By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Media Range Limited, a free online multimedia portal designed to aid Nigerians tell their stories visually has announced the launch of a new indigenous media sharing site, Voto.com.ng.

“We like to think of Voto as YouTube and Flickr rolled into one. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Video possesses this capacity in an even higher degree. Voto allows Nigerians to share both videos and photos – direct from the mobile devices or desktop computers – maximizing the use of web technology for communication as both a social and a journalistic activity,” Media Range said in a statement.

Beside basic uploading and sharing to friends and associates via other integrated social media networks, the site allows users to create or join specific thematic tags around personal events or events that affect the wider society to facilitate ease in grouping, storage, searching and retrieval.

“One of the immediate uses that Voto is being targeted for is the upcoming 2015 general elections. It will easily lend itself to being used as a crowd sourcing platform for widespread coverage of the election across all states of the federation by citizen journalists. A special theme tag – 2015 Elections – will be in use during the period,” the statement added.

Because storing and retrieving multimedia files is resource intensive, the site runs on a dedicated Virtual Private Server (VPS) with a five Terrabyte capacity and the owners say they have made adequate provision for continuous expansion as the need arises.

The server also has FFMPEG software installed for faster and more robust video processing and Image Magic for processing images.

Among other planned releases in the site’s evolution path expected soon are the ability for users to create extensive social profiles, which will allow them maximize the control they have over their uploaded materials.