2go: Fall of Legends

I'm sure a lot of you are very familiar with, or at least have known a little about something on 2go. If you aren't. ...well....im not so sure you're really old enough to use the Internet yet.  We're still in 2014. That business should be fresh :O . (Just Kidding.....or....am I? :|) This, of course, is in exception to those of you who live in certain countries where the mobile app program never caught on and eventually became common place. I'm referring to countries and continents like South America,  North America, England,  Asia etc. If you're here with us in big ol' Africa and you're at least 18-20 then you should have at least heard** of the once-so-very-popular app.

It was a simple enough enough application that ran on several operating systems of the various mobile phone brands with a common app programming language called "java". A lot of you might remember the "java" phones of old. Back when the smart phones were still becoming intelligent in secondary school. Now in the android and ios they've graduated and are now undergraduates. Who knows what's next... ;)

Anyways....So the popular app was cross engineered to be available on several numerous platforms to allow a high level of intercommunication and internetworking between people on different devices. Nothing could stop it. Not the blackberrys' os, not the LG, motorola, Nokia symbian os or any other os out there. The software developers kept adapting it for every mobile platform they could get their hands on. Infrequent updates occurred as well once in a while showing that it wasn't being neglected.

It was in every African country that was worth a mention. Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa,  Ethiopia.... you name it. All one needed was a phone with an Internet connection and a mobile number to register with. It got so popular that people demanded for a pc version as well. As the developers were wont to do - they delivered an alternative as well "2go for pc". It was the most popular network by ratio and percentage. Everyone had a 2go username and if you're a parent here you might have caught your kids staying up late in the night tapping away on the keypads of their phones staying in touch with friends, frienemies and even random strangers too. Even companies joined the bandwagon and advertised on the network,  making the brand even more solidified in importance than it was. So what exactly happened? What made the social networking giant to fall into the depths of mass abandonment which we know and see today?

The answer is simple enough really. As it is with most brands or companies that go out if business and/or production - competition. There was (and still is) a massive number of social networks and apps running around which either flopped from the beginning,  had a rise and fall (like 2go) or made it big. Of these the three most popular would be whatsapp, BBM, and Facebook. There are others such as Google+ (just new), Twitter, Instagram etc but I'm kit going to elaborate in them especially since I do not use those (except Google+   ). Whatsapp and Facebook weren't always social giants but grew into what they are today by their evolution and dynamic interface operations. There were simple subtle themes which forced people to continue keeping their interests in the networks and even return months or years later because their friends and "everyone" (figurative) was using it. BBM was extremely popular on its mobile os host back then(and has now begun bouncing back with a big bang) for two major reasons.

• It was an exclusive network and made people feel high class, having something others didn't.
• It was part and parcel of the entire operation advantage of the blackberry os, allowing "free" communication without the hassle of configuring or even understanding other settings on the phone.

2go had a variety of problems that the three networks i mentioned above had gone past and put protocols on plave to resolve.(A few of these have actually been worked on in recent versions though) These problems generally included;

• The color scheme - (luckily it included various alternatives but they weren't easy to get and they weren't all "classy" )
• The user interface - the operation style was very simple but had little in the way of keeping a person very busy and curious.  This is actually a plus abd a minus though.
• Offline messaging - this was later implemented in the android versions but not so well.
• The lack of a "delivered and/or read" indicator - you remember how frustrating it was for you to keep wondering whether a message you sent actually reached the other person? (network oo)
• Disconnecting due to network fluctuations - this was much, and especially occurred in the most interesting single chats and group chat sessions.
• Attraction of the older and high class society - nobody really knows if Jonathan or your parents ever entered 2go. I'm not sure we'll ever know either....

This is my post on the rise and fall of the legend. I know it's a lil long, but I do hope you had fun reading it. O center again don't forget to comment below and give suggestions if you have any. Do you think I got anything wrong? Missed anything important? Got a question on the topic? Comment Nd Share to two people. Just two. You know you want to.

Thanks for coming here :)

Love, stars and Jam