@Innocent,I think you are on to something but like all other commentators,I am against use of the names of sites that you are trying to unseat.

Kachwanya's site www.iborian.com is very much like facebook but it is named in honour of Nairobi and is easy to identify with.

Most important though is that your use of the Obama family pictures on your site could see you sued because you dont have the image rights.

Once again innocent really sorry that all you got from SK was lots and lots of bile however keep on keeping on dont let anyone bring you down.When you believe in something like you believe that the internet is the next big thing no one or nothing that people say about it or about you can stop you all the best.

jnn

First of all good work sticking to your plan and starting something online. Mine is just to offer my own experience

1. It is a good idea not to antagonise possible users to your website. One or two bad clients are ok but not a whole group of possible users. So avoid using terms like I don't give a damn.

2. I am still trying to figure out what your niche is in your site. As far as I can see,you are no different from Haiya,facebook,or that zuqka thing. I think I have seen more like funkenya and other's whose names I cannot remember. So the question everyone is asking you here is,why should I join your site and not Haiya? No technical terms please

3. Alexa is not and will never be a judge of success online. I can give you alexa rankings of less than 100,000 in a month if you pay me $100. It is gamed all the time. For example,if my site does not have that alexa thing they like giving people,then I will never rank. My advice is stop wasting time searching for alexa rankings. Only newbie webmasters even bother with that site.

4. I would be more concerned with SERP's. I can't find you when i search for Kenya social network. Does it matter? More than you think. If you ever wish to sell your site later,no one will ask you for alexa but your SERP's. You should work on your SERP's starting now. You may say you are not going to sell but if I start a social network now and concentrate on SERP's,I will get more members than you.

5. As for your domain name. It is all in the eye of the beholder. So far,I have mistyped your website 4 times. mixbook,mixxbox,mixboks,misbooks. I guess you get what I mean. it is too late for that now so do the best you can with what you have. Even yahoo is a name I can't type right.

6. The colours of your site mean didly in the bottom line. As long as you have good content,I will come back. Otherwise,I would never come back to sk. I can show you a simple blogger site that is bloody ugly and still makes more money than a matatu in Kenya. Concentrate on content.

7. You can use Obama pics if you got them under gnu/gpl licence. they would never bother with your site since its not registering anywhere on the net. But for your own good,you don't even need to use them. You don't see facebook with Ronald Regan pics do you?

5. Now go and market your site and don't bother with one or two members. Social networks have a life of their own,you should be more concerned with online marketing of your idea.

I still don't know the idea behind mixxboxx but all I can do is wish you luck. Please do not underestimate the amount of work you have set up for yourself. I would be less concerned with what guys think in SK and spend my time on the site. If you need help in SERP's domination,you can get in touch.

BTW,it just occurs to me that if you went the google wave way,i.e. consolidate IM,SN,email,voip,search,etc then that just gives sense to the name mixxbook....just a thought. Try to picture all cyber cafes having mixxbook.com as the start page for WHATEVER visitors need - whether to search,email,IM (using whatever existing IM/email app they have),etc

The problem with equality is that we desire that it be with those that have more than us rather that those that have less

Great ideas Djinn,but I doubt if innocent has the financial muscle to come up with an all in one application. However,try offering some php programmers some shares in your site and you might just have got the idea that I was trying to figure out.

There is nothing like an official launch of anything online. As long as your site is online,it is launched. It should be a work in progress. That is why most site developers do not show all a site can do when it starts. They concentrate on content over a 90 day period. Otherwise,if you do other stuff like site beauty,spending 1 hour on sk instead of your own site,extra applications etc,you lose the plot very quickly.

I can get a history of your website from the first day you set up your servers. Every day you added information is information I can get if I wanted to,so don't ignore the power of the net. If it is up,you should be marketing and not waiting. Otherwise,put it offline until you are satisfied. Every piece of information that google is capturing on your site now will affect your SERP'S later.

So either accept what you have and work very fast or put it down until you are satisfied. Since humans are never satisfied,then accept what you have and work on it very very fast. It is actually a lot of fun for members to get an email that says,'hey guys we just added yahoo messenger to the site',than telling them 'don't worry,we are still in pre-launch'.

For example,your forum is dead and that is the first place one goes to. If I find no content there,I won't bother registering since I don't think there is anyone in the site. Consider removing the links to the pages without content for the time being. Your forum is losing you business right now so consider adding as much content there as possible.

also look at the history of other social networks. None of them aimed for the world. Facebook was meant for college students,myspace was meant for a few geeks. That is why I ask you for your niche. Get the niche first. If it is Kenyans,target kenyans first then the world will find you if it is interesting. If it is christian Kenyans or gay kenyans,just get the niche first.

I know you have a lot of work to do. You may not know it but you do. However,if you do it the right way,there will be nothing to stop the site with a funny name going where you wish to. So good luck and stop going to alexa and remove their links from your site immeadiately.

That is all my advice for today. I don't take a lot of Kenyan clients anymore so I will wait to see what your site grows into over the next few months. I have kept your email and will want a share of the pie :)