SAP Global Survey: Africa's Erik Hersman

A talk on Kenyan Violence, Hope, and Social Media

Every now and then, one of these SAP Global Surveys on Social Media's impact on culture and business changes my fundamental perspective. Such is this one with Erik Hersman [TWIT] , an American who grew up as a missionary kid bouncing back and forth between Sudan and Kenya. While most of what we see in the news about Africa fills us with horror and sorrow, Erik speaks with love and optimism.

Erik is more than a little active in social media. I've met him at three social media community events in the last few months. He has an insider understanding of both American and African culture. "The constant bridging of African and American worlds started at such a
young age," he told me that it is embedded in my character. I find it easy to switch between cultures and enjoy friends and associates on either side of the ocean."

Erik works as a web consultant and application developer, as Zungu . His clients tend
to be larger ad agencies and organizations trying to figure out how to
work digital/web communications into their brand.  He was principal developer of Ushahidi, the history-making wiki that let Kenyans generate geographic information on where violence was occurring in their country.

Erik's knowledge of Africa is vast, but I focused just on Kenya, where he is hopeful that the usually stable country is returning to a period of prolonged peace.

1. What is your response to the current wave of violence in Kenya? How long-lasting is
the damage and, most important for this interview, what role did social media play among Kenyans during the violence?

The interesting thing about Kenya is that it has a history of peace, interspersed with small, politically motivated episodes of violence.This made the current crisis in Kenya hard for most of us to believe was happening.  We knew that it couldn't last forever, Kenyans as a whole
aren't warlike by nature, they would prefer a tranquil existence.  This is why we weren't surprised to hear of the peace agreement that was reached this last weekend.

There are three words that describe millions of Kenyan voters:

1. Disappointed with their current president, Mwai Kibaki, for playing Moi-politics
2. Angry with their ministers of parliament, voting an unprecedented number out of office.
3. Jaded  by the election results - wondering if bothering to come out for the next elections   is even necessary.

I would suggest that citizens being jaded is the most harmful in the long run.

There were a couple of interesting uses of social media in Kenya in the last year. Juliana Rotich [Twit] was upcountry when the violence broke out - in one of the worst locations. She used
Twitter, Flickr and her blog to keep everyone in the Kenyan diaspora updated.  Other bloggers like Ory Okolloh , DaudiWere and Joseph Karoki provided an invaluable service of keeping the
world updated with images and news.  These bloggers played a pivitol role in the first couple days as the government instituted a media blackout.

2. Tell me about Ushahidi.com. When and how did it get started and by whom? How fast did it's usage spread during the violence? How many people have made entries and how many people
visited it. What would you say it accomplished for Kenyans, NGOs and outside observers?

Ushahidi (which means "witness" in Swahili) was created after a blog post by Ory Okolloh mentioning how useful it would be to have citizen-generated reports of violence in Kenya, as the normal news sources weren't reporting all that was going on.  Basically, Ushahidi is a tool for people who witness acts of violence in Kenya.  They can send in reports via SMS, email or the website and it is plotted on the map.

Images, video links and data about the event can be added to the system by others.  All information first goes through a verification process, conducted by volunteers in the Ushahidi group who talk to NGOs, the witness and news sources.

The number of reports in continued to ebb and flow with the violence, in times of greater violence we received more reports and vice versa.  To date, we have received approximately 150 verified reports, 40k uniques and 160k views.  More important, Ushahidi has created a new type of
website within the humanitarian sphere for crisis events.  NGOs and Kenyans were incredibly happy to find out about it, and want to duplicate this type of tool in other areas of crisis around the world.

3.  In Kenya, about 100% of the visits to Ushahidi came by mobile devices. What percentage of the
population uses cellular?  How about computers? Is the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program making any sort of impact? What about computer cafes?

That's a bit of a bounce-around question, but I'll see if I can cover each of the items briefly.  Most of the visits to the Ushahidi site came from the web.  However, the Kenyans who interacted with it did that through both mobile and computer-related means.  Since mobile phones are far more prevalent in Kenya (almost everyone has access to a phone, (families often share one phone)  the easiest way to report an incident was via an SMS on their phone to our Kenyan shortcode number.

Many of the computer visits to Ushahidi were through Kenyan computer cafes. The costs of basic computer hardware, plus connectivity is too much for most of the population.  This, of course, is why the mobile phone holds the key to Africa's web and communications future.

I can't answer if the OLPC is having any type of impact in Kenya. Though, I can opine here briefly on the fact that I think any low cost computer in the hands of children in Africa is a big deal.  If you are really interested, I've posted about that.

4. Your Afrigadgets blog is amazing in many ways. I'm impressed the resourcefulness of Kenyans it demonstrates: bicycles built on bamboo frames, generators fueled by yeast and sugar. You've said the site shows Africa is the place for "innovation at the low end of high technology," what are the implications of that for a company wishing to do business in Africa?

I love AfriGadget! I have so much fun with that site, and the other editors who work on it with me are just the phenomenal.  I've stated a number of times that African ingenuity is born of necessity, thus the low-tech products and inventions seen on AfriGadget.  However, what this
also shows is the vast amount of creativity and entrepreneurship that is ready to explode in Africa given the right political and economic climate.  We see this happening even now, in depressed and backward countries all over the continent - wait until you see what these guys can do with an even playing field.

The first thing that I would do as company wishing to do business in Africa is realize that Africans will adapt whatever product I bring to them.  You can't just take something from Europe or the US and dump it in Africa expecting it to work.  There are too many cultural and geographical differences to overcome.  However, if you let the Africans lead your product development so that you get the right type of product for Africa, your chances for success and profit rise exponentially.

5. How can social media help African-based companies? How successful is something like Mama Mikes? Can you give me some additional examples of African businesses using social media?

Social media is new and hard to understand for most Western companies, even though the social media space in the general public is well ahead of the rest of the world. Generally speaking, Africans are new to the social media space. This means that companies operating there are
even further behind. Many don't even have a decent website.

If anything, social media can help in a couple of areas.  First, it allows individuals to circumvent inefficient governments and local regulations.  Second, it allows companies that pay attention, a chance to leapfrog past their competitors who are unaware of the feedback loop
that is now available.

In the "web as business" area, websites like Mama Mike's make a good deal of money because they are the only option - a first mover - in a space that has burgeoning demand.

Additional social media sites in Africa include Afrigator, Mzalendo, Muti, Mxit and others.  For a more complete list, you might enjoy my Flickr collage of African sites--with links.

6. What role can social media play in helping companies located in the US,, Europe or Asia wishing to do business in Africa?

This is a big one actually.  If you include blogs in your definition of social media, then Western and Asian companies are hamstringing themselves if they're not monitoring blogs and social media (including old-fashioned message boards) in Africa.  The types of information
available there is just too important for any organization to ignore.

Another interesting trend that I've just started to see in the last couple months is where organizations actually get in touch with bloggers, who are expert in a particular field, and get their direct input on a specific issue.  That's smart and more companies should do this.

7. While we are on the subject, business people as well as travelers are concerned with safety wherever they go. Can businesses really feel safe doing business in Africa? What role can social media play in helping them understand about safety and danger in companies with dynamic political environments?

The truth about Africa is never reported, only half of it - the bad half.  This means that the news and images you see on a daily basis are only the negative stories.  So, can businesses really feel safe in Africa?  Yes, unequivocally.  Do they need to be more aware of political and economic situations as well?  Yes, and that's where awareness and use of social media can prove to be a major advantage.

I spoke about Ushahidi earlier, what we're working on now is a global version of that platform.  Imagine how valuable it would be to know the crisis level of every country you operated in, and you were alerted about it as soon as something started to happen.  That's an interesting
idea, and one we're currently trying to work through as we create the new platform.  We see the aggregation of blogs, news and citizen-generated reports as a critical way to evaluate situations and think it could be a major help for not just businesses but NGOs and governments as well.

8. How is mobile technology and social media impacting the culture of Africa today? How will that look five years from today?

We're seeing an increasing number of Africans getting online, many times at those cyber cafes we spoke of earlier. The number of blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc., accounts continue to grow.  This trend will continue as we see Africans finally being able to speak freely to the rest of the world, without being barricaded by prohibitive costs or government censure.

What is more exciting is the idea that someone out there is building a social application for Africa.  Something that recognizes the mobile phone as the primary platform, yet still integrates with the rest of the world via the web.  It's an exciting time, and it will only continue to
grow.  In 5 years we'll be looking at a completely different digital landscape in Africa!

9. You are a champion of tech entrepreneurial ism in Africa. Yet, you've moved back to the US. Why is that?

Interesting question.  I moved to the US before I got deeply involved in technology.  I travel back and forth to Africa regularly, and my ever-supporting wife Rinnie, and three beautiful daughters ages 2, 4 and 6.likely be moving back to somewhere in East Africa when the right opportunity presents itself.  That could be this year or next, either way it will be soon.

10. Additional comments?

Just a last thought on definitions for social media.  Depending what you
categorize as "social media" there are number of ways that Africans see
and interact with it differently.  I spoke at some length of the use of
mobile phones and how they are "Africa's PC", that they need to be seen
as the primary device to develop for.  There is also the radio, and
opportunities around multi-person dialogue revolving around radio, the
web and mobile devices.  What is it?  I'm not sure yet, but there's
something there screaming to be developed.

Africans, generally, already have well developed social organizations.
Tools developed for Africa need to augment the particular types of
social organizations.  The tools in the US, like Facebook or MySpace,
are created to work within the confines of our own disassociated
organizational norms.  That's why they can't just be thrown into Africa
and expected to work.  Africa has it's own unique atmosphere and
organizational needs that require a different type of application to be
successful.

Comments

[Jenna]

I loved this article. For the first time social media actually related to something I want to do with my life, helping others in third world countries. Super cool and very informative. I blogged about this article for my class as well as posted it on my personal blog for my family and friends to see.

[Jenna]

I loved this article. For the first time social media actually related to something I want to do with my life, helping others in third world countries. Super cool and very informative. I blogged about this article for my class as well as posted it on my personal blog for my family and friends to see.

[Lee]

Great article!

However, when I went to afrigagdets I got the following message:

Reported Attack Site!

This web site at www.afrigadget.com has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

So... beware!

[shel israel]

Lee,

This happened before and turned out to be a weird glitch. I am emailing Eric Hansen to tell him and will report when he responds.