Mig33 Adds Miniblog to its Arsenal in Push for Emerging Markets

With over 55 million users to date, Singapore-based mobile social network mig33 is looking to further expand its horizons, today announcing that it’s getting into the microblogging space. The company is rolling out its new ‘miniblog’ service (accessible at b.mig33.com) from the beta stage, and intends to launch it as “the centerpiece of mig33.”

The miniblog had a limited release thirty days back, and has accumulated over 300,000 daily active users already. It differs from other microblogging platforms in that it is integrated with the company’s third party games, chat, and profiles. But mig33 did indeed look to other pre-existing microblog services as models for its own, says the company’s co-founder and CEO Steven Goh:

We believe that the proposition posed by Sina’s Weibo is applicable to other emerging markets… Users want to escape the restrictions of the ‘real world identity’ orientation of Facebook and want a far more flexible identity model, and frankly, a more fun and playful service.

Given the recent controversies surrounding real name platforms, especially in China, this will certainly be appreciated from a user’s point of view.

So far mig33 has proven especially popular in South and South East Asia, although the company states it is also making inroads into the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Last year at the Global Mobile Internet Conference Goh noted emphasized the opportunities that lay in emerging markets:

For a while there have been about a billion people online. Just now a next wave of internet is hitting us, from emerging markets. … The internet to these people means something very different… It’s unlocking a lot of new experiences… For the next few billion people coming online it’s completely open. It’s a very exciting time.

[Photo: freetechy.com]