MXit used to connect to SA music fans

7 Oct 2011

David Guetta, multi-Grammy Award winning star, who will be in South Africa for performances in Johannesburg and Cape Town this month, will harness the power of Africa's largest mobile social network, MXit, to connect to local fans during his visit.

Guetta and supporting acts such as Akon, Jax Panik and US top 25 DJs Joe Bermudez and DJ Jenny LaFemme, will appear at the St Yves Music Festival in Cape Town on 14 October and Johannesburg on 15 October 2011.

As part of its partnership with Cintron Africa, organisers of the festival, MXit, will transform a section of its platform into a special event portal for its community to interact by sending 'shout-outs' which will be streamed live at the concert. Users will be able to enter competitions to win exclusive tickets to the pre-event dinner or one of the 100 tickets on offer.

"This is exciting for MXit," says Juan du Toit, executive head of international business development and marketing for MXit. "Not only because we will be providing a very special platform for fans to interact, win tickets, and download free content but also because it signals the incredible influence that mobile social media holds today."

Platform to connect with African, South African youth

This is not the first time that the platform has been chosen by international artists and dignitaries as a platform to connect with African and South African youth. US President Barack Obama used it to receive and answer questions from African youth during his first visit to Africa and it was also the social network used to promote Sean Kingston's tour of South Africa earlier this year.

The platform has confirmed that one of the celebrities will chat to the mobile social network's community in a chat room before the event. Users will be able to queue to participate in the chat room and those queuing to enter will be able to see the questions being posed to the artist and the answers that he or she gives.

"The big difference in communicating with people on a social network is that the conversation is two-way. Unlike traditional advertising, social networking allows celebrities, brands and people to have deeper, more meaningful discussions and this is where the true magic of social networking lies," concludes Du Toit.

MXit has a global community of over 44 million registered user accounts, 75% of which are in South Africa. To download onto mobile phone, go to m.mxit.com.