I get baffled and ruffled when I hear some people come out and say they ‘hate’ bloggers. Some Nigerian celebrities, especially, come out to say that they
‘dislike bloggers’, some have gone as far as ‘cursing’ bloggers by
saying things like ‘thunder fire’ their gadgets and all, but I ask, why
the ‘hate’ for bloggers?
I am going to speak from a neutral point of view now.Prior to the year 2000, we barely knew what was called ‘Blogging’ in
Nigeria, and if there was any blog back then, only few people knew how
it worked.
The first known idea of the term blogging most Nigerians knew and can
point to back then was Nairaland by Seun Osewa which started in
2005.Nairaland actually opened our eyes to the world of blogging, if we
are to be honest with ourselves.
Now what is a blog? I am not
going to make use of a dictionary here or any point of reference, my
lay-man’s mind tells me several meanings of what a blog is.
Firstly, my mind tells me a blog is a platform to air your personal
opinion on a particular subject matter. Secondly, my mind tells me a
blog could mean a platform to share events that have personally happened
to you (what people can a ‘digital diary’).
Lastly, my mind tells me
that a blog is a platform to share new or existing information about a
particular, peculiar, or common subject matter.
The concept of blogging is supposed to be informative, educating and inspiring. But to some ‘less creative’ minds, the concept of blogging could be ‘boring’ and ‘uninteresting’.
Blogging is targeted at a PARTICULAR audience.
In other climes, blogging had been in existence since donkey years, but
in Nigeria, it is ‘relatively new’, judging by the fuss people make of
blogging and of bloggers.
Blogging could be of any niche or cliché, it could be about science,
nature, animal, technology, art, food, religion, health, sports, fashion
etc.
Sadly, in Nigeria, I am tempted to say that we still do not appreciate the concept of blogging. Though it’s not our fault, as the economy is a fast-paced one and as boys will say in local parlance, ‘No Time’.
I
have personally done a search and review of most blog niches in
Nigeria, and I have found some very interesting blogs in the blogsphere.
I have found technology blogs, I have found religion blogs, I have
found food blogs, I have found fashion blogs, I have found art blogs,
but after reviewing them, I found out that people discard some of them
as ‘uninteresting’ and ‘boring’, and most of those blogs have either
gone non-functional or packed up entirely.
I once came across a fantastic blog of a 14-year-old boy in the UK, and he blogs about soccer. I was overwhelmed by the number of comments on each blog posts.
I also came across a food blog by an American. He was actually talking about different recipes, and I was overwhelmed by the number of comments he received on each recipe post.
Sadly, in Nigeria, such is a big deal which brings me to back to the question, Why The Hate For Bloggers?
In the Nigerian blogsphere, if you agree with me, most of the blogs out
there are actually celebrity gossip blogs. It is also pertinent to note
that there are also several celebrity gossip blogs in America and the
U.K. A perfect example is TMZ.
Those blogs dig deep into celebrity dirt and gossip. They go as far as
carrying out series of investigations on any celebrity they deem fit.
In Nigeria, bloggers get crucified for trying to do the same. I wonder why.
Every celebrity should know that you cannot hide your personal life
forever, no matter how hard you try, something will always give you out
to the public. Be it where you go, what you wear, what you do, you will
always remain in the public domain.
Those are the dangers
of stardom and I am sure most of the celebrities out there will want to
continue enjoying the fame and fortune associated with it, rather than
trying to stay out of the public purview.
In America, the pressure celebrities face are so much, that I bet some Nigerian celebrities won’t cope if that were the case here.
Paparazzi practically sleep and wake up with you in America. Every damn
thing you do is either recorded and captured, but some of them have
adapted and they seem to be enjoying the fame.
Some have gone as far as crashing their heads against the sign post
while trying to avoid paparazzi, some have even beaten up paparazzi’s
and destroyed their gadgets, to show you how annoying members of the
Fourth Estate can be.
In Nigeria, we really have some fantastic celebrity gossip bloggers. But it seems some of our dear Nigerian celebrities don’t like it.
Before I started my blog, I loved reading other notable blogs, as
my day wasn’t complete without reading news about one celebrity or the
other. Why?… Because GOSSIP SELLS!!!
Most celebrity gossip bloggers will agree with me that gossip sells faster than pure water.
Check out the number of comments on a post about a celebrity in any of the gossip blogs, and you will agree with me on this.
Their blogs are targeted to a PARTICULAR audience. And that implies
financially on the owners of those blogs as advertisers will be more
than willing to work with such bloggers.
So I am guessing it’s a vicious cycle of wealth redistribution.
Most Nigerian celebrities will argue with me that bloggers pedal false rumours about them. True, some do, but only a small percentage, and that is a common occurrence worldwide.
But believe me, most of the notable Nigerian bloggers don’t pedal
rumours, as most of them verify any news they come across before they
publish it. Some even go out of their way to carry out some form of
internal investigation, before reeling the news out to the public. I am
sure of this.
Their is always a small iota of truth in every rumour by the way.
And a known fact is that most Nigerian celebrities love reading these celebrity blogs
secretly, and when it comes to revealing ‘dirt’ about their fellow
colleagues, they digest it fully and act as if nothing happened. LOL!!
I see no reason why some will say they hate bloggers for doing a legitimate job.
I find it absurd and absolutely ridiculous when I hear of some
celebrities dragging some Nigerian bloggers to court. I am like, what’s
the use?
Even though I want to implore bloggers out there to be more careful in
publishing any damaging report or unverified news about any public
figure as there are terms such as libel and slander. Bloggers should
endeavour to carry out a form of personal investigation
on any story they are not sure about before publishing it, so should in
case it ‘backfires’, you can stand your ground and defend yourself.
I want to see Nigerian bloggers becoming agents of change like maybe
becoming a Youth Ambassador or something of that sort because I feel
bloggers are supposed to have a direct positive impact on the youths in
this country.
Lastly, I will like to see the bloggers in Nigeria come
together to form an association. In America, there are Bloggers
Association here and there, so it won’t be a bad idea to introduce such
here.
