37 days without loadshedding leaves EskomSePush in the dark
"We are fighting to stay relevant," says Dan Southwood-Wells, a Co-Founder of EskomSePush.
Lester Kiewit speaks to Dan Southwood-Wells, a Co-Founder of EskomSePush, to find out what else the app offers.
With 37 days of no loadshedding, EskomSePush has been quiet.
The app has gone from an active user base of 3.3 million to about 300 000 'which is still significant' because it means that users are coming back to check on non-loadshedding-related information.
Southwood-Wells says that they have 'been very busy' trying to make the app as useful and 'relevant' as possible.
"We're chuffed and celebrate that the loadshedding situation seems to be improving. But we are fighting to stay relevant."
- Dan Southwood-Wells, Co-Founder - EskomSePush
While EskomSePush will remain a loadshedding app, it will use some of its energy to continue to provide non-loadshedding information.
For example, you can get notifications for upcoming water outages and other interesting things happening in your area.
The 'Ask My Street' feature functions as a social network to connect with people in your area about what's happening, or to ask for recommendations such as, for example, plumbing advice.
Southwood-Wells says the app is moderated manually and with bots to ensure that criminal activity, hate speech and rudeness are monitored to ensure safety and security while using the app.
"We're using our experience over the last nine years of working on EskomSePush to push you information that we get from other sources. We vet and make sure it's trusted and push it to you at the right time so you can plan your life."
- Dan Southwood-Wells, Co-Founder - EskomSePush
If you've got time... and haven't found the app's 'secret' snake game, unlock the game by double-tapping the logo.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.