Google’s message to Africa: create local content

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar

~

Many people believe Google creates or writes the information that you see on the Internet. We don’t; we just find and index it. Its actually created by people like you.

This is statement from a post made on the Google Africa blog by Bridgette Sexton, Googles’s Program Manager, Developer & Tech Outreach, Africa. The message in the post is clear: Google needs more African local content to give you more relevant results.

Sexton bemoans the lack of Africa specific content on the Internet. “local information is often yet to make it online” she says, explaining that local information such as business, government policy, music and personal stories is “often missing”.

With enough local content, searches on Google by Africans will produce more relevant results, making the worlds biggest search engine more useful to Africans.

In Zimbabwe, the Minister of ICT, Nelson Chamisa has on a number of occasions encouraged local business and tech entrepreneurs to help generate local content to make the Internet more useful in a Zimbabwean context. The minister has also championed the production of local content as a means of saving expensive International bandwidth.

3 comments

  1. JamesM

    Local content requires an economy that’s growing and going somewhere. Zim’s economy has been on life support for the last decade or so. And other African economies haven’t moved much since independence. Vibrant local content hinges on a fairly vibrant economy unrestrained by draconian media laws. Which explains why South Africa, the north African Arab countries, and to some extent Kenya are the ones with respectable local content. Add to that these counties have clearly demonstrated a sound policy and vision towards ICT and the web. Whilst the rest of the continent its unproductive African politics as usual.

    1. Lovemore Jokonya

      Check out this website http://www.ipcconsultants.com . It does have a lot of local content in terms of businesses and various researches done in Zimbabwe. I rate it as one of the most info – filled website in the country.

  2. Anonymous

    POTRAZ POTRAZ POTRAZ IS KILLING ZIMBABWES PROGRESS ONLINE, DUE TO THEIR PROHIBITIVE & MOSTLY DOWN RIGHT EXTORTIONIST LICENCING FEES, THIS AUTOMATICALLY DISCOURAGES CONTENT GENERATION AS IT HINGES ON DOMAINS BEING REGISTERED, BROADBAND ACCESSIBILITY BY ORDINARY CITIZENS NOT THE RICH ONES ONLY, ACCESS TO CHEAP PC’S, ETC. AFRICAN GOVTS NEED TO START REALISING MONEY ON BENEFICIATION  RATHER THAN AT SOURCE, ie avail cheap ict products & services but tighten tax laws on online business generated as opposed to most govts snuffing life out of citizens at the border.

2023 © Techzim All rights reserved. Hosted By Cloud Unboxed