( CNN ) -- When it comes to social media 's heavy hitters , there are no bigger players than Facebook or Twitter , right ? Not if you 're in South Africa . Mobile network Mxit claims to have nearly 10 million users in the country , making it South Africa 's most popular social media platform by far , eclipsing Facebook 's six million users and Twitter 's 1.1 million subscribers . Founded seven years ago by Namibian-born software developer Herman Heunis , Mxit has grown from an instant messaging application into a global mobile social network . The handset-agnostic network is tapping Africa 's booming mobile market to serve a growing community of users and developers . Mxit users can chat with their contacts , exchange photos and use a digital currency to buy virtual goods , while aspiring entrepreneurs can find a large audience for their applications and services . Speaking to CNN before his recent resignation from the business he bought in September 2011 , former CEO Alan Knott-Craig said he was still astonished by the power of mobile and how engaged the millions of Mxit users are . `` Firstly they 're looking to meet people , secondly they 're looking for attention , they want to be heard or want to be seen , '' said Knott-Craig . `` And lastly , people are looking to have fun , they 're looking for entertainment and there 's only one thing in their life : the cell phone -- there 's no iPad , PC , XBox or TV , there 's just the phone and Mxit is that escape . '' The company says its users transfer between 500 and 850 million messages every day . That 's roughly double the number of tweets sent daily on a global basis . The average user now spends 85 minutes a week using Mxit and logs on up to four times a day . Knott-Craig says the statistics prove that the growing popularity of mobile internet has transformed the way people communicate across Africa . `` Before mobile Africa really was a dark continent -- I mean literally people could n't communicate , '' Knott-Craig explained . He added : `` In South Africa 17 years ago , before mobile phones came along , there were five million phones out of a population of 35 million people . Now there are 60 million phones out of a population of 60 million people . `` So literally , with the advent of mobile , it 's gone from almost a billion people not being able to talk to anyone except those they see , to being able to talk to anyone regardless of where they are . `` So that 's the first revolution . We have no legacy . No existing cable operator or TV player or ADSL -- there 's nothing , there 's just mobile . `` The other thing is the fact that credit cards are just non-existent . You 'll never build a big business by billing people via credit cards in Africa and probably in all emerging markets , and again that problem is being solved within an African context by trying to build the systems to sell prepaid airtime . `` Mobile succeeded in that because it unlocks the communications grid of the continent . The next step is to unlock the economic grid via mobile payments . '' So how does Mxit make money ? Its primary revenue is n't generated through advertising , which is unusual compared to other social networks . Instead it makes most of its money by selling content to its users . The site acts as a marketplace for hundreds of millions of micro-payments using its digital currency , Moola . Around 13 % of active users are spenders and use Moola to buy skinz , wallpapers , games and music . Read also : Web savvy Africans fuel growth in online shopping . `` We make money in the same way that Facebook makes money , which is basically advertising and content , except we do it in an inverse ratio , '' said Knott-Craig . `` I think they make 90 % of their money from advertising and 10 % from content -- we make 70 % of our money from selling third-party developer content , and 30 % from advertising . '' Knott-Craig stepped down as CEO in October 2012 , citing a difference of opinion with shareholders . `` While the shareholders and I share the same vision , we differ on how to get there , '' he said in a statement . But although he 's left the company , Knott-Craig has described Mxit as Africa 's biggest tech success story -- and one he believes will continue to grow . `` You can build a big global tech company out of Africa . It does n't have to come out of San Francisco and I did n't know that before because I had n't seen that before , '' he said . Claire Brennan contributed to this report .
Mxit is South Africa 's most popular social media platform . Alan Knott-Craig recently stepped down as CEO . He describes mobile as a `` revolution '' in Africa . `` You can build a big global tech company out of Africa , '' he says .