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| Ikeji (Linda Ikeji’s blog), Aloba (Maestromedia) and Bello (Onobello). |
Tosin Ajibade’s fingers were busy on the keypad of her Apple iPad. She
frantically strung words underneath the memorable pictures she had just
taken at an award ceremony held at the Tafawa Balewa Square auditorium,
Lagos. She immediately posted the words via her blog,
olorisupergal.blogspot.com real time and synchronised them on her
Twitter acccount. The reactions were instant and numerous.
For Ajibade, blogging has become a way of life. The young lady, now
widely known by her name, OloriSupergal, spends most of her waking hours
writing stories, updating her postings and searching for interesting
content. And she is fast becoming a hit among numerous visitors to her
100 per cent entertainment website – visitors scouring for information
on the Nigerian showbiz scene.
A leading light in the new media revolution in Nigeria is Uche
Eze-Pedro. Her creation, Bella Naija, started out in 2005 as a blog, but
has been upgraded to a full website with vast audience that spans from
Ghana to Canada. There is a chance that four out of 10 web surfers have
stumbled upon her blog, which basically is a lifestyle site. Bella Naija
takes a look at the diary of the Nigerian social and fashion scene. The
site has been doing so well it recently attracted mention in a CNN
documentary.
In 2010, celebrity blogger, Abiola Aloba got bitten by the blog bug
while still editing Encomium Lifestyle, a special publication of the
Encomium magazine. Many ideas, he said, were then running on his mind,
ideas he could not execute as an employee. Aloba felt he was being
stifled. He needed a platform that would give him independence and
relevance, and blogging readily came to mind, thus the birth of
maestromedia.blogspot.com. Within two years, the fashion writer cum
photographer is not regretting dumping his salaried job for the world of
the geek. Now, his blog is a hit among visitors yearning for news and
information on fashion, socialites and celebrity parties.
Linda Ikeji has earned herself the sobriquet of ‘Queen of Blogging’.
Prior to joining the frenzied world of e-stories, the University of
Lagos English Language graduate was a fashion columnist for a struggling
celebrity magazine. After two years of toiling in the news room, she
quit. As Linda couldn’t stop writing, which has become a passion,
blogging provided a relief route. She, therefore, created linda Ikeji’s
blog in 2005. For five years, she worked her fingers on the keypad to
the bone, posting various topics and subjects that included music,
movies, fashion, gossip and even sex issues, with no financial returns.
But she persisted until 2010, when some of the stories posted on her
blog began to ruffle feathers. At a point, Linda averaged about 1
million unique visitors each month to her blog. And with that came the
much-needed recognition and substantial earnings. In August 2012, Forbes
Africa described her as a success and a case study for the business of
blogging.
With over 400 blogs and full websites focusing on various subjects that
span politics, music, movies, fashion, sports, gossips and lifestyle,
Nigeria now has one of the most dynamic blogging communities in Africa.
Analysts said the numbers could triple by 2015 with the uncontrolled
slide of the influence of mainstream media and the opening of a new
vista of market opportunities for bloggers who are reaching a wider
number of target audience. Meeting these challenges has made many to
upgrade to a full website by registering their own domain names.
“Blogspot.com limits you in many ways as it does not allow for various
segments. More people and corporate brands seriously want to associate
with websites that are very credible and reliable. They prefer sites
that have excellent service delivery in terms of the quality and
reliability of the information disseminated via their websites,” Ajibade
said.
Terrence Sambo, a stylist and blogger, believes fashion sites have made
fashion to be more democratic. “There is a lot of social media
influence. Technology has made the business of fashion journalism a lot
more democratic. Video presentations are becoming a lot more commonplace
these days on many blogs, along with live streaming of shows. A lot
more people are able to connect with the industry real time, rather than
wait to buy monthly magazines,” said Sambo, founder of
onenigerianboy.com and editor of Men’s Style Blog.
The rise in the number of bloggers in Nigeria is already yielding
positive implications with a number of big-time information technology
companies such as Microsoft and Google setting offices in Nigeria. This
also means improved technical output and more revenue for bloggers.
TheNEWS investigations revealed that apart from building social capital,
blogging has made many millionaires. Many more Nigerians are making
regular income from blogging; many, indeed, quit their jobs to become
full time bloggers. This revenue is coming through Google Adsense and
individual advertisers. The entire e-community in Nigeria is said to be
worth over N100 million, and still growing strongly as the advertisers’
base spikes.
PSN
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