telephone cables, computers … or knowledge of what the Internet is?

Non-profit organisation Open Mind has come up with the answer, it’s called Question Box and the first one has been installed in India, near New Delhi.

The way it works is simple, villagers press the green button on the box to be connected to a trained operator who will answer their question by searching the Internet for answers. Imagine how AQA would be if it were done over the phone.

Common questions include cricket scores, train times, weather forecast for crops, different ways to fight pests and celebrates. Over time awareness grows and people are asking questions about tax and prices of products in the next town. World Wants to Know shows the queries as they come in. The operator can even send emails on behalf of the caller.

Many of the callers have no concept of what the Internet is (“They just assume the operator is some egghead,” said Rama Sundaram, project coordinator) so the scope of questions is limited. However, operators are now going to start prompting people with suggestions to see what happens.

In a country where 40% of people can’t read and only 5 million Internet connections for 1.2 billion people this can make a difference to peoples livelihoods such as this example. While technology races away sometimes you need to step back to move forward. Just like how Google is using SMS in Africa to help people trade and become informed.

Over in Uganda, Open Mind is trying something different by swapping the boxes for a physical hotline employing 40 community members know as ‘knowledge workers’. These workers go into the villages with mobile phones and allow users there to use them to speak to the call center.

If you want to get involved in the Question Box project vist the volunteer page here.

Google has launched a number of SMS based search and trade services for the African market this week with Uganda being the first to have it available.

In developing countries such as Uganda many people have cellphones and no computers (mobile phone penetration is six times Internet penetration) meaning that the phone is their only source for information. In Africa, one-third of the population owns a mobile phone and many more have access to one.

The reason for using SMS is simple, the majority of phones are low-end and only have the capability of voice and SMS which means the usual methods of searching for information need to be rethought.

The services available are (these links have working demos online, try them out!!):

Google SMS Search – Text your search query to Google and get back information

Google SMS Trader - An SMS marketplace where buyers and sellers can interact

Google SMS Tips is a query and answer service which includes the following

Google SMS Health Tips

Find tips on sexual & reproductive health (family planning, maternal & child health, HIV/AIDS, STI/STDs, sexuality)

Google SMS: ClinicFinder

Use ClinicFinder to find a clinic near you, the clinic’s telephone number and services offered.

Google SMS: Farmer’s Friend

Get access to weather forecasts and critical agriculture information, such as tips on planting, pest management and disease control.(Targeted at farmers to help improve their livelihood)

Understanding the day to day needs of the people using these phones is just as important as developing the technology. Check out this great video by Application Laboratory (AppLab) who are working with Google to make this project happen. It shows AppLab ‘Rapid Prototyping’ which is explained as:

In rapid prototyping, researchers travel to the field and offer a “live” service. Researchers select random users and observe and record end-users’ experiences from their introduction to the service to their reaction upon receiving information. The insights gained during rapid prototyping inform the design of the most useful and appropriate mobile services for Uganda and the queries captured during rapid prototyping serve as an input in product engineering.

This is basically consumer research and testing in overdrive. I imagine in Uganda it would be difficult to conduct closed consumer testing groups like the ones you see in UK so going out in the field with demos is the only option. Assessing the needs of the rural communities and testing in this way means you can get to the pain points quickly and feedback is instant.

It’s so interesting seeing how mobile phones are being used to improve peoples lives. Queries such as ‘When is it going rain?’ or ‘Where is the nearest clinic?’ can all be answered via SMS without the user needing a Internet connection.

You could even use SMS to feed information to a in-built application on the phone, there are so many possibilities if you think creatively and understand the needs of the target market.

The service doesn’t just give you back a list of links which would be useless for many, it actually tries to work out the answer and return a relevant answer. Think of AQA but completely automated.

Using technology to help those in poverty is only a good thing, last year The Guardian reported on a SMS campaign in South Africa called Project Masiluleke which aimed to increase awareness of HIV and Aids. In trials millions of free text messages were sent out everyday urging people to call a confidential phone line if they had any concerns about HIV or Aids.

The results were immediate with the number of calls to the country’s National AIDS Helpline increasing four-fold. In a country where infection rates are 11% across the country and 90% of people carry a mobile phone it seems obvious to utilise the power of mobile to drive awareness on large scale.

Hats off to Google!