Cape Town headquartered mobile social network 2go has overtaken Mxit in terms of monthly active users across Africa, say researchers.

Both Mxit and 2go are mobile instant messaging services.

Mxit has been running for over a decade while 2go was founded in 2006. Mxit, on its website, describes itself as Africa's largest social network.

But according to a research report by World Wide Worx and Fuseware called “A Social Media Landscape 2014”, 2go has 10.5 million monthly active users across Africa while Mxit has 7.4 million active users on the continent. 

Fuseware managing director Mike Wronski says the source for the data comes from the social networks themselves.

Mxit has also confirmed to ITWeb Africa that it has 7.4 million active monthly users across Africa of which 6.5 million active monthly users are in South Africa.

The revelation that 2go has overtaken Mxit in Africa comes after World Wide Worx and Fuseware announced last month that Facebook has overtaken Mxit in South Africa to become the country’s largest social network. Facebook has 9.4 million monthly active users in South Africa, according to the researchers.

“Yes, 2go has overtaken Mxit. That is correct,” Mike Wronski told ITWeb Africa.

Wronski added that 2go’s simple user interface could be a feature that has made the instant messaging service a firm favourite among users.

“I think in many ways 2go does offer a simpler interface for feature phones across Africa and that’s why it’s grown so quickly,” he said.

“With that said, users will always navigate to services that offer the most value and most convenience for the least cost of course. So 2go is a very attractive option there,” he explained.

However, Wronski also said Mxit is holding its own.

“I mean it is growing at a slow and steady rate,” he added.

World Wide Worx and Fuseware say that Mxit grew from 6.2 million monthly active users in 2012 to 6.5 million in 2013.

Speaking to ITWeb Africa earlier this year, 2go co-founder Alan Wolff said his service has over 20 million registered users across South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.

Wolff also said 2go delivers over 7 billion messages per month.