It’s 2007 and suddenly Mzansi is starting to feel WAY more connected. Not that we haven’t been before, but we’ve each been ultra-connected in our little islands, connecting to our own batches of friends, colleagues and aquaintances.

Now, blogs are screaming off our screens. And we actually know and interact (and drink/eat/be merry) with the people who write them, IN REAL LIFE. Suddenly there are dinners, awards, aggregators and local social bookmarking … and Zoopy, of course

I was saying to Scott today that it’s fantastic to be alive and online in South Africa in 2007. Egos and ownership are starting to come second and third to what the user wants. And it shouldn’t be too hard to figure that out, because at the end of the day we’re all users of each other’s services. And it’s great to see this kind of thinking start to click with so many people, in so many industries, in such a big way.

Just today, IOL leapfrogged stuck-in-the-mud thinking and embedded a Zoopy video in one of their stories.

Someone from Zoopy HQ was at the Solidarity in Action / Freedom of Expression protest outside the SABC in Sea Point yesterday and uploaded the footage to our iWitness News photo and video channels. IOL happened to cover the event and, for the benefit of their readers jumped at the opportunity to enhance the written article with some video footage of the event, which we were only too happy to share.

Have a look at just a small example of what South Africans can achieve online, when we put our heads and hearts together:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3015&art_id=vn20070329093103423C456687

How can you not love being a part of all this?
Long live SA internet, long live

P.S. Even bloggers-by-the-sea are excited about the possibilities! *wave* Ethekwinigirl, thanks for noticing that IOL got Zoopy’d.