A 14 YEAR OLD SECONDARY SCHOOL BOY CREATE SOCIAL NETWORK
Terkura Unongo, a 9th-grade student of America-styled Hillcrest (Secondary) School, Jos, who created a growing social network, Imongo, at age 14, says he was moved by a desire to originate for Nigeria a social medium, the likes of Facebook and twitter.
How would you describe the social network you have invented?
It's called Imongo, a social discovery network which is also for entertainment and information. I created it in February 2012. Currently, we have over 3900 members. We offer profiles, basically. You can create profiles about yourself, get information and chat with people whether in groups or privately. There are also pictures, videos, music and news updated daily.
Where did you get the inspiration to create Imongo?
It was a drive to make a positive impact. I was watching other social networks like Face book and twitter and wondering why we in Nigeria didn't have sites like them.
At what age did you conceive the idea to create Imongo?
Imongo occurred to me when I was 12 but I had always been interested in the online world. I loved to just play on the internet, getting gadgets, figuring out how things work, how things are made.
What challenges did you encounter during the creation of Imongo?
I created it alone, so building it took a lot of my time. I was on the internet for numerous hours every day writing codes, adjusting things, and so on; but as it went by I came across some people who joined me. You can have a social network and it can be there with no members, so you need people to spread the word, and you need adverts. You can't do it all alone. I got people after a while, including my publicity director who happens to be related to me and he has been working alongside me to help expand it.
How does one become a member of Imongo?
For now, Imongo is only available on laptops and tablets but we are working on mobile applications for blackberries. All you have to do is to go to the link which is www.theimongo.com. The site opens so you can actually exploit it and see what it is all about without actually signing up. You can go through the pictures, you can watch videos, you can read different things and carry out different activities. Then, if you are interested, you can just click on the sign-up button and the form pops up. You just fill in your email and age to sign up.
Have you started making money from this invention?
Not yet, but potentially, it is worth a lot of money. I haven't started making money because my focus is not on the money. I want to create a good user-experience first and then everything will follow. One of the major plans is to make it accessible on all mobile devices and then I will also like to tour different universities, introducing it to students so they can use it for interactions. Hopefully, we are targeting about a million members by the end of 2014.
How is Imongo going to be adapted to the school environment?
It can be used by the different student organisations. What I am actually thinking about but which I'm yet to carry out is that if you can link the school portal to it, the school portal becomes more social where you can talk to people yet you are doing your school work. Then you can also add more material to build a library. We will also have information base where there are different information pieces in different categories updated periodically.
What has been the financial implication of your invention?
I have spent much money because there are many competitors such as Face book which now has over a billion members and twitter which has over 600 million; so it will cost money because you are trying to drive attention to you. I have spent money in dollars because I work with an international platform so you pay in dollars but if you convert it to Naira, I will say I have used well over N500,000.
What has been your history with the internet?
I knew about the internet in 2003 (at age 5). I was already familiar with the computer at that time because of the school I was attending, Kids Academy in Makurdi. Basically, I was playing games on the internet. The first game I started was Pacman. A website was offering different flash games, so we went as advanced as video games of nowadays and then in 2004 I was introduced more to the social side of the internet and I created my first email account at that time using yahoo! Then Face book came but it wasn't available to people who were not university students till about 2006. Then I signed up on Face book, created various groups, used it for interaction and brought people together and met families that were far away. As from 2007, I started wondering how these things work because it all appeared like magic. So, I was like 'there has to be something that is fuelling this thing from behind, there has to be something that makes this how it is.' With that curiosity, I learned about html, hipertex markup language which was one of the basic scripting languages used in making websites. So I learned the language of html, then css too and started getting introduced into all these languages. By 2008, I was in Jos and started school at HillCrest. I learned it then but still I wasn't very interested in it because I knew there was something more and I tried creating my own website with html and css but it still didn't look as attractive as other ones, so I said there has to be more. So at Hillcrest, I learned about different languages in computer classes and then I furthered my knowledge in those aspects individually. By 2011, I had mastered html, css, and java script. I was not really interested in java because it was too complicated and then I learned about Jquary. I also learned about ruby, myesquila. The first website I created was for an organisation; Community of Tiv Students and then I was just playing around and thought I would create an online community and I called it Nija connect. I think it went up to about 300 members but it wasn't very popular because it was just a plaything. An then I made a social network for the community of Tiv students where amongst them they could chose how they wanted their members to sign up. There were about 60,000 members at that time. So, I created it and handed it over to them.
How many websites have you created?
The ones that have gone on the internet, about four, plus one blog; but I created others that were never published on the internet because most of them were for school projects.
How are you managing your internet activities and your school work, your studies?
Imongo is up to the point now where it doesn't really need me so much. It needs me but not to be active as I was before. So, I have a lot of time for my studies. It was hard at the beginning because Imongo was new, and creating content and putting up videos takes a lot of time. But now, since I have other people by my side, it's easier.
Have you been approached by anyone or company wishing to buy Imongo?
No, and I have no intention of selling Imongo. I was having a discussion with one of my friends. He was saying if someone was to come and buy Imongo now, how much would I take? That time, Imongo was just about two weeks old with only 300 members. I said I'm not selling Imongo unless you are willing to pay an outrageous fee of $500 billion.
What is your obsession with the site that you would not wish to sell it for less than $500 billion?
The point isn't the money. Money isn't the main aim. The main aim is creating an interactive place that is different, that is original, that is Africa.
Could you not always do another one?
I could, but I've already done this one.
What is your class in the secondary school, the Hillcrest School?
It's an American system. I'm in Grade 9. I think it translates to SSS1 or SSS2 in Nigerian system, I'm not sure.
Yours is a social media, but apart from interacting with your internet world via your computer, how do you socialise in your immediate physical environment?
You cannot be on social network without being a social person. In school, I was a part of several clubs. I was also a keeper in football, a goalkeeper.
Do you still have time to play football/Soccer?
Yes, football is a fun sport. I also participate in student government.
How has this creation of yours affected your status, say around your school environment?
The main event was when a newspaper gave me an interview. This was published, and a man in the office who saw it on the internet printed it and took it to the admin office. I was brought out of the class and led to the admin office. The woman in charge got up and told me, 'Well-done, well-done; do it. I encourage you, the whole school is behind you." And students too, my friends, my classmates, my school mates have also encouraged me, because most of them are on the social network. The responses have been very positive.
You mean that up to when a newspaper had you on its publication, your school did not know of your creation?
Not on a significant scale. My classmates knew. The class ahead of me also knew because the two classes were located close to each other.
How many are you in your family?
A lot, a lot.
Were you hiding behind your social medium to escape household chores, something like "Mummy, you know I'm busy"?
Well, I did at the beginning. When I was completely involved, I did. Now, I have time to work, play, and study.
You said something that sounded as if you have removed yourself substantially from Imongo. How detached are you from this creation of yours?
Not that far. What I meant is I'm not spending 10 to 16 hours daily on the computer now...
10 to 16 hours? Were you burning so much time on the computer?
At the beginning, yes; because writing codes, thousands and thousands and thousands of lines of codes is what is required to get a website up and running and then protecting it from possible hackers. That takes a lot of time. But I don't have to do that now, but, once in a while, you have to update, because, as hackers find new ways to break through your security, you also have to find new security in order to be ahead of them.
How does Imongo compare or contrast with the older and more famous sites like Face book and tweeter?
Imongo is a combination of, okay, let's see Face book; which is a social network of friends. You can't get to someone who is not your friend. Twitter, on the other hand, is a micro-blogging site where people follow you. Your followers are your readers. You type out messages and they go out to your readers. Then, Myspace, another social network, is mainly for entertainment, meant especially for musicians, people who want to get discovered. Imongo is all of them in one. Imongo which is for social discovery is a platform on which you meet new people. In guiding you to discover new people, we make it safe by giving you tips on how you communicate accurately and not talk to people posing to be what they are not. It's safer that way; and that's the social discovery aspect. In social entertainment, which is music, you can listen to music for free, you can watch movies and you can download pictures. That's the entertainment part. Then the information part is basically giving you the news daily. Then, the friends/family aspect of it; if you have someone as a friend now, you are giving that person access to who you are on Imongo. This person now can see your profile and can view your pictures and can see what you have been doing on Imongo, and so on. Imongo is all of the foregoing in one.
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