Mxit has announced that the world’s first black emoticons, Oju, will now be available for the first time on feature phones in Africa via the Mxit mobile social network.
According to Ben-Carl Havemann, Communication Director for Mxit, the decision to introduce the African emoticons was to add a authentic expressions to the African audience.
“We are very excited to be the first mobile social network to bring Oju to our users. As a proudly African brand, we support and celebrate the diverse culture of our users and constantly explore ways in which we can make their chat experience more meaningful.”
Although certain technical complexities have prevented the use of the emoticons on Android and IOS Mxit platform, the Oju emoticons are available for download at the Google Play Store.
According to Oju’s website, the developers identified a need for Africans to have a voice in today’s modern world, a voice that represents all Africans in the computer driven present and future.
“An African voice that not only understands the African way, but supports all our diverse cultures and bring to life all our emotions, passions and our warmth as a continent in a proudly African way,” read a paragraph on the website.
Mxit is a South African-created mobile social network based in Stellenbosch. It has 4.9 million monthly active users in South Africa, and works on over 8,000 different handsets and mobile devices, including tablets. Mxit also embraces the capabilities of each platform to offer an immersive chat experience that feels native to each one.
By acting as a gateway to functions not otherwise available on feature phones, Mxit affordably bridges the gap between feature and smart phones.
“We feel the Oju emoticons are inclusive. Meaning, they include people of all colours to the digital conversation,” concluded Mr Havemann.
