I follow Mark Zuckerberg and this evening Mark posted this on his Facebook page Looking forward to more good stuff to come between Facebook and Nigerian developers.
Dude change your title as it is misleading. Facebook Partnered with Airtel and not Jobberman. Jobberman at the other end is benefiting from the partnership between Facebook and Airtel in which any company that is in the good books of Facebook can also enjoy.
This is why the idea of free basics and net neutrality is flawed and was kicked out from India. Why is Jobberman better than Agberojobs.com? Where is the ability to fairly compete for new startups that are not in Facebooks good books?
Why is Pornhub not part of Free Basics? I have great proof of itās positive contributions to mankind and humanity especially in developing countriesā¦
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The title is not misleading; Jobberman had to agree to be part of the Free Basics, hence itās a form of partnership even if they are the ones benefiting. A lot of media organizations pulled out of the stuff in India if you remember, and that changed the Indian regulatorsā tone towards the service.Or are you saying that because Jobberman is Nigerian, they are less worthy of being accorded any form of partnership in this development? So title is not misleading; just that if it was blog post, the title would have served to attract more clicks; but it isnāt.
The plan is to exploit the love most Nigerians have for free internet (perhaps with the word free).
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The title is, in deed, misleading.
what does the part āand partner with local companies to bring internet to people across Africa who donāt have access to mobile networksā say? Or has the word partnership suddenly been restricted to one connotation? The title was in reference to a Nigerian company that was referenced by Mark himself. Free Basics has its flaws, and the stuff doesnāt even appeal to me; but the contents, and its creators, through which non-connected Africans will enjoy Free Basics will be from partnerships between Facebook and these local companies.
Hmmmā¦I guess Facebook is partnering with me too as I do have a Facebook account. In fact I am off to the bank to get a buisness loan as I am now in partnership with Facebook.
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That is still not the main heading or headline or title of the post.
Even Airtel has a Facebook page, but its business is part of the partnership base in this development. Your business can partner with Facebook in the Free Basics I guess
Nawaoo; this stuff was posted to highlight the supposed Nigerian importance, especially to local developers, and Jobberman was included in the title to represent this. The title would be different, and I know you know, if it was in the context of another African country.
@Okaychukwu I know you meant no harm with this post, itās just that the way you wrote it is somehow sha 
Anyway, Iām still excited that Mark himself mentioned Jobberman and introduced the founders though, Iām so proud of them. I wonāt lie, I wish it were my team there ā¦ Congrats to them. ā¦ 
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Wait guys i need to understand this stuff even for those who dont understand, why did india reject this stuff?
Becauseā¦ net neutrality.
I.ng, Chinedum.ng, Tope.ng and Charles,ng are competing Nigerian FOR PROFIT internet businesses.
John.com is an established foreign FOR PROFIT internet business with a huge presence in Nigeria.
Because a lot of Nigerians are still not connected to the internet due to cost, John.com says he is going to give free internet access to Nigerians.
But John is not opening up the entire internet for those he is providing access to. No, John wants to just provide them access to HIS site and a few others chosen by John.
Out of the four competing Nigerian internet businesses earlier mentioned, John likes I.ng. And decides only I.ng can be accessed through the free internet John is providing.
What of Chinedum,ng, Tope.ng and Charles.ng? What of those businesses that are also competing with John.com?
The internet is supposed to be neutral (fair to everyone so to speak). Everyone should have a fighting chance to make an impact.
John is trying to provide an internet that is not neutral (not fair). And will give him and a select few a tremendous advantage.
With his offering as it stands now, your startup and thousand of others stand no chance.
Should John.com be allowed to go on with this?
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Just a friendly reminder to all Tech sites, bloggers, journalists, commentators etc as we celebrate all these stories.
So hereās the thing, thereās actually nothing new going on here. Itās all about net neutrality. Yes, there will be divide and rule tactics at play, but at least folks should be served the truth. By all means, pop champagne but letās have the truth on what these developments really mean.
And itās not hard to give a balanced picture of what our ecosytem would like with Free Basics. Search for ānet neutralityā right here on Radar and you have loads of examples of what folks think.
A specific example of how to view Airtelās partnership is below post.
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bros @Okaychukwu, what you intended is not what I perceived when I saw the title.
āpassing-byā
Net neutrality:NO. Free Internet: YES. How free is free? Sometimes, I reject offers that are āFREEā because its not obvious who is paying to keep it free OR what his/her interest is. So can we expect net neutrality here. Of course notā¦
But should that stop anyone?Of course not. Everybody just needs to be sure to know where the bargaining startsā¦