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#JoinMuwado The African Storytelling Platform That Wants to Get Users Paid. The Manifesto.

Summary

  • #JoinMuwado We are an African social network/storytelling platform that wants to get you paid when you upload your content on our platform. We need to get the word out there so help us share with people that could benefit from such a platform.

Alright, Let’s Dive Into It…

Some History…

Muwado started as a personal blog to capture the founder’s experiences as a 21st-century African trying to figure out this thing called life. It soon expanded into a lifestyle news platform to capture additional voices from the continent. This was upon the realization that one point of view, however ambitious, wasn’t going to effectively capture the pulse of the African experience. This model became unstainable quickly due to financial limitations to pay contributors so, instead of folding up, the platform was upgraded into an Africa-centric social network open to anyone that wanted to share their story. No gatekeeping

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We are now focusing on growing the idea to its full potential. The idea of a storytelling platform dedicated to rediscovering and rethinking our brilliant African storytelling culture. That’s always been primary motivation for the platform.

The Big Idea…

The world is changing, ai and the robots are coming for the remaining formal jobs and creative pursuits have been identified as one of the last frontiers for the future of human work. We are therefore applying the philosophies of ubuntu and wealth redistribution to the social networking business model in order to crack capitalism for (primarily) the (African) creative economy. The rest of the world is welcome to join but our efforts will be focused on the African market. And by the strength of mother’s prayers across the continent to the powers that be, it shall be done.

To take this idea to the next level requires more than just a brilliant team and #ThoughtsAndPrayers though. It needs buy-in from the public. Given that it’s a platform, it needs users to sign up. And I get it, you are already on enough of those. We want to do it a little different though. The summarized idea is to enable users earn from their content. We won’t claim to be the first ones doing it but we plan to do it differently by picking characteristics we like from all the other people doing similar work and combining those with a focus on benefiting the African storyteller first and fast. Whatever revenue we make will be split as fairly as possible between us and the users that upload content. Earning will be calculated depending on how much content a user uploads and how well it’s received by members and visitors to the site.  This is what we are building frantically towards.

We shall get more fancy and add more features as we become better at this. This means the platform might misbehave every once in a while as we tinker so we ask you bear with us during those trying moments. That’s why we have the beta label on our logo. We’ll definitely be updating you as it goes. But as we are busy in the kitchen cooking up all this good stuff, the math and numbers have to make sense for the member’s earnings to be sizeable. And the math demands users and users that are contributing content. That good good content that you just have to pass around for others to enjoy.

Hello, is it you we are looking for?

This is, therefore, a rallying call for you, dear established and aspiring African content creator and consumer, to join and share your content on Muwado. Those opinion pieces you send to the newspapers, bring them and have them reposted on your Muwado profile. Those short stories you are posting in groups, forums and magazines all over the internet, bring them to us as well. Those long-form status updates and notes on Facebook, give them a second more formal home on Muwado. Those beautiful pieces you are uploading on Medium and LinkedIn, upload them to Muwado too. Those well-crafted twitter threads, have them as articles on Muwado too. YouTube vids, SoundCloud podcasts and music – embed them on Muwado (as we build the server capacity for you to upload the content directly to us as well) and boost your views from here too. Instagram galleries, give them a flowing layout on Muwado.  The finished articles and stories that you don’t know where to upload them because editors and gatekeepers won’t let you prosper or they don’t fit within your blog focus, give them a home on Muwado. The unfinished drafts that you are not sure people will like, use Muwado as your testing ground to see how people react.

Bring all your content to us, grow with us and let us build the kind of capacity where the finances start to make sense and Muwado is able to share with you whatever revenue they earn from all this content. You realise we are not even asking for exclusivity. We are asking you to diversify your content with us. Whatever benefits you’ve been enjoying from wherever you are currently putting this content, keep doing that but bring the content to Muwado too and oso enjoy the benefits we are promising you. That’s the goal and our ask of you, folks.

If you are just a reader and are wondering how you can actively be part of the revolution, join us in curating. Most of the content you see on the site came to be because I was reaching out to people from the continent whose content I liked and asking permission to repost it on Muwado. So, if you know someone that fits in any of the descriptions above, tell them about us and encourage them to bring their content home to us. Tag us if you need us to add our voice to yours in this. We are on all major social networks as @Muwado.

Other features of the platform include the traditional ones like status updates, groups, events. We also have the forums which will be the underbelly of the platform capturing conversations from across the continent and helping us discover our different cultures. I’m particularly excited about the Kaboozi sessions (think tweet chats) where we shall be interacting with different people that are doing interesting things with their lives and would like to share their experiences. If you know someone that fits that broad description, let us know and we’ll set up a session.

Please Give Us Money…

We are also crowdfunding for capital to enable us grow rapidly and have the users enjoy the benefits we are promising as soon as possible. The team will be investing a sizeable chunk of their savings into the project but it can only go so far and so we are asking for your support. We think this idea stands to benefit so many people on a large scale and we are asking you to help us make this social-economic impact.  We shall use these funds to get our overworked technical team some assistance, upgrade our systems so we can handle the growth demands and push for the number of users and content that will enable us to monetize and pay the content creators sensible amounts. If you’d like to contribute or discuss investment terms, reach out to us on [email protected].

So, join Muwado today. Invite your friends to join. Your family members too. Even your ex’s, invite them too so you can stalk them here as well. To spread the word further, we have an ongoing publicity campaign so if you’d like to host us on your media channel to find out more about these huge ambitions of ours, reach me on [email protected] and let’s plan something.  We launched in Kampala recently and plan to activate across all African cities gradually so look out for dates in a location close to you, or reach out to us if you feel moved by our mission and would like to help us expand into your country.

Thank you and don’t forget to create an account before leaving. We will be answering any questions you might have about this manifesto in the comments below.

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Written by Muwado - The African Storytelling Platform (1)

Muwado is an ambitious African social networking website on a mission to give a voice to and financially empower storytellers from especially developing nations.

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