Charl Norman is a web entrepreneur behind local social networks Blueworld and Zoopedup, he also owns a network of leading blogs including Car Blog and Bandwidth Blog, writes for tech and auto publications such as Leadership mag, guest lectures at UCT/CPUT and does the occasional public speaking event. More >
20Fourlabs and BWCOM decided to enter the Nokia ‘Calling all Innovators’ Africa application competition a few weeks ago - more on that here. We received great news two days ago that we won 1st prize and $85 000 in cash! Mega congrats to everyone in Labs and BWCOM!!
Here is my business partner Bradley accepting the cheque with Werner (developer/designer from Blueworld who conceptualized the original idea) and Ronald (mobile expert from 20FourLabs). Pic by Gaby
The cheque landed on my desk yesterday
About Afridoctor
“Afridoctor is Africa’s first personal mobile health clinic, turning your device into a powerful first aid information kit, a doctor-location service, and an emergency distress notifier. Its revolutionary “SnapDiagnosis” system allows users to submit photos of their ailments and remotely receive advice from a panel of professionals. Afridoctor’s mapping feature enables users to find doctors, clinics and all health industry related services within their proximity. The emergency feature notifies next of kin of their distress and location. Features include symptom checkers, first-aid information, health calculators and quizzes. Afridoctor helps make healthcare affordable and accessible to the people of Africa.”
The runners-up are: Roach Game - South Africa by Breakdesign (in second place), Sasol e.Birds by Coolideas (3), MrSNAKE by Simon Botes (4) and Thumbtribe widget by Thumbtribe (5), LiveMobile by LiveMobile (6), Countdown 2010 by Christian Reeve (7), Surfing Safari by Aqua Online (8), Turn Left at the Barrel by Turn Left at the Giraffe (9) and Mall-Buddy by Paul Hinrichsen (10).
Blueworld Communities (Cape Town) is hiring! We are looking for a developer that will work closely with product managers to create web applications for both pc and mobile. We have a relaxed start up environment with freedom for any developer to grow his/her skill set and work in a high profile division that rewards hard work and innovative ideas. Knowledge of latest web technologies is required, as is a genuine interest and passion for the web.
The ideal candidate should be experienced in:
* Solid Object Oriented programming skills with C#
* Develop Web Applications as well as write and consume Web Services
* Solid conceptual understanding and experience in XML, HTML, DHTML, CSS, JavaScript (incl JQuery)
* SQL Server 2005 database administration and stored procedures - Linq2Sql/PLINQO is a must
* Experience with MVC will be advantageous.
* Must be a team player and work well under pressure
* Good written and verbal communication skills
Please forward your CV to charl@bwcom.co.za with examples of your work and references
Remuneration: Depending on experience but we pay well
A new innovation unit has launched within 24.com called 20FourLabs. My company Blueworld Communities will be working together with Matt Buckland (lab master) and his team to build audiences and technologies for 24.com.
20FourLabs is a start-up research and development division within 24.com focusing efforts on rapid, agile web development and innovation.
Our aim is to hire people who think big and think fast and to give them the resources with which to create innovative products within the mobile and social media spheres.
We are looking for rockstar php/.net coders to join Labs - if you feel like moving to a high profile division within the biggest media company in Africa - Naspers - or if you know of anyone please get in touch with us.
Earlier this year we hosted a Blueworld party at the Camps Bay bowls club (next to La Med) for our top Blueworld members, industry people (including Media24 execs) and advertising contacts that we have done business with over the past year. The party went down really well and provided a great networking platform for everyone who attended.
We have made some promotional banners which we will use to promote Blueworld on University campus and at Blueworld parties. We also used body painted models to promote Blueworld at the J&B Met.
This is my 2008 year end post for Blueworld from the BWCOM staff blog
Hey Everyone,
From everyone at Blueworld Communities we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy XMAS and your business a successful new year.
Blueworld experienced a great 2008 and we look forward to continuing this success in 2009. Some of the highlights we experienced this year included being acquired by Naspers in a landmark SA internet deal, launching the new look Blueworld, using our platform to launch 24.com’s Speakerbox project, launching the new look for Zoopedup, soaring past the one million page views mark and launching Blueworld mobile.
In 2008 the Blueworld community posted 6441 blogs, uploaded 101 033 photos, created 1034 groups, shared 1854 videos and sent 558 939 sms’s from our free sms platform which accumulated to 1.5 terabytes of monthly bandwidth and a storage total of 95 gigs. Blueworld photographers took 187.460 photos covering in excess of 2.600 events.
As I write this Blueworld is ranked 47th on the OPA (SA website rankings) for local visitors and 7th on the OPA time spent on site chart with our sister niche social network, Zoopedup, 2nd on the OPA for time spent on site.
We look forward to continue our growth in the new year and look forward to working with you.
Please be safe if you travel these holidays and look out for the Blueworld photographers!
In the next few days (week) we will be launching the new layout for Blueworld. With the new layout comes considerable usability improvements, cleaning up of the old layout’s cluttered look, caching technology for high traffic areas and removing of all backend logic from the UI layer. Blueworld will soon reach 6 figure monthly traffic so we need to start engineering for performance - the layout launch is a step towards this strategy.
Also with the new layout we will introduce a content delivery network (CDN) to serve Blueworld’s media. This will further ensure less load on our front end farm and quicker loading times. Click below for larger versions -
We are proud to announce the launch of Speakerbox.co.za a collaboration between BlueWorld Communities and 24.com. Speakerbox is a cocktail of content contributed by the 24.com editorial team and user generated content contributed by the artists and fans that join the social network on www.blueworld.co.za/bands.
Bands can create their own profile, upload music, share photos and videos of their gigs, publish their upcoming gigs and interact with fans. You can see a good example of a band profile here - Black Market Riots.
I have been nominated for ICT Young Entrepreneur of Africa 2008. Now to even be nominated is a great honour for me seeing as last years winner of the award is internationally renowned Vinny Lingham.
Charl Norman is a web entrepreneur behind local social networks 
Photos from my trip to Silicon Valley for the MIH Tech conference.
I appeared on channel MK TV's new hip hop and car show WOELAG. They interviewed me on our automotive social network Zoopedup.
I have been nominated for ICT Young Entrepreneur of Africa 2008. Now to even be nominated is a great honour for me seeing as last years winner of the award is internationally renowned Vinny Lingham.
