A company MyCountryMyWorld, represented by a small group of self-funded African immigrant community from Liberia and Sierra Leone who reside in Minnesota, US, plans to go live with a uniquely African social media platform MY! On 10 May 2021.

Described as a platform for Africans by Africans, according to the company, the app has been fully tested and has attracted four billion internet users globally and has grown by 332 million over the past year, with more than 900,000 new users daily.

“Having developed the app over a period of two years, with a series of tests, we are now confident that the app is ready to be released to the world,” says Samuel Zean Jr, Co- founder, MY!.

Zean Jr explains that the platform offers users, especially from developing economies, the opportunity to tell their story their own way and own the platform.

Globally, internet user numbers are growing at an annual rate of more than 7½ percent, but year-on-year growth is much higher in many developing economies, says Zean Jr.

“Majority of Africans complain of how African nations are portrayed by the western countries on both traditional media and digital media. The MY! app is developed by Africans for Africans to help change this narrative. Whereby, everyone is given a chance to tell their story their way.”

Developers say the inclusive social media platform appeals to all age groups.

They say that the app’s interface is user friendly and easy to navigate through. “It enables users to share content effortlessly, by providing feedback and updating a post status. It simplifies the collaboration between users and gives them the full visibility of content created.”

Developers say the app is meant to take on both Facebook and Instagram.

“In a time of so much unrest, it brings hope to many seeing this diverse group of people coming together to create something special for the world,” adds Adam Borgerding, VP of Operations, MY!

The aim is to differentiate the offering by rewarding users for every upload and post shared, and the opportunity to retain the rights of authentication for work provided.

The app enables users to represent their country by showcasing an individual’s country’s unique attraction sites, features, wildlife, culture, cuisine, art, skills, talent, stories, business hustle, history and so much more.

MY! will be available on Google Play and Apple Store.

Quitting social media

Digital marketing agency Reboot Online used online analytics tool Ahrefs to establish which countries citizens are most likely to quit social media based on key online searches indicating their clear intention to quit social media.

Reboot Online classified and grouped consistently recurring Google searches by individuals on quitting social media such as ‘how to delete social media?’, ‘how to delete Facebook?’, ‘how to delete Instagram?’, ‘how to delete Tumblr?’, ‘how to delete TikTok’?, ‘how to delete Twitter?’ and ‘how to delete Snapchat?’ as online searches which most signify users’ desire to quit social media.

According to Reboot Online, South Africa is in ninth place as there is an of average 31,340 online searches every month from South Africans demonstrating their desire to exit social media permanently. When considering the amount of active internet users in South Africa (31,858,027), 0.098% of South African internet users are keen to quit social media each month.