Mxit, the South African platform that was once the world’s largest mobile social network, is officially back.
Launched in the pre-smartphone era, Mxit became a cultural touchstone for millions of South Africans, offering a way to chat, flirt and form connections in the early 2000s.
It is being relaunched by Herman Maritz and Dan Southwood-Wells, the founders of Eskom se Push (ESP).
“Mxit never really left. It’s been in our hearts and we just waited for the right time to come back. And that time is now. Because honestly — have you seen what social media has become?” asks Maritz, co-founder and now head of UX at the newly-rebooted Mxit.
“Mxit was never just an app. It was a movement. It was gritty. It was orange. And it worked on a Motorola Razr,” says Southwood-Wells, co-founder and now chief strategy officer of Vibe Restoration.
While the core Mxit experience remains unchanged, the platform has been subtly modernised.
“Someone had to fix social media. And bring back chatrooms. And make statuses matter again,” according to the Mxit team.