Business

Twitter Ban; Here are five Good alternatives to Twitter in Nigeria.

Published

4 years ago

June 13, 2021

It is no longer news that the use of twitter is prohibited in Nigeria. Recall that twitter was suspended in Nigeria after after it was accused of ‘providing an avenue for unpatriotic elements that were bent on destroying the corporate existence of Nigeria’.

According to the Minister of information for the Federal Government, the owner of Twitter helped to fund the recent #EndSARS protest while allowing the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to use the platform to call for the killing of security agents and destruction of public facilities.

On the internet today, there are so many Apps like twitter and Instagram. Twitter Competitors has also grown marginally over the years. So if you are in Nigeria, and you are looking for a social media like twitter, here are my Top five Twitter Alternatives 2021;

i. Koo was launched last year in March as an Indian alternative to Twitter. However, it shot to fame after Twitter clashed with the Indian government over the removal of certain posts. The platform recently announced that it had raised $10 million in funding so far. It also changed its logo and added new features to its platform recently. It won the Government of India‘s Aatmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in August 2020. The app is currently valued at over $100 million.

It was first launched in Kannada and now supports Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi. In the future it plans to provide support for Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Meitei etc. Investors in the app include Shunwei Capital, Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital, and Blume Ventures. Shunwei Capital sold its whole stake in Koo by March 2021. In February 2021, a cybersecurity expert showed a data breach on the Koo app, but the company rejected the claim.

Koo appears to have been the immediate beneficiary of a recent ban on Twitter implemented by the Nigerian government, after the Jack Dorsey-founded app deleted a tweet made by President Muhammadu Buhari. You can download Koo from your App store. It is available for both IOS and Android.

ii. Tooter: It is another Indian alternative to Twitter. The company describes itself as a part of ‘Swadeshi Andolan 2.0.’ “We believe that India should have a Swadeshi social network. Without one we are just a digital colony of the American Twitter India Company, no different than what we were under the British East India Company. Tooter is our Swadeshi Andolan 2.0,” the company says in its About section. It is similar to Twitter in terms of functionality. It has a timeline where users can post their opinions. Users can also like posts and repost them on the platform. Tooter is equally available on Android.

iii. Plurk is another micro-blogging platform that you can try out. It was launched back in 2008. Its interface is a mix of Facebook and Twitter. You can see other people’s timelines and comment on their posts. People earn Karma, which is based on their activity. Users can post texts with up to 210 characters. They can also chat in groups and send messages to other users in real-time.

Plurk brands itself as a “social network for weirdos,” but you’ll find people discussing a broad range of mundane topics from knitting to Netflix. Plurk is available for both IOS and android users.

iv. Minds is for social media influencers and creators. Whether you want to direct people to your website or your other social media accounts, the built-in analytics tools allow you to keep track of how many people see your posts over time, giving you guidance on how to increase your exposure.

Minds doesn’t use algorithms to determine the types of content users see. Similar to Twitch, Minds uses a token system to decide who gets suggested to other users. Other notable features include encrypted chat, groups, and blogs. Minds is available for IOS and Android Users.

v. Mastodon is a bit different due to its decentralized nature. Rather than offering one giant social media platform, it allows users to create, host, and run communities or “instances.” Each instance has a different set of conduct policies determined by the hosts.

It may seem like a lot to take in at first, but once you join some communities, you’ll find that it’s an excellent tool for making new like-minded friends. Mastodon supports multiple apps for Android and iOS, so you have many options for customizing your experience. So you may wish to use Toot for iOS and Tusky for Android.

So, if you are like me, and you don’t want to go through the ‘window’ to twitter, you may wish to try out one of these apps. Hopefully, Techies in Nigeria can find us a Nigerian alternative to all social media apps shortly.