Shine2010 is being marketed as an online social networking platform which offers a place for South Africans to congregate, learn and communicate in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World CupTM. The project was sponsored by the First National Bank of South Africa.

Here, soccer fans and concerned citizens of South Africa can find news, opinions and information about the event from people who want it to succeed. This certainly does not mean a free ride for the organizers of the event, but rather recognition that we are all stakeholders in South Africa’s finest moment.

Apart from news and views the website features regular podcast interviews, and links to useful FIFA World Cup™ and South Africa related sites. It also gives roving citizen reporters the opportunity to report on their own impressions of FIFA World Cup™ progress, and to spark constructive conversations in this lively community.

It’s a noble effort but if this is the final product, it needs work. Unlike many parts of Africa, South Africa is relatively well connected. They’ve got the infrastructure for wide-spread broadband and high speed connections. That said, it’s pretty odd that it looks like FNB put no money into the graphic design of this site. Even a site optimized for low-bandwidth connections could look quite a bit better than this. In fact, even as a mobile site Shine2010 isn’t pretty. Hopefully this is a beta, or just the first iteration of better things to come.

About the Author: Jonathan Gosier (Founder) is an American-born software developer, writer and social entrepreneur. He currently lives in Kampala, Uganda where he is working on two fronts: to encourage western businesses and investors to engage African entrepreneurs and to encourage the adoption of computers, programming and use of the internet in the developing regions of Africa. He is a huge advocate for promoting the ways in which a semantic web will benefit emerging economies in the world.

Categories: Industry News ~ Trackback