By Steve Vosloo, Project Leader for Yoza Cellphone Stories, and Louise McCann, Editor in Chief. Presented at the Cape Town Content Strategy meetup on 24 August 2011.

2. “ It's great ... for me it really hard to pick up a book to start readin but i don mind readin on my phone ” dotty1 What our users commented

3. Background

6. Early story on MXit (2009)

7. Yoza today

8. Yoza today

12. “ If friar's plan wrks, then romeo wil b able 2 cum nd take juliet wit hm 2 liv hapily 2geda at mantua bt if it fails, sumbdy's gna b dead. Lol! ” Elsie

13. “ I loved the book, wish it didnt have an ending. Shakespear please bring another one like this one. IT WAS MWAAAH!! ” Blessed1

15. What users thought of Yoza stories

16. What our Facebook friends have to say ...

18. More comments than War and Peace

19. “ T z a vry !ntstng stry,really attrtz da a attns f da reader.k!p t up ” L!hle

21. “ Aha ” moment: Mobile phones are a viable distribution platform for longer form content and for enabling user participation

22. “ It kwl an nyc nt boring. And siyafundisa ” [we are learning] Thule

23. “ A gud st0ri alth0ugh vewi sh0rt id lyk 2 c m0re 0n mxit bk0z it enc0uragez readin! ” Lesleigh(F)

24. Lessons

25. Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens

26. Lesson 1: Research content and user interface with teens Tip: For best results, feed them

27. “ Waiting for the next chapters kills me! ” Suzi* Lesson 2: Mobile is a content monster

28. Solution: have lots of content ready to publish

29. Lesson 3: Mobile is “always on” Solution: moderate constantly

30. “ I alwayz (H)ur stories guyz and i alwayz learn smthing new ” Sisipho

31. Lesson 4: Marketing matters Ads run on these days -- see the traffic spikes Solution: budget for marketing

33. “ Ag!BORING. . .:-z ” Thandi

34. Lesson 6: Always prompt (and be provocative)

37. Lesson 9: Leverage existing networks and meet readers where they are MXit Mobisite Facebook

38. Lesson 10: There will be drop-off …

39. Lesson 10: … But fans are loyal

40. “ Yoza i love your stuff your flava is hot ” (Anon)

41. “ The stories r interesting nd fun 2 read, they kip ma englsh gng ” Hlengiwe gulube